Greater Valley Young Mens Christian Association

The Y is one of the nation’s leading nonprofits, strengthening communities through youth development, healthy living and social responsibility. We serve all members of our community, from birth through span of life. We are committed to meeting emerging needs in the Lehigh Valley, and providing opportunities for all to find health, friendship and belonging at the Y. At our YMCA Branches, we offer a studio of fitness equipment, pools, gyms and fitness classes for all to reach their health goals. We also offer high-quality, affordable childcare for our families; while in our care, children participate in activities keeping minds and bodies engaged. Other youth programs include School Age Child Care, Preschool Programs (including Pre-K Counts), Youth Summer Day Camp and more. Through our Social Responsibility programs, we are committed to providing health and connection to our community members. These programs include our Beautiful You Female Cancer Support Group, Diabetes Prevention Program, Free Youth and Adult Meals Programs and so much more. And of course, our core Y values of caring, honesty, respect and responsibility are woven into all programs. Our goal is to help our community find friendship, health, confidence and belonging by participating in our programs both at the Y and within our neighborhoods.

Throughout the past two years, the Y has stepped up as a key community resource in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We worked alongside our community partners to provide innovate solutions to emerging pandemic needs. These programs include our Free Family Meals Program, Essential Child Care Programming, Youth Summer Day Camp, Virtual Fitness and Wellness Programming, Senior Check-In Calls and more. Despite the challenges of the pandemic, we still made so much progress in meeting community needs throughout 2021, including:
• Served over 85,000 meals to youth and adults in the Lehigh Valley through our Free Family Meals Program
• Provided the Best. Summer. Ever. to over 582 children in our 2021 Youth Summer Day Camp
• Offered our Y Wellness 24/7 Suite to our members, which is a suite of virtual fitness classes included with membership. This program helped our members who are not yet comfortable returning to the Y with fitness options for all ages and stages of wellness
• Offered hybrid program delivery for our Wellness Programming, ensuring that our members were able to participate however they feel most comfortable. We currently have 68 participants enrolled in our Beautiful You Female Cancer Support Group and 25 participants in our Diabetes Prevention Program.
• Provided 4,343 warm beds to our neighbors experiencing homelessness in our 2021-2022 Warming Station Season
• Awarded over $516,000 in financial assistance and subsidy to our community members in need throughout 2021
• Provided innovative solutions for our members to feel connected and engaged at the Y even when we were unable to be together.

In 2019, our Y Association completed our first-ever strategic planning process. The one-year process utilized feedback from community leaders, Board Members, volunteers, members, program participants and staff to create a vision for the Y’s next few years. During this planning process, the Y identified key areas of community need to include affordable child care, support for vulnerable & poor populations, the continuing disintegration of core values, obesity in children and adults, and mental/behavioral health. The Y committed to addressing these key community needs with three organizational impact statements:

• We will engage the community within and beyond our walls and meet their needs.
• We will use the resources/capacity we currently have to better achieve our mission.
• We will strategically grow our financial strength.

We are currently working on developing a new Strategic Plan that we will share with our community later in 2022.

We are also committed to expanding community relationships helping address local needs together. We are fortunate to have many partners who support our mission and help us to create a stronger and healthier Lehigh Valley. Over the past two years, we have expanded our community partnerships to meet emerging community needs. Please refer to our 2022 Annual Report for further information about our community partners and supporters.

At all of our Branches, we work to ensure that our youth development programs meet state and government standards. All of our childcare sites comply with all DHS regulations for staff and safe spaces. We operate 3 three PA STARS certified Pre-K Counts sites in our Association; our Allentown Branch and Forks Education Center are proud of achieving a STAR 4 accreditation in the Pennsylvania Keystone STARS Program, and our Bethlehem Branch maintains a STAR 3 accreditation. Keystone STARS is a program for enhancing the quality of childcare provided to the community. Through Keystone STARS, a childcare provider works to increase its standard of care above the state’s minimum health and safety licensing regulations. Research shows that high quality childcare increases a child’s learning skills and school readiness level.

Our staff works with members of all ages and abilities, so that we can best help members achieve their goals. Our staff maintain certifications in many different specialties to deliver high-quality programming to our community members. For example, our Y staff take place in Y-USA trainings, such as Cultural Lenses and Dimensions of Diversity. Additionally, our aquatics department is one of the leading local partners to train in CPR/AED/Lifeguarding. We also manage some of our local municipal pools during the summer, providing Y programming at these locations.

We maintain relationships with more than 100 community partners and other local health networks and organizations, collaborating to create stronger programs and meet the needs of our communities. We also host various community events at the GVY, including the Y-USA Annual Healthy Kids Day event. The goal of the day is to showcase the Y’s children and family programs, provide families with other local health and wellness resources, and create a sense of community and celebration. Additional community and fundraising events at the Y include our 5K Races, Golf Tournaments, Community Gala and more. Proceeds raised through these events support our Community Outreach and Financial Assistance Programs at the Y.

In 2017, we completed a decade-long merge bringing all of the individual YMCAs in the Lehigh Valley under one corporate entity, the Greater Valley YMCA. Today, we serve over 12,000 community members, and thousands more in community outreach programs. Thanks to generous donors, Foundations and community partners, we maintain a robust Financial Assistance Program, ensuring that no child, family or adult is turned away due to financial hardship. In 2021 alone, the Greater Valley YMCA provided more than $516,000 in financial assistance and subsidy to community members in need.

We have made so much progress over the past two years, despite the hardships we have faced as a result of the pandemic. We have served more community members than ever before, expanded our community partnerships and were able to bring back some of our regular programming. As we slowly recover from the pandemic, our Y will continue to adapt, evolve and innovate our program in direct response to community needs. We will continue to grow our partnership relationships, collaborating to create innovative solutions to emerging needs. While there is much unknown about the future, we know that our Lehigh Valley is stronger together.