McGaw YMCA

The McGaw YMCA has long instilled in children a love of nature and the outdoors through its resident camp, Camp Echo. Located on Long/Ryerson Lake near Fremont, Michigan, Camp Echo encompasses over 500 acres of lakeshore, woods, and wetlands. For many youth, Camp Echo is life-changing experience that teaches them independence, life skills, and respect for one another.

Throughout the summer some 1,500 children and teens participate in one- and two-week camping sessions and adventure trips. The McGaw Y also hosts family camp four times during the summer where children and adults of all ages can experience Camp Echo together. Campers choose their own activities, including horseback riding, water skiing, paddle boarding, arts and crafts, archery, bike riding, and much more. Year after year, campers and their families return to the Camp Echo community.

The McGaw Y works hard to ensure camp is accessible to youth and families from a range of backgrounds.

The McGaw YMCA’s membership base and program participants reflect the diversity—in income, race and ethnicity, age, and ability—found in the region as a whole. This is particularly true for our Men’s Residence Program, which provides affordable rental housing, supportive services and a caring community for low-income men at various stages of their lives.

The Men’s Residence includes 1 Single Room Occupancy (SRO) units on three floors of the McGaw YMCA’s headquarters at 1000 Grove Street. As SRO housing faces conversion to higher income apartments and condominiums in other parts of the region, the McGaw YMCA Men’s Residence is a stable fixture in the community.

Through a holistic, supportive housing structure, resident members not only have a place to sleep, but have the resources and support system to help stabilize their housing and live their most productive lives.

he McGaw YMCA’s newest program, MetaMedia, continues the association’s commitment to providing accessible and innovative youth development programming. MetaMedia is a free digital media and technology center and hang-out space open exclusively to middle-school youth with programming focused on STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art/Design, and Math).

MetaMedia increases access to technology among underserved youth from Evanston, while providing middle school students a safe place to go after school and during school breaks. Programming at MetaMedia is youth-driven, meaning program participants or “makers” drive the program’s offerings. MetaMedia staff, which includes instructors skilled in digital media and arts, supports makers in their learning, offering ongoing critiques and encouragement that build both skills and confidence in youth.