Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) is one of the largest nonprofit voluntary organizations in the world. It serves millions of people in more than 120 countries. The World Alliance of YMCA’s, an international YMCA organization, has headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.
In the United States,
the organization is known as the Y. It formally changed its name from YMCA in 2010. There are hundreds of local Y branches, units, camps, and centers. Membership and services are open to people of all ages, religions, races, and incomes. Women and girls make up about half of the Y’s membership. In addition, about half of the Y’s members are younger than 18.
All Y branches share the same basic goals. These goals are (1) promoting healthy lifestyles, (2) strengthening the modern family, (3) developing leadership qualities in youth, (4) increasing international understanding, and (5) assisting in community development.
The Y promotes its values through a variety of programs, such as health and fitness programs, child care, senior citizens’ activities, and international education and exchange. Some Y’s have residential and hotel facilities. Y’s also offer employment, adventure, and leadership programs for teenagers. The Y sponsors programs to fight juvenile delinquency. Other activities include refugee resettlement programs and educational programs for people with disabilities.
Volunteer board members from the local community control each individual Y. The national headquarters works closely with local Y’s to discover successful program ideas at the local level and spread these ideas nationally. The Y has national offices in Chicago.
In Canada,
YMCA’s provide programs for communities throughout the country. Women and girls make up about half of the YMCA membership in Canada. Most Canadian YMCA’s provide programs in six areas: (1) adult education, (2) camping and outdoor education, (3) community and youth services, (4) guidance and counseling, (5) health and physical education, and (6) institutional services, such as residences and cafeterias.
Each YMCA is managed by its own board of directors or governors. In 1912, the existing YMCA’s established the National Council of YMCA’s of Canada to help individual YMCA’s achieve their goals through collective action. The council’s main office is in Toronto.
History.
The YMCA was founded in London in 1844 by a young British clerk named George Williams. Williams wanted to provide young clothing store clerks from the countryside with a place in London where they could read the Bible, relax, and find out about decent lodging. The YMCA movement traveled overseas to the United States and Canada in 1851. In that year, Thomas Sullivan, a missionary and retired sea captain, founded a YMCA in Boston. A group of young men formed a YMCA in Montreal at the same time.
Exercise and gymnastics became part of the American YMCA in the second half of the 1850’s. The first YMCA swimming pool opened in Brooklyn, New York (now part of New York City), in 1856. In 1891, a physical education instructor named James Naismith invented the game of basketball at the International YMCA Training School (now Springfield College) in Springfield, Massachusetts. The original teams had nine players and used peach baskets as goals. In 1895, another physical education instructor, W. G. Morgan, invented volleyball at the Mount Holyoke, Massachusetts, YMCA because he believed that basketball was too strenuous for businessmen.
The San Francisco YMCA admitted the association’s first women members in 1874. The YMCA introduced the ideas of night school and junior college. It also assisted with the formation of other major voluntary groups, such as Boy Scouts, Camp Fire, and the United Service Organizations (USO).
See also HI-Y club.
