The YMCA is one of the largest non-profit organizations providing recreation. It is estimated that over 2,600 facilities are available throughout the nation today, serving thousands of communities and uniting over 21 million people. The YMCA responds to critical social needs while promoting religious ideals of living. Despite being affiliated with Protestantism, they are there to help children, families, and individuals of various races, ages, faiths, and backgrounds. It helps provide a wide range of leisure opportunities for communities that essentially help improve lives throughout the nation.




The YMCA stands for the Young Men’s Christian Association. It was originally created in London, England on June 6th 1984 as a response to “unhealthy social conditions arising in big cities after the Industrial Revolution (1750-1850)”. During this time it was dedicated to replacing troubled young men’s life on the street with prayer and Bible study. Within eleven years, it had quickly become an international movement. Despite various struggles and challenges such as the Great Depression and World War II bring dramatic drops to income it remained strong. It began seeing changes at the close of the war one of the major changes were the fact that they were admitting women and slowly but surely families became one of the new focuses and began emphasizing on all races and religions as well. In 1958, the U.S and Canadian YMCA's launched a new project entitled Buildings for Brotherhood which raised over $55 million dollars resulting in the expansion of over 90 different facilities nationwide. The popularity began increasing and many various recreational programs were being added. It proved to serve and help many people in need throughout the years and continues to provide services which help with the social needs and needed services which prove to benefit the community as a whole.




Knowing that the YMCA is one of the largest non-profit community service organizations in America, there must be many positions available to help keep this organization running. There are in fact various career opportunities that will be perfect for anyone looking to make a difference in the world while building strong professional skills implementing your talents and knowledge into your community. Positions varying from Executive Directors, Fitness Directors, Resource Coordinators, Controllers, CEO’s and even volunteers, I am sure that you will be able to find the right job to suit you at the YMCA. Volunteering at the YMCA might not be economically rewarding, however the impact you make will be and it will essentially help you get your foot in the door when attempting to acquire a higher position.




A current trend that recently began in Spring 2009 was the adoption of “College Goal Sunday” which is basically a one day event in which volunteers usually financial aid administers assist students applying to college understand aid available to them and help them properly complete applications free of charge. This is a big step seeing as though there is a strong discouragement (especially in under served communities) about attending college due to the lack of funds. It is important to inform students and families of the opportunities available to them and help them take full advantage of what they have to offer.




I think that the YMCA has one of the broadest approaches to leisure in a single organization. It is equipped with many various programs all ranging from camping and sports to health, fitness, and childcare. Their mission is to build strong kids strengthen relationships between families and serve the needs of the community as a whole. It is a place where anyone, despite of race gender or religion can come and reinforce the YMCA’s core values of “caring, honesty, respect, and responsibility” all while having a good time and keeping people out of trouble and into something worthwhile.



I always knew about the YMCA, yet was ignorant to when it was created or why it was there to begin with. I recently stepped into the YMCA in my neighborhood in Chicago. I was surprised at the amount of people of all ages using the various programs and facilities that were made available. I live in a pretty bad neighborhood and it makes me happy to see organizations like these providing much needed leisure opportunities to help give hope to children and begin changing the community in a positive way. Swim lessons were offered, as well as a fully equipped gym, many sports were provided as well as different activities for different nights. The staff was extremely nice and caring and provided me with all the answers I needed without hesitation. My experience at the YMCA was great and am sure many of you know about its great benefits that it has on the community. There are many pros to this organization as I have stated earlier and one of which is the career opportunities most of the higher positions pay a good amount starting at 70,000 dollars a year and also including benefits. I don't see any cons to this organization because its mission is to improve communities around the world, the benefits of this organization are great and we are privileged to have this non-profit leisure service available to us.