GREATER MORRISTOWN YMCA INC
79 Horsehill Rd, Cedar Knolls, NJ 07927 morristownymca.org

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Organizations Filed Purposes: TO HELP BUILD HEALTHY LIVES, MINDS AND BODIES FOR ALL PEOPLE IN THE COMMUNITY.

The Greater Morristown YMCA, founded in 1874 in the Christian traditions of honesty, respect, caring, and service to others, seeks to enhance the character and the quality of life for all people in the community by providing activities to enrich their spiritual, mental, and physical well-being.

CHILDCARE We are part of one of the largest non-profit childcare providers in the country, the YMCA of the USA. The YMCA is an international non-profit organization with almost 3,000 facilities throughout the world. Although the YMCA is best known for its fitness and aquatics facilities, the Greater Morristown YMCA's philanthropic focus is childcare. The Greater Morristown YMCA has a rich tradition of childcare programs and currently manages four centers that are collectively responsible for the daily care and early education of over 650 children. Three of our four centers are accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children, a distinction only 7% of all childcare centers nationally receive. In fact, we were the first YMCA in the state of New Jersey to receive this accreditation initially some 20 years ago and we have maintained it since then via a rigorous evaluation process which takes place every four years. As a result, over 90% of our students pass or exceed the Morris School District's entry requirements for entering Kindergarten. Our childcare and preschool centers include The Richard F. Blake Children's Center in Cedar Knolls, (operated since 1988); Children's Corner at Morristown Medical Center (operated since 1996); Allamuchy Child Care Center (since 2009); and Children on the Green (since 2015). All provide year-round, early childhood care for infants, toddlers and preschoolers. Our childcare centers help youngsters gain self-confidence and social skills while developing positive attitudes about school and learning. Our program allows parents to go to work with peace of mind, knowing that their children are being cared for in a safe, structured and fun environment. Collectively, with an average of 10 years tenure, our centers exceed the national average of preschool teachers, an unprecedented average in the field of childcare. It is our mission to ensure no child in our communities is deprived of a preschool education. Many underprivileged children in our area run the risk of beginning Kindergarten at a disadvantage when placed in a classroom with their more fortunate peers. In fact, two of our childcare centers were federally funded and on the verge of bankruptcy when the United Way of Northern New Jersey intervened and asked us to take over the management. Hundreds of little children were given the opportunity to continue and receive critical pre-school education. Preschool is expensive, but remains fundamental to a child's academic, social, and mental development. The Greater Morristown YMCA ensures that this very necessary early education is possible as it turns no child away from its childcare programs, regardless of his or her family's ability to pay. While many for-profit childcare centers regard it as a business, our YMCA regards it as our vocation and mission. To date, thousands of children have received full day childcare when they did not have the means to pay for it. PRESCHOOL SWIM PROGRAM The Greater Morristown YMCA has a very active aquatics program that provides swimming and water safety skills as well as promoting good health via regular exercise. Children from all our childcare centers continue to receive free weekly swim lessons at our YMCA. It is our number one priority that all the enrolled preschoolers in our care master the fundamentals of swimming by the time they graduate from our preschool and head into Kindergarten. It is proven that knowing how to swim saves lives. According to the CDC, more than one in five fatal drowning victims are children younger than 14. Many of our preschoolers are minorities and children who come from non-English speaking households. According to the USA Swimming Foundation and the CDC, 70% of African American and 60% of Hispanic/Latino children cannot swim. Further, African American children drown at a rate nearly three times higher than their Caucasian peers and the number one cause of death for children under the ages of six is drowning. The Greater Morristown YMCA takes these statistics very seriously and is committed to help the underprivileged children of Morris County learn how to swim, a lifesaving skill that will continue to benefit then for years to come. Every week, our preschoolers from all of our centers head to the YMCA to attend swim lessons. The classes are 30 minutes and the children are taught basic skills for in and out of the water. We find that the children who start our swim program in preschool 2 (ages 3 & 4) are usually able to swim the length of the pool using freestyle and backstroke by the time they graduate preschool. Because we truly believe in teaching children how to swim, we provide it free of charge to all of our enrolled preschoolers. There are four sessions throughout the year, 11 classes in each. 140 preschoolers receive 44 free lessons per year, amounting to over $90,000 per year (includes lesson fee, instructor fees, busing, lifeguards, etc.) The cost per child, per year, to learn how to swim is $642.

HEALTHY LIFE STYLE/FITNESS: The Greater Morristown YMCA continues to be a fitness leader in our community. Our facilities and our health enhancement programs alike are indispensable to many men and women of all age groups in our community. Our health programs are medically-based and promote the value of prevention through good exercise habits, nutrition, stress management, and healthy education. We have taken strides to ensure that our facilities are handicap accessible as well as family friendly and senior-citizen friendly. More than 120 fitness programs are offered including yoga, circuit training, weight training, Pilates to name a few. We partnered with both Morristown High School to provide their students enrolled in Transition Skills (14-18 years old) and Colonial L.I.F.E. (Learning Independence for Employment) program for 14-18 year-olds. These programs enable students with special needs to learn the benefits of nutrition and exercise, knowledge that will stay with them for the rest of their lives. Since 2017, The YMCA has provided private classes once a month in their facilities for MHS Transition Skills students to engage them in the fitness process, prepare them to take group classes on their own and increase their individual fitness performance. The students are now taking classes ranging from Zumba to circuit training with increasing independence and confidence in their own athletic abilities. Beginning in 2019, the Y partnered with the MHS Colonial L.I.F.E. participants to provide them with personal workout schedules. The students come to the Y twice a week to follow their own workout plans. These students are using their experiences at the Y to become well-rounded healthy adults. We also partnered with Hanover Park High School eligible students (18-21) to help them transition into adult life. The program incorporates Community-Based Instruction that takes place in the community rather than in a school building and focuses on self-advocacy, basic needs of young adults, realistic job choices, personal responsibility and life goals. Outings include job sampling at various businesses, as well as the supermarket. One essential experience is exploring healthy habits by joining The Greater Morristown Y.M.CA. and attending classes twice a week. The students, along with the Greater Morristown YMCA participated in different types of fitness, at the same time as making them comfortable with the whole "Y" experience allowing them the opportunity to become lifelong members. As we conclude the 2018-2019 school year, we will be expanding the goals of physical fitness to include socialization with other school programs in the 2019-2020 school year. All of these various opportunities allow these students to gain the experience they need to lead independent lives once they leave Hanover Park. We continue to work with local agencies and local government to provide our services to as many people as possible, including community members in need. We also provide free memberships to the police and fire departments throughout our service area. The Greater Morristown YMCA is a haven for a cross section of the Morris County community. From ages 6 weeks to 96+ years, our YMCA has provided services and financial assistance for all since 1874 and continues to be an integral part of the fabric of the greater Morristown area into the 21st century.

SUMMER CAMP The Greater Morristown YMCA has operated its summer camp for more than 30 years at the YMCA's facility in Cedar Knolls. In 2016 we opened the Y-Zone Youth Annex, a brand new state of- the-art facility to house our extensive camp program. Our camp provided more than 550 children between the ages of five and thirteen a summer of safe and fun experiences in 2018. Our camping programs are educational; they promote mental stimulation, physical well-being, social growth, and respect for the environment. We organize and run a variety of activities making use of our facility and the surrounding three acres and plan excursions to several cultural venues available in our area. The camp aims to assist participants achieve their fullest potential and serve as childcare for working parents during the summer months. The summer camps operated by The Greater Morristown YMCA have become a staple in the Morris County community, with many children returning annually. Our Little Owls (ages 3-5) and Kinder Camp (for those entering Kindergarten in September) run from 7:15 am - 6:00 pm, which is conducive to working parents. Our camps include theme weeks, specialty camps, and a program for pre-teens, attracting children and families with a wide range of interests and needs. Programming includes opportunities for the exploration of nature, sports, STEM programs, music, swimming lessons and so much more. Our camp is a safe, productive and fun way for kids to spend the summer months, gain self-confidence, learn new skills, make new friends, create lifelong memories and most importantly, do so while in a safe environment. We also offer a summer camp for AHS employees, where older children may attend. In 2018 alone, 90 children received scholarship assistance to attend our camp through our Annual Support Campaign. Those same county agencies mentioned in "A Report of Current Activities", seek our assistance every summer to provide camp for the children of their clients. In 2018, we once again had to close camp registration as we had reached maximum capacity. We turned away many full paying customers as we simply did not have the space. Our new location at 6 Saddle Road will enable our campers to learn in a fun and safe environment and keep the "Summer Slide" at bay.

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