Introduction
This report will confront the issue at the Sheridan County YMCA and its lack of space for its After School Program. Over the last eight years since the program’s start it has become a wonderful opportunity for families in need of childcare in the hours between the children’s release from school and when they get off work. The program has gained a promising reputation, that being said, it has also gained a hefty waitlist of parents in hopes of their children being accepted into the program.
This report will be separated into the following sections: Statement of the Problem, Research Methods, Results, Conclusion, and Recommendations. In Statement of the Problem I will address the issue and how it immediately affects folks at the YMCA and those they serve. Those at the YMCA have expressed their direct concern with the lack of space for the program and are in search of a sensible way to accommodate families it affects. In the Research Methods sections I will explain how I obtained my information and in Results I will document my discoveries after conducting my research. In the Conclusions section I will explain what the findings mean and I will follow with my recommendation for solving the problem in the Recommendations section.
Statement of the Problem
Currently the Sheridan County YMCA offers an after-school child care program that utilizes YMCA After School staff to supervise children between the ages of about five and twelve years old. Approximately
After seeing the smiles that seemed almost permanent that week, I realized how important it is to work with and help younger children. I also learned what it’s like knowing that you’ve made a difference in someone’s life. I’ve been a counselor at that same camp for two more years since that first summer, and it gets better every time. Even though it can be difficult and frustrating to work with children sometimes, the reward that you, as well as the children, receive is well worth the effort.
The YMCA is the nation's largest not-for-profit community service organization in America. With more than 2,500 YMCAs, they are able to meet the health and social service needs of 18.9 million men, women and children in over 10,000 communities in the United States. No one is turned away from the Y. It is a place for people fo all faiths, races, abilities, ages and incomes. Inability to pay is never a reason for the YMCA to turn someone away. Their strength lies in fulfilling their goal of bringing people together.
More parents than ever these days are working outside of the home. This means that when the school bell rings, many children are left unsupervised and with no where to go but an empty house with no supervision. Not only that, but some parents are also struggling to provide adequate after-school care. Either they cannot afford the monthly payments of a daycare, or the programs are just simply not available to them. (Ansell, 2004).
For the classroom observation assignment I was able to observe at Stepping Stones Family Childcare and Preschool Program. I conducted observations for five hours each on the dates of September 24th and September 25th of the year 2015. This licensed home-based daycare and preschool program is located in a quiet suburban neighborhood on 4103 Bryant Street, Blasdell, New York. The facility allows for a twelve-child capacity (ages 6 weeks to 12 years with four additional school age) and is owned and founded by Kim Bannister. When I observed, there were two additional staff present. Therefore, there were a total of 3 adults and 12 children at the center when I observed. New York State Senator Marc C. Panepinto was also present on September 25th as he read to the children and toured the home. I chose this specific setting as I personally thought it would be an interesting dynamic to study how a home-based preschool program is run.
The boys and girls club have been serving children for 150 years. They have given their helping hand to millions of kids worldwide. The Boys and Girls club’s mission has always been “To enable all young people, especially those who need us most, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens.” The Boys and Girl’s club was formed to assist underprivileged children or children who do not live in the best environment. This organization possesses a numerous amount of goals and achievements they want for each child in the program. They provide a safe and fun environment; help create skills for the future and help children build relationships with positive adults. In addition the
Changing demographics might impact children and the way they will learn. Children learn and start to develop a sense of the world at an early age. How does a center meet the needs of these new families when they come from a demographic where those households were the norm at their center. Children and families rely on the facilities to create and welcome their diversity. Centers and Schools are realizing that demographic trends are changing and that working together with families in creating a welcoming environment in order to embrace their diversity to protect the children’s well-being.
The location we would like to start our child care center in is 6800 Shakespeare Rd, Columbia, SC 29223 Columbia, South Carolina. There are 13 licensed centers in our community within our local zip code with an average capacity of 20-240 children. There are 7 Head Start programs and no Early Start programs that operate in the community. The Head Start programs do not specify how many children they serve. Our community has 1 faith-based program. These faith based programs are not exempt from licensure and they serve 100-238 children. Our local public schools offer head start in the whole county for pre-Kindergarten aged children. There is no YMCA in our community.
While at my on-site orientation for tutoring at the Center for the Homeless in downtown South Bend, the volunteer coordinator made a point of bringing up the center’s Montessori preschool program. It is very unique, and she was very proud of it. She then went on to explain why the program is so important. She said that the younger kids have the greatest chance of changing their ways. The earlier they start turning their lives around, the better the chance that they will break old harmful habits and start making new helpful ones.
After a single telephone call to the Children’s Hospital Volunteer Services Coordinators, I learned that volunteers were readily accepted to serve within the hospital’s recreational therapy deparment. When they asked my reason for volunteering, I explained to them that I wanted to help the children develop their leadership potential as well as other abilities. The members of volunteer services seemed excited.
My recommendation is to focus on the parents of the low-income teenagers who attend Glenville High School, which is where this free program will be held. This intervention will consist of 8 sessions led by trained professionals who have experience with helping caregivers improve their parenting skills and teaching parents how to communicate with and help their adolescent children.
Lastly, the districts community outreach programs for the amount of ELs in the district is outstanding, with one-on-one meetings and communication, the families are constantly kept in the loop and current with their student’s learning. Along with that, the school also provides summer camp for ELs and additional supports. There are no improvements that I would suggest to this portion of the program at this time.
1. Abbington Youth Center is a not-for-profit organization, which provides three high-quality programs: Infants and Toddlers Program, Preschool Program, and After-School Program. Targets are children up to three-years old, three to five-years old, and five to seven-years old.
Children who are subject to negative or bad environments are more prone to engaging in drugs and alcohol. There are many programs that bring awareness and prevention to alcohol and drugs. The South Carolina Afterschool Alliance program provides groups and organizations with an effective after-school program plan. The after-school programs are essential in promoting awareness and prevention of drugs, alcohol, tobacco, abstinence, and violence to young children or adolescents.
I have been volunteering as a Child-Youth-Family (CYF) volunteer at the Brampton YMCA since I was in Grade 8. I have worked directly alongside supervisors and other volunteers to bring positive change to the children that frequent the YMCA in a diverse range of programs, such as Child/Youth Multisport, Child/Youth Jungle Gym, Childminding, and Family Badminton. I have also led programs individually and with a partner on the YMCA’s National Healthy Kids Week program, and various YMCA community outreach programs, such as dance recitals and bake sales. These are roles in which I showcase my ability to lead programs and lead children effectively
Becoming a woman who is “marriage material” is not as simple as one might think. This years girls dorm retreat we were blessed to have not one but three guest speakers to enlighten us on the topic. To start off we had a splendid dinner which consisted of three different type of soups each one brought its own side. While we all conversed and took pictures, a cupcake competition began, we had to decorate the cupcakes as creatively as we could, the winner would receive a prize at the end. Once all that concluded we headed down to the dorm chapel to begin our worship service. The chapel was magnificently decorated by Dean Powell, each window sill had a candle burning sitting on a purple fabric with orange sparkling leaves acound it. In the center aisle there were purple, white and yellow flowers and once you looked up straight ahead the words “marriage material” were perfectly centered with purple flowers around it. The service began with a couple of songs and prayer. Soon after that we had an activity which we all participated in. Around the room there were purple pieces of paper with the names of different men and under that was a list of positive attributes that each man had. Our job was to go around the room and pick who we thought was our perfect guy, once we all had found our Mr perfect, Dean Powell came around and handed us a list of the negative attributes our men that we had chosen had. All of a sudden the chapel was overcome with the uproar of girls