YMCA of Central Massachusetts: Communication at the YMCA

PROJECT SPONSOR

The Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA), originally founded in 1844, is a worldwide nonprofit organization
which meets the needs of the community through programs and services.  The YMCA now has many branches scattered throughout the world that continue to aid in building the foundations of the community. The Central Community Branch in Worcester, MA continues the mission of the YMCA, with priorities of: youth development, healthy living, social responsibility, and mission advancement.  This YMCA is very open to the diversity of the Worcester population, which is described in their diversity inclusion statement.  The YMCA is continuing their pursuit of youth development by enhancing relationships with parents and children involved in the after school program.

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PROJECT DESCRIPTION

For our Interactive Qualifying Project, we will be working with the Central Community Branch of the YMCA.  The sponsors for our project will be Association Vice President, David Connell; Regional Associate Executive Director, Pam Suprenant; and the Head of School Age Child Care Services, Sarah Levy.  The main area we will be focusing
with for our project will be with the After-School program at the YMCA.  Our project is aimed at enhancing communication among the YMCA staff, and between the YMCA staff and parents.  We will be developing an electronic data gathering tool with features that will aid the YMCA with: attendance, the pick up and drop off process, the activities in which the child participates in, etc.   This tool will also be accessible to parents, where they can: track the progress of their child, sign their children up for programs online, and will notify the parents in case of an absence.  The tool that we make will be further developed in future projects, which can be used for the entirety of the YMCA.

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STUDENT RESEARCHERS

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PROJECT GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

GOAL:

The main goal for our project was to collaborate with the YMCA to develop and enhance forms of communication among staff, and between staff and parents.

OBJECTIVES:

1. Assessed the current communication methods used among the YMCA staff
2. Assessed the current communication methods used between staff and parents
3. Developed new and improved forms of communication at the YMCA
4. Evaluated and piloted the new forms of communication at the YMCA
5. Developed and proposed recommendations for the YMCA about communication