YMCA News Archive

YMCA Builds Confidence, Connections and Character at Camp

jeffrey.needham — Fri, 30 Jun 2017 07:00:00 +0000

YMCA Builds Confidence, Connections and Character at Camp jeffrey.needham Fri, 06/30/2017 - 02:00

YMCA Builds Confidence, Connections and Character at Camp

The YMCA of the North (YGTC), a leading nonprofit dedicated to strengthening communities through youth development, healthy living and social responsibility, offers camp opportunities across the metro to keep kids active and learning during the summer months.

When school is out for the summer, many kids don’t get enough opportunities for physical activity, learning or social interaction. When they go back to school, they face hurdles that prevent them from reaching their full potential. YMCA camps provide meaningful outdoor experiences for urban and suburban youth that give them the opportunity to build new skills, make new friends and discover who they want to be.

“YMCA camps provide a safe environment for kids to explore the outdoors, learn new skills and build confidence,” said Glen Gunderson, president and CEO of the YGTC. “Y camps welcome everyone, whether they be a first-time camper or an international counselor. Kids at camp form lifelong friendships that cut across borders and boundaries.”

Kranz added that Y camps offer opportunities to explore a variety of new and unique activities, including horseback riding, fishing, science, climbing, canoeing, kayaking and more.

Discover how first-time campers felt confident, included and empowered at Y day camp – YMCA Welcomes First Time Campers.

Learn how camp provides opportunities for fun, responsibility, and new experiences through special activities like horseback riding – YMCA Camps: Learning through Horses.

See how YMCA counselors from across the globe – the U.K., South Africa, Australia, Columbia, Brazil, Turkey and more – bring a new perspective to camp and find a home away from home – YMCA Camps: Counselors from Around the World.

For more than 100 years, YGTC camps have offered an enriching experience with caring counselors who allow campers the freedom to be themselves. The Y offers 10 day camps throughout the metro, four overnight camps in Minnesota and Wisconsin, and two teen wilderness camps and two family camps in northern Minnesota. To ensure that everyone has an opportunity to participate, need-based financial assistance is available. Learn more about the Y’s camp programs.

Former Hopkins High and NDSU star emboldens kids to lead

jeffrey.needham — Wed, 28 Jun 2017 05:00:00 +0000

Former Hopkins High and NDSU star emboldens kids to lead jeffrey.needham Wed, 06/28/2017 - 00:00

Marcus Williams posed a question to a roomful of parents and their children. What do you need every day?

Their answers varied.

More self-discipline, someone said. More sleep, a parent said. More motivation. More study time.

That question broke the ice during a two-hour leadership seminar that Williams hosted in Minneapolis this month in conjunction with his youth football camp.

“We did things to get them out of their comfort zone,” Williams said.

The former Hopkins High School football and basketball star is a professional athlete now, approaching his fourth NFL season as a cornerback for the New York Jets.

Like many NFL players, Williams, 26, wanted to host a camp in his hometown as a thank you and an opportunity to inspire the next generation.

In purely athletic terms, his story is powerful.

He was told repeatedly that he was too small or too slow to play big-time college football. He became an FCS All-America and national champion at North Dakota State.

Then he was told repeatedly that he was too small or too slow to play in the NFL. He went undrafted but has found a home with the Jets and has a good chance to earn a starting job in training camp.

Williams wanted his football camp to be about more than just football drills and conditioning, though. He envisioned something more impactful than a few hours on the field and a picture with an NFL player.

“He wanted to be accessible to them and not just about football,” said his father, Jeff. “How do we make something stick for the young people and give them a voice?”

Williams had an idea: Create a leadership seminar for kids ages 8 to 12 and their parents a few weeks before the actual camp. He hoped to build self-esteem and provide kids with values that guide their daily lives.

“We said: What can we do that other people aren’t doing?” Williams said. “We felt this was something unique.”

Two-hour sessions were held three consecutive Saturdays and drew 30 to 40 kids for each class. Williams helped lead the discussions along with his father, who is a personal empowerment training manager with Twin Cities R! SE, an organization that helps people improve their lives through career training and employment.

William partnered with the YMCA of the North. The camp was free and held this past Saturday at Fairview Park in Minneapolis.

“The camp is fun,” Williams said, “but what we did in the classroom is way more valuable and important than what we can ever teach you on the football field.”

They started by telling the kids that they are lovable, important and valuable. The program focused on five attitudes critical to leadership — vision, courage, perseverance, belief and service.

At one point, counselors broke parents and kids into smaller groups. Each group made up a verse to a song that a family friend of Williams wrote specifically for his leadership camp.

To better understand each other, parents were asked what they need from their kids. And vice versa so that parents could hear directly from the children.

“The parents can understand and see what’s going on with the kids because they’re not at school with them,” Williams said. “They don’t know how their kids are thinking sometimes.”

Mathew Collier came with his 11-year-old son, Riddik. Collier is a fifth-grade teacher so he’s trained to impart many of those lessons at home and in his classroom. But he found value for his son in hearing that message from a professional athlete who grew up in Minneapolis.

“My son goes to a bunch of these different camps, but this is the first time they’ve had this aspect,” Collier said. “I wish the rest of them would do something like this.”

Williams gave campers his Instagram account and told them to reach out any time if they feel the need. He didn’t want to hold a one-day camp and then disappear from their lives.

“I’m thankful that I was born in this area and have worked my tail off to get to where I am now,” he said.

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She normally drives to the gym. On her 100th, they sent a limo

jeffrey.needham — Mon, 26 Jun 2017 05:00:00 +0000

She normally drives to the gym. On her 100th, they sent a limo jeffrey.needham Mon, 06/26/2017 - 00:00

Virginia Milbert’s bucket list got shorter Monday — on her 100th birthday.

Around 7:45 a.m., a limousine rolled up to her South St. Paul home, surprising her with a lift to her morning workout at the YMCA in West St. Paul.

“I’d never been in a limo,” said Milbert, who usually drives herself to the Y.

The chauffeured round-trip ride, paid for by a YMCA member who wanted to remain anonymous, was part of a birthday celebration organized by Y staff and members and friends. It included cake, cards and gifts — and lots of well-wishing. It brought Milbert to tears.

“Thank you,” she said after the group sang “Happy Birthday” and gave her a round of applause. “Every single one of you.”
Milbert, who is known to most by her nickname, “Ginger,” has been a Y member since 1993, working out for an hour on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

“I love it,” she said. “If you sit, you die, you know.”

Rose Fairbanks, 77, said Milbert never misses a workout.

“She’s my incentive,” she said.

Naomi Marzinske, who instructs the workout class, said Milbert has been an inspiration to others for years.

“She leads by example,” Marzinske said.

Indeed, said Kathy Grinsteinner, 68, who met Milbert in the class two years ago.

“I was complaining and thinking that it was too hard to do,” Grinsteinner said. “But I had Ginger behind me, and I decided that I better be quiet and just do it.”

Grinsteinner volunteers with Milbert at Neighbors Inc., a South St. Paul food shelf. Milbert sat on the first committee that formed Neighbors in 1972, and she still volunteers Tuesday and Thursday mornings sorting and pricing used clothing.

“Love it,” Milbert said. “I’m doing some good, and it makes me feel good. And you need something to make you feel good.”

Joan Rhodes, director of programs at Neighbors, said she admires Milbert’s positive attitude.

“My granddaughter volunteered with Virginia one day,” Rhodes said, “and she said after, ‘When I get to be old, I want to be just like her.’ She just has this peacefulness and love of life, and it’s infectious.”

Rhodes said Milbert’s sassy side keeps things lively at Neighbors.

“I guess I just made up my mind a long time ago that I wasn’t going to be a crabby old lady,” Milbert said.

Neighbors Inc. will throw another birthday celebration for Milbert, at 11 a.m. Thursday; it’s open to the public.

As far as her health, Milbert said she’s “feeling pretty good” and credits her genes and lifestyle.

“That’s what everybody asks me … ‘How are you doing it?’ It’s funny. It’s genes, I guess. I think I come from a family that lived longer,” said Milbert, who grew up in Maple Plain and graduated from Wayzata High School in 1935. “And, of course, I never smoked. I tried it once and it tasted so bad I said, ‘That’s for the birds.’ I didn’t like Coca-Cola, either, so I cut out the soft drinks.”

Mibert’s mind is “sharp as a tack,” said 68-year-old Melane Milbert, one of her three daughters.

In 2011, Milbert wanted to skydive as part of a fundraising campaign for Neighbors. Her daughters “squashed that,” she said. “They figured if I broke my leg they’d have to take care of me, and they didn’t want that. I sure wanted to go for it.”

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YMCA Celebrates Father’s Day as Reminder of Important Role Male Caregivers Play in Children’s Lives

Elise.Guenther — Fri, 16 Jun 2017 14:52:07 +0000

YMCA Celebrates Father’s Day as Reminder of Important Role Male Caregivers Play in Children’s Lives Elise.Guenther Fri, 06/16/2017 - 09:52

Father's Day

Minneapolis, MN – The YMCA of the North (YGTC), a leading nonprofit dedicated to strengthening communities through youth development, healthy living and social responsibility, will recognize Father’s Day on Sunday, June 18 – a celebration that began at the YMCA in Spokane, Washington on June 19, 1910, initiated by Sonora Louis Smart Dodd.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, one in three children live without their biological fathers. In addition, societal factors such as unemployment, work-life balance or a lack of resources can affect a father’s ability to become more engaged in the lives of his children. Studies show that children with close relationships with their fathers and other adult male role models have more self-confidence, perform better academically and engage in less risky behavior.

“On Father’s Day, we celebrate dads and all male adult role models and recognize how important it is for children to grow up with men who are committed, responsible and involved,” said Glen Gunderson, president and CEO of the YGTC. “The Y provides resources and opportunities for fathers to connect with their children through programs that foster understanding and companionship, including family camp, sports, volunteering, group exercise classes and more.”

Friday Opinuendo: On researchers, engineers, optimists and more …

jeffrey.needham — Fri, 16 Jun 2017 05:00:00 +0000

Friday Opinuendo: On researchers, engineers, optimists and more … jeffrey.needham Fri, 06/16/2017 - 00:00

100 years of research

A singular St. Paul institution — Wilder Research — is noting 100 years of contributions to our community.

“From our first study in 1917 to today, our research has focused on getting at the heart of community concerns and examining issues that are often overlooked or misunderstood,” Wilder Research says on its website.

Findings from that first study — an examination of housing conditions in the capital city — reportedly shocked the community. Wilder researchers visited more than 5,000 dwellings that were home to approximately 22,000 people, according to the website. “Housing conditions were described as a ‘menace to the health, safety and privacy of thousands of St. Paul people.’ Some sections of the city were described to be ‘wholly unsuited for human habitation.’”

Among results was enactment of the city’s first housing ordinance the next year.

Wilder Research says that each year it issues about 250 reports that help clients — nonprofits, service providers, government agencies, foundations and policymakers — better understand major social issues and how they can most effectively address them.

It also notes that being part of an operating foundation gives it “an immediate link to service programs, and the unique opportunity to test and evaluate innovative programming.”

Serving teens this summer

Good work involving the Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation and the YMCA of the North deserves a shout-out.

A donation from the foundation is providing up to 5,000 free YMCA memberships for Twin Cities teenagers this summer, the Pioneer Press reported.

Teens need a safe place to go in their communities that is flexible, engaging and accessible to all, says a statement from the YMCA. It makes two important points: that drinking, drug use and other risky behaviors increase during the summer when young people’s time is less structured, and that only 20 percent of today’s 16- to 17-year-olds hold a summer job, with the rate even lower among teens of color.

“We believe supporting the YMCA summer program is a unique opportunity to directly provide an educational and enriching experience for teens and their families during the summer months,” said Mark Dienhart, president and CEO of the Schulze Family Foundation. “This program will offer a safe space for teens to spend time and make new friends, to get social and physical activity opportunities, to connect with caring adults, to gain leadership development, to offer service learning opportunities and to explore a pathway to part-time jobs at the Y.”

The donation — $500,000 from the foundation created by the founder of Richfield-based Best Buy — will fund the Y’s Get Summer program through 2019.

Cadets race to victory

Congratulations to the Experimental Vehicle Team from St. Thomas Academy in Mendota Heights, which raced the energy-efficient battery-electric car it designed and built, winning a world championship in competition last month in London.

“I am so proud of the whole team — the boys who were here in London and those back in Minnesota,” the team’s co-moderator, Caroline Little, said in a statement. “We wouldn’t have made it this far without their tremendous teamwork, ingenuity and competitive spirit.”

In earlier competition in Detroit at which their vehicle achieved a pace of 50.3 miles per kilowatt hour, the team won an all-expenses-paid trip to London to compete in the Shell Drivers’ World Championship. With its latest win, the team will receive a week-long, all-expenses-paid trip to Scuderia Ferrari — the racing division of the Italian auto maker — in Maranello, Italy, later this year.

On Facebook, it’s noted that the team was created “to take students out of the textbook and provide budding engineers with real-life problem-solving activities. Students are pushed to realize that science is not always easy, does not always work, and that the answers are not always at the back of the book.”

Thank you, Chief Schnell

We thank Paul Schnell, who retired last week after a distinguished career in law enforcement in the east metro. His career has included serving as director of public safety in Maplewood since 2013, and also as Hastings police chief and as a public information officer for the St. Paul Police Department.

No matter the topic — body cams, community policing, truck weights or transparency — the editorial board has benefited from Schnell’s candor and insights.

The good word about downtown

Recent word that a St. Paul office-condo building is for sale came with an encouraging affirmation of downtown vitality.
The Pioneer Press reported that the offer involving Landmark Towers on St. Peter Street includes 20 floors of office space and a more than 300-stall parking ramp, but not the structure’s five floors of luxury condominiums.

The seller is hoping to take advantage of recent developments — and prospects of more — in downtown St. Paul, Pioneer Press intern Kayla Song wrote.

“Downtown St. Paul is experiencing some incredible revitalization with the influx of new residents, access to light-rail transit and around-the-clock activities and services,” she quoted Frank Sherwood of CBRE’s Minneapolis office, which is marketing the tower’s commercial space.

The Hall has called

Pioneer Press columnist Joe Soucheray has been named to the Minnesota Broadcasting Hall of Fame. He’ll be inducted in September. On radio, Soucheray holds court weekday afternoons on ESPN 1500AM as the mayor of “Garage Logic.” Congratulations, Joe!

Just so there’s no doubt, the show’s Facebook page provides the lay of the land: Garage Logic is the seat of Gumption County, down the road from Diversityville, but not as far as Liberal Lakes.

Further, deep-seated right here, Opinuendo sayeth not.

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Former Andersen CEO leaves $7.5M to St. Croix Valley nonprofits. The community will benefit.

jeffrey.needham — Wed, 14 Jun 2017 05:00:00 +0000

Former Andersen CEO leaves $7.5M to St. Croix Valley nonprofits. The community will benefit. jeffrey.needham Wed, 06/14/2017 - 00:00

Three St. Croix Valley nonprofit organizations were near and dear to Harold Meissner’s heart.

When the former president of Andersen Corp. died in November, he left nearly $7.5 million to the St. Croix Valley Foundation on behalf of those organizations: Courage Kenny Rehabilitation Institute-St. Croix in Stillwater, the Hudson YMCA, and Lakeview Hospital Hospice Program in Stillwater.

The Hudson YMCA plans to use the Meissner funds to “help those who otherwise could not afford YMCA programs and services,” said Chris Kost, executive director.

“We’re not going to use it for operations,” Kost said. “It’s all going to go back into the community.”

Meissner was a key player in the construction of the YMCA in 1995, Kost said, but there are no rooms named after him in the building.

“He wasn’t someone who wanted a lot of attention,” Kost said. “He was a very philanthropic individual who loved to help the community. He loved his cars, loved to play golf and loved to give back.”

Meissner died Nov. 5 at his house in Boutwells Landing in Oak Park Heights. He was 98.

Meissner, who never married or had children, worked at Andersen for 57 years. He became the company’s sixth president and vice chair in 1981 and retired in 1993 at the age of 70.

The St. Croix Valley Foundation will invest and manage the Meissner endowment funds and will provide grants from the funds annually.

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She survived Afghanistan. Now she uses her skills to lead St. Paul Eastside YMCA

jeffrey.needham — Sun, 11 Jun 2017 05:00:00 +0000

She survived Afghanistan. Now she uses her skills to lead St. Paul Eastside YMCA jeffrey.needham Sun, 06/11/2017 - 00:00

When Courtney Troyer talks about teaching low-income Somali refugees how to swim to help prevent their children from drowning, her word choice conveys military can-do.

“I’m confident we’re going to pull the trigger on this thing,” Troyer said from the corner office of the St. Paul Eastside YMCA on Arcade Street. “It’s in our scope.”

Troyer talks like what she is — a third-generation U.S. military combat veteran, a self-described “Army brat,” an Air Force technical sergeant, a Texas girl turned Minnesota mom, and executive director of an organization that often provides a lifeline for many of the poorest populations in the Twin Cities.

Over the past three years, Troyer has set her sights on two aims: diversifying her leadership staff to better reflect the community — 75 percent of her top administrators are people of color — and finding ways to fill community needs.

“We partner with anybody — anybody and everybody,” said Troyer, who ticks off the names of community agencies such as Hmong American Partnership and the Latino social services agency CLUES.

Those partnerships have led to job and general education development training for Karen youth, swim classes for refugee moms, a Hmong-language “Forever Well” senior wellness program, day-round child care, a foster-grandmother program that introduces the very young to a community elder, and more.

It’s also meant a unique partnership with John A. Johnson Achievement Plus elementary school, which directly adjoins the YMCA by sky bridge.

A secure door separates school kids from YMCA classes and gym space, but it yawns open wide several times a day so teachers and youth workers can move kids to the Y’s activity areas.

Troyer sees that door as a fitting metaphor for her efforts. She’s all about forging connections between people, and encouraging them to do the same.

Her sports director is Chilean-American. Her youth outreach worker is a Hmong youth minister. Her child care coordinator is an African-American woman. Another leader is Korean-American. Another is Puerto Rican. And Troyer is proud of her Mexican roots, which include a grandpa who fought for the U.S. in the Korean War.

“Some of these Somali girls are taking swimming lessons, and they’re in full garb,” said Phyllis Salchow, a retired occupational therapist who learned to swim at the Eastside YMCA in the 1940s, back when it was located on Magnolia Avenue and Arcade Street. “It’s amazing. I think it’s wonderful. Some of these kids were scared to death to even get in the water.”

Sitting in the Y’s lobby in full view of the swimming pools, Salchow took a coffee break Wednesday morning with Dave Yarusso, who arrives at the Y at 6 a.m. most weekdays to ready workout equipment and hand out treats to youngsters.
“I’ve been a volunteer for 10 years now,” said Yarusso, who retired in 2008 from the Yarusso Brothers Italian Restaurant on Payne Avenue.

It takes both pride and humility to lead in a community full of needs: Troyer’s organization is one of the smallest YMCAs in the Twin Cities, and by some measures, one of the poorest.

Some 85 percent of children who walk in the door do so with a Y scholarship, assistance from Ramsey County, or both.
“This is a branch that operates in the red,” said Troyer, who makes it her mission not to turn anyone away for lack of funds. “This branch does not make a profit. Our annual goal for fundraising was $76,000 — we actually raised $81,000 — but we give out $644,505 in scholarships or financial aid.”

Grants and donations to the Twin Cities YMCA network help make up the sizable difference.

Across the Twin Cities, the YMCA is giving out 200 free teen memberships for the summer at each of 20 locations, and some locations offer free swimming lessons for low-income youth.

Mercedes De La Rosa, who juggles two jobs as a hospital assistant and group home worker, has enrolled her 4-year-old daughter Kaleah in child care at the Eastside Y since the girl was 8 months old.

“I was thinking of pulling her from day care, just because I didn’t think we would qualify this year (for financial assistance),” De La Rosa said. “But they still helped us, which we were very grateful for.”

‘THEY SEE PEOPLE WHO LOOK LIKE THEM’

Troyer’s staff of some 200 workers is young and vibrant, and most of her 12 top administrators are people of color.

Youth development program manager Longkee Vang, 29, who graduated from nearby Johnson High School a decade ago, now oversees the Y’s year-round tutoring efforts at the school, which is home to a high-minority population that is more than 50 percent Southeast Asian.

“A lot of our staff reflects the community that we serve, and I think it’s so important that when young people and families come here, they see people who look like them,” said Vang, who is Hmong.

Realizing that the $300 lifeguard certification was a barrier to entry, the Eastside Y often waived the fee, taught Hmong and Karen teens how to swim, and then hired them as lifeguards.

Troyer’s next goal — shuttling busloads of East African moms to a pool where they can swim in privacy — will be more challenging.

“If the parents learn how to swim, that’s one of the best defenses against drowning, and the majority of parents can’t swim, men or women,” she said.

Troyer, who has led the Eastside YMCA since 2014, recalled finding groups of Somali-American women and their daughters waiting in the lobby for what seemed like hours while their sons hit the gym. The women preferred not to break a sweat in front of males, and some even felt to do so would violate their culture or faith.

“The moms were essentially coming so their boys could get all their energy out and play basketball,” Troyer said. “We were pretty intentional with the conversation that we had on how to better engage them. So we thought up the first Muslim women-only fitness and aerobics class in studio. Some instructors felt (the marketing) should be quiet, by word of mouth, so it doesn’t seem exclusive. I said heck no. We need to blast this out!”

FROM MINNESOTA ROOTS TO AFGHANISTAN

The class has been a popular draw, and a reminder to Troyer of difficult times in her own youth. If there’s one thing Troyer knows, it’s being on the outside looking in.

Troyer recalled when her father, who hauled the family from Texas all over the world as a U.S. Army sergeant major, informed her they’d be leaving Hawaii during her senior year of high school and relocating to Farmington, Minn., for a special duty assignment. It was 1992, and her brother was immediately hailed as Farmington High School’s hunky “Latin lover,” while she was the tan-skinned newcomer who didn’t fit in.

“People were like, ‘Who is this girl with jet black hair and dark skin?’ It was very uncomfortable,” said Troyer, who finished high school in a funk. “It was the most awkward situation I’ve ever been in in my life. All I could think of is how can I get out of this state? I went to an army recruiter because my brain said, ‘Go back to what you know.’ ”

She suited up with the U.S. Air Force for 14 years. Early on, after the birth of her first daughter in 1996, her supervisor informed her that her baby weight was well over military fitness requirements. Little did she suspect at the time that her chubbiness would years later set her on a path back to Minnesota, and on a route to becoming a neighborhood leader and nonprofit executive director.

Her supervisor told her to sign up for step aerobics three times a week.

She showed up to her first class feeling out of place in her ex-husband’s baggy sweatpants. After realizing there was no way she could keep up with the lean, fast-paced aerobics instructor, she walked out mid-class and found herself facing disciplinary action.

She was written up for disobeying a lawful order from a superior officer. Losing weight had been an order, not a suggestion.
Soon, Troyer was back in front of yet another aerobics instructor, but one with an entirely different attitude.

Every step was broken down into simpler steps. The class felt more inviting, and Troyer stuck with it — even when the instructor, who had certifications that Troyer did not, couldn’t make class because of a traffic incident.

In a panic, the instructor called Troyer, her star student, and begged her to fill in. Troyer did.

Troyer felt good about herself. Years later, she took that same confidence and step-by-step approach into the YMCA in downtown Minneapolis, where she got her start as an associate fitness director in 2008.

Between those two turning points, two more marriages and a war loom large in her memory. In the fall of 2001, she and her second husband were returning from a routine deployment to Saudi Arabia, and her return flight home was to take her through Italy, Ireland, Maryland and Minneapolis.

It was Sept. 11, and terrible news arrived mid-flight.

Terrorists had launched multiple attacks in the U.S., knocking down the massive twin towers of the World Trade Center buildings in New York City with airplanes. Soon after landing on American soil, Troyer shipped out to Afghanistan for “Operation Enduring Freedom.”

BACK IN THE U.S.A.

It’s memories like these that make Troyer wince and change the subject.

The next few years of military conflict upended her second marriage and left her with troubling war memories. That experience helped make her more sensitive to the plight of the refugee populations she now serves, she said.

The St. Paul Eastside YMCA is one of 10 YMCAs in the country dubbed a “New American Welcome Center” — an official resource center for new immigrants.

Troyer envisions launching a partnership with the St. Paul-based HealthEast Care System to provide low-cost therapists for low-income clients.

“Post-traumatic stress disorder is not just for military people,” Troyer said. “(For some people), it’s from not having food. Now you’re in a country where, from the political pulse, we’re saying, ‘We don’t want you here.’ A lot of people of color, we don’t talk about mental health. There’s some stigma to going to a clinic. How are we going to identify those people who had those high stressors in their life, where they’d benefit from meeting with a therapist? This is all in the works.”

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YMCA and HealthPartners Collaborate to Promote Reading, Talking and Singing to Young Children

jeffrey.needham — Mon, 05 Jun 2017 14:49:20 +0000

YMCA and HealthPartners Collaborate to Promote Reading, Talking and Singing to Young Children jeffrey.needham Mon, 06/05/2017 - 09:49

YMCA and HealthPartners Collaborate to Promote Reading, Talking and Singing to Young Children

Minneapolis, MN – The YMCA of the North, a leading nonprofit dedicated to strengthening communities through youth development, healthy living and social responsibility, is launching a pilot tool with HealthPartners called “Boost Your Brain,” to promote reading, talking and singing with children ages 0-3.

Studies show that a baby’s brain is more than 80 percent developed by age three. “Boost Your Brain” is a booklet that encourages parents to read, talk and sing to their young children every day. The booklet highlights research on brain development and offers suggestions on what parents can do to encourage healthy brain development at different ages. “Boost Your Brain” will be piloted to families of children in child-care programs at two YMCA locations, the St. Paul Midway YMCA and the Eagan YMCA.

“When you read, talk, sing or play with children, you are exercising their brains and equipping them for success in the future,” said Andrea Walsh, president and CEO of HealthPartners. “The YMCA and HealthPartners share a passion for children in our community, and we are pleased to support the ‘Boost Your Brain’ project to support families and children and improve community health and well-being.”

The “Boost Your Brain” pilot is an example of HealthPartners’ work to advance children’s health and well-being.

“The YMCA is proud to collaborate with HealthPartners and support children’s health,” said Glen Gunderson, president and CEO of the YMCA of the North. “We know that the first three years of a child’s life are critical to their cognitive and social-emotional development. We look forward to sharing this important resource with youth and parents in Y programs.”

The Eagan HealthPartners and Park Nicollet Pediatric Clinics will also have the booklet available in waiting rooms. The pilot is expected to last a couple months. Parent feedback will then be used to inform how the resource could be rolled out more broadly.

About HealthPartners

HealthPartners is the largest consumer-governed, non-profit health care organization in the nation with a mission to improve health and well-being in partnership with members, patients and the community. For more information, visit healthpartners.com.

About the YMCA of the North

The YMCA of the North is a leading nonprofit dedicated to strengthening communities through youth development, healthy living and social responsibility. Established 161 years ago, the Ys provide life-strengthening services across 12 counties of the greater Twin Cities metro region and western Wisconsin communities. The 28 Y locations and program sites, seven overnight camps, 10 day camps, and more than 90 child care sites engage more than 350,000 men, women and children of all ages, incomes and backgrounds. To learn more about the Y’s mission and work, visit www.ymcamn.org.