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April 22, 2023
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The YMCA of Greater Providence is hosting the Y’s annual Healthy Kids Day® on April 29, 2023. This free, annual event features a variety of family-friendly activities to encourage healthy kids, healthy families and a healthy start to the summer season.

In celebration of this annual kick-off to summer, we are sharing several activities that we encourage you to share with your kids. The goal is to have them try something new at the Y by promoting a variety of opportunities to get involved in active play – hopefully, this will inspire a lifetime love of physical and mental activity! Share these opportunities with your children and inspire them to “find their fun” by discovering an activity that they love!

 

Find Your Swimming Skills with Y Swim Lessons

Each year the Y teaches hundreds of children to swim. This helps them find their CONFIDENCE, teaches a lifelong skill and introduces them to lifelong fun. Visit our website to learn more about Y swim lessons.

Find Your Adventure with Y Summer Camp

Summer is a time for kids to explore new things and expand the limits of their imagination. At the YMCA of Greater Providence, every day is a new adventure! Whether experiencing the wonder of Camp Fuller by the Sea or having a blast with new friends at one of our four summer day camps, many children and teens find their ADVENTURE with the Y. Learn more about Y summer camp HERE.

Find your Passion with Y Sports

Youth sports are just the start of something bigger– besides teaching healthy living principles, they also teach the value of teamwork, help fuel determination and build character. At the YMCA of Greater Providence we have dozens of sports programs to help keep children active while igniting their PASSION for something greater. 


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April 6, 2023
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April is Child Abuse Prevention Month. As part of our commitment to protecting the children in our community, we’re participating in the Five Days of Action – a week-long campaign to increase awareness of child sexual abuse and empower and equip us all to prevent it. By taking part in this important campaign and through implementing abuse prevention practices year-round, the YMCA of Greater Providence is committing to the safety of all children in our community.   

The Know. See. Respond. campaign is back this year, tying in three impact areas – preventing child sexual abuse at both summer camp and in youth sports, and internet safety. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, U.S. Center for SafeSport and Praesidium have shared resources to support this campaign. 

Know: Summer Camp 

KNOWing about child sexual abuse can help adults better understand what to look for and how to prevent it.  As parents, caregivers, and trusted adults to the young people in our lives, we play an important role in protecting them from abuse. This requires our commitment to continually learn and then ask questions about the safety of our loved ones.   

The Y – and other youth serving organizations – implement a series of measures to keep the kids in their care safe.  Next time you enroll your loved one in a new program, ask them about their child protection practices. For this summer, you can use this list. 

See: Youth Sports 

When we SEE boundaries being crossed or suspect a child is being abused, we can and should act quickly. Sports should be safe places for children to grow, both as people and athletes. As a parent, caregiver, coach, or volunteer, it is up to you to make sure any environment in which children in your care interact is free from abuse. Learn more about the signs and how you can help prevent child sexual abuse in youth sports at https://uscenterforsafesport.org/parents/. 

Respond: Internet Safety 

Did you know that you don’t need evidence to report abuse—only reasonable suspicion? But even for adults, reporting abuse is hard. We don’t want to falsely accuse someone or get someone in trouble. On the other hand, reporting might be the one thing that saves a child – or children – from abuse. It is our responsibility to RESPOND to any and all disclosure, discovery or suspicion of child sexual abuse.  

As adults and children alike have turned to digital tools for school, work and socialization, online safety matters now more than ever. Many online dangers put children at risk, such as cyber bullying, online enticement and more. As an adult, keeping an open line of communication with any children in your care who may access online content can be key to helping prevent sexual abuse. Learn the facts, how you can keep kids safe, and how to respond to online victimization at https://www.missingkids.org/netsmartz. 

We take our commitment to child protection seriously and we hope you do too. Check out our protection policy here to learn more about how we keep kids safe at the YMCA of Greater Providence. 


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December 18, 2022
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Building

We are excited to announce some enhancements coming soon to the Newman branch facility. Later this month, we will be reconfiguring the spaces within the branch to better meet the needs of our members and service our community. We will be relocating the fitness area with dedicated cardio and strength fitness rooms to the opposite side of the facility. 

Members will still have access to the fitness equipment in a natural light area and maintain their same level of experience. With this new configuration we will be able to add group exercise programming throughout the year to enhance our member experience at this location. The gym use and swim programs will all remain unaffected by these updates and our goal is to grow our programing in these areas of our facility also. 

In order to make these changes, our facility will be closed for one day, December 22, 2022. We anticipate this as only a one-day closure. We anticipate your member experience resuming with normal business operations on December 23, 2022.  

We are excited to provide the same member experience in a different space arrangement. With this new setup we are delighted to be able to better serve our dance participants by bringing all of this programming into our facility. This dance enhancement will include: 

  • 5 classrooms (under one roof, no more driving between locations) – including 1 multi-purpose dance/tumble room with tumble flooring 
  • State-of-the-art, professional dance floors in all classrooms. 
  • Private waiting area for dance families 
  • Studio only reception area 

The Greater Providence YMCA remains committed to serving the Newman branch and surrounding community. We appreciate your patience as change takes time, money and resources.