When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
YMCA Youth and Government Region 1 Yellow Navy Blue 3” Pin 75mm Button Name badge
In the United States, YMCA is more commonly known as 'The Y' with its national office headquartered in Chicago. It has 800 separate organisational entities affiliated to its national office, based in 2,700 branch locations,[57] working with 21 million people, to "strengthen communities through youth development, healthy living and social responsibility."[58] It has about 19,000 staff and 600,000 volunteers.
Its major programs include after-school activities, day care, youth work and physical fitness. A large number of its service locations have gyms, weight rooms, swimming pools, and sports courts where basketball and other sports are played.
The first YMCA in the United States opened on 29 December 1851, in Boston, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1851 by Captain Thomas Valentine Sullivan (1800–59), an American seaman and missionary. In 1853 the Reverend Anthony Bowen founded the first YMCA for Colored Men in Washington, D.C. The renamed Anthony Bowen YMCA is still serving the U Street area of Washington. It became a part of YMCA of the city of Washington in 1947. Through the middle part of the 20th century it was associated with homosexual subculture, with the athletic facilities providing cover for closeted individuals.[59][60]
YMCAs in the USA have been one of the largest charitable nonprofits in the United States, in terms of donations received from the general public, as listed by Forbes magazine.[61] YMCA in the USA is one of the many organizations that espouses muscular Christianity.
YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries.[2] It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally as the Young Men's Christian Association, and aims to put Christian values into practice by developing a healthy "body, mind, and spirit".
