Chronicle of Us A New Direction for Our Story
The YMCA of San Diego County’s Community Support Services’ Chronicle of Us project empowers staff by providing an opportunity to creatively express their stories related to work in social services and their relationship with the Y as a nonprofit organization.
In serving over 126,000 individuals each year, we make an impact one person at a time. Our team of over 800 compassionate individuals partner with community members every day, working towards a shared commitment: understanding a critical need to support one another, to find common ground, and to create a better us.
The stories that follow were drafted through staff participation in organized workshops contracted with local agencies and artists. We received over 65 art pieces from our staff.
With this volume, we hope that you learn more about the issues that we advocate for, how we address them, and the impact we are making in the community.
Join us in continuing the story by supporting our work with a gift, and receive the full version by adding "Chronicle of Us" in the donation comment section.
WHY IT’S NEEDED
America’s “Finest” City
Our region is home to more than 3 million residents that inhabit neighborhoods with unique identities and complex needs. We exist in every community to ensure everyone has a chance to thrive and, in their own special way, contribute to making San Diego “America’s Finest City.”
Each touchpoint with YMCA’s Community Support Services contributes to a more prosperous society, breaking cycles of poverty to ensure individuals reach their full potential along a continuum of development.
Early Childhood Education
Because early care impacts multiple generations, the YMCA is committed to ensuring access to affordable, quality early education. We educate parents on how to identify a quality setting for their child, operate subsidy programs that help families pay for child care when they don’t have the means to do so, and make sure child care providers have the training and education to improve the quality of their care.
Out of School Time
Out-of-school programs set students on a path to successfully joining the workforce by improving school attendance and keeping students engaged reduce the chances a student will dropout, use or abuse substances, or commit a crime. Spending time out of school in a supportive environment also helps students build social-emotional skills and improve their health and nutrition in a way that enriches what they learn throughout the school day.
Mental and Behavioral Health
We work to ensure that all children and young adults can access behavioral health, psychiatric support, and mental health treatment regardless of the severity of their symptoms and any health insurance restrictions. Furthermore, we promote easing the financial and logistical burdens that make it difficult for low-income families to fully utilize all available services that meet their mental and behavioral health needs.
Foster Care
We prevent or limit contact with the Child Welfare System by strengthening parenting skills for new parents and parents in crisis. Whether new parents are adjusting to a newborn or longtime parents are navigating the difficulties of adolescence, they rely on the YMCA to provide practical parenting skills and therapeutic support.
Vulnerable Youth
We focus on helping youth break this cycle and explore meaningful career prospects align with their interests and abilities, providing typical skills needed to find a job while building on a sophisticated understanding of brain development to ensure young people also receive the necessary emotional support to navigate the complexities of a standard workplace.
Economic Mobility and Stability
We help families avoid or break cycles of poverty by empowering parents to continue working without sacrificing the safety and care of their children or their desired career path and long-term earning potential, increasing access to quality child care settings and guiding vulnerable youth to meaningful career paths.