At The Granite YMCA, we're for youth development, healthy living, family strengthening, and social responsibility. At the Y, we focus on youth development, healthy living, family strengthening & social responsibility Founded in 1853, YMCAs collectively make up the largest nonprofit community service organization in America. YMCAs are at the heart of community life in neighborhoods and towns across the nation. They work to meet the health and social service needs of 16.9 million men, women and children.Ys help people develop values and behavior that are consistent with Christian principles. Ys are for people of all faiths, races, abilities, ages and incomes. Through fundraising and the YMCA financial assistance program no one is turned away for inability to pay. YMCAs' strength is in the people they bring together.In our Y, a volunteer board sets policy for our executive, who manages the operation with full-time and part-time staff and volunteer leaders. Our YMCA meets local community needs through organized activities called programs. In its own way, every Y nurtures the healthy development of children and teens; strengthens families; and makes its community a healthier, safer, better place to live.YMCA programs are tools for building the values of caring, honesty, respect and responsibility. A longtime leader in community-based health and fitness and aquatics, we teach kids swimming and offer exercise classes for all ages. We offer many other programs in response to community needs, including child care (the Y movement is the nation's largest not-for-profit provider), after school programs, youth sports, family programming, teen leaders club, climbing, gymnastics, triathlon club, etc. (p>Organization: our YMCA is a charitable nonprofit, qualifying under Section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. Tax Code. Each YMCA is independent. YMCAs are required by the national constitution to pay annual dues, to refrain from discrimination and to support the YMCA mission. All other decisions are local choices, including programs offered, staffing and style of operation. The national office, called the YMCA of the USA, is in Chicago, with Field offices in California, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Ohio, Indiana, Minnesota and Texas. Its purpose is to serve member associations.International: YMCAs are at work in more than 120 countries around the world, serving more than 30 million people. Some 230 local US Ys maintain more than 370 relationships with Ys in other countries, operate international programs and contribute to YMCA work worldwide through the YMCA World Service campaign. p>History: The YMCA was founded in London, England, in 1844 by George Williams and about a dozen friends who lived and worked as clerks in a drapery a forerunner of dry-goods and department stores. Their goal was to help young men like themselves find God. The first members were evangelical Protestants who prayed and studied the Bible as an alternative to vice. The Y movement has always been nonsectarian and today accepts those of all faiths at all levels of the organization, despite its unchanging name, the Young Men's Christian Association.