About the YMCA
The YMCA is the largest and the oldest charity working with young people in the world. YMCA Reading started in 1847, and is the second oldest YMCA in the world. Across England there are 114 YMCAs. Each one is a thriving and active community. A community that is transforming lives.
We focus on young people and help them play an active and fulfilling role within their communities. We call this a youth minded community approach.
We are proud of our Christian heritage and ethos. We are an inclusive Christian movement transforming communities. We provide a wide array of community based activities and services to help meet local needs wherever we are based.
About YMCA Reading
Like every other YMCA in England, we put young people at the heart of everything we do. We believe we can make a difference to young people by helping them to get involved in an active local community.
We believe that all young people deserve to have a safe place to live and the opportunity to reach their full potential. We also aim to support the wider community and bring together different groups within the community to support each other.
We are an independent charitable organisation that provides services tailored to the needs of our local community.
How do you know that your organisation is needed?
Our work closely aligns with the Reading Sustainable Community Strategy. Key priorities from the strategy that our work supports include:
- Reducing inequality and breaking the cycle of poverty and its link with poorer health and crime
- Build peer support networks in the community
- Embracing diversity and encouraging and enabling wider cross-culture and community contact to embed tolerance, integration and cohesion
Additionally, the Local Strategic Partnership Board has tackling Not in Employment, Education or Training (NEET) levels as a high priority. Our work also draws from and helps to support the aims of the Healthier Reading Partnership and the Reading Older Peoples Partnership.