Santa Barbara YMCA Programs

The Young Men's Christian Association (commonly known as "YMCA" or in the USA "the Y") is a worldwide organization with a strong presence in the United States and Santa Barbara.

In 1844, the organization was founded in London, England by Sir George Williams, who put Christian principles into practice, achieved by developing "a healthy spirit, mind, and body."

All YMCA programs have a strong importance on the values of caring, honesty, respect, and responsibility. These core values were adopted formally by the YMCA of the United States in the early 1990s. They were developed to help teach children right from wrong.

Each of the core values has a color that is connected to it in order to help people remember them. Caring is associated with red, honesty with blue, responsibility with green and respect with yellow.

Individuals or groups can participate in activities ranging from religious to academic to athletic. It is very common for YMCAs to have swimming pools and weightrooms, along with facilities for playing various sports such as basketball, volleyball, racquetball, and futsal. The YMCA also sponsors youth sports teams for swimming, cheerleading, basketball, futsal, and soccer.

Get involved with your local Santa Barbara program.