Kentucky YMCA Mission
The mission of the Kentucky YMCA Youth Association is to develop engaged citizens and servant leaders, inspired to affect change in their school, community, Commonwealth, nation, and world. Through experiential learning, service, and community activism, the Kentucky YMCA Youth Association fosters critical thinking, leadership, and social responsibility in teens.
Core Values
The Kentucky YMCA Youth Association works to ensure that all of our participants uphold the 4 core values of the YMCA: Honesty, Caring, Respect, and Responsibility – both during our programs and in their everyday lives.
Our Programs
The Kentucky YMCA Youth Association serves as the home of Kentucky’s YMCA Youth and Government programs. We provide middle school and high school students across the Commonwealth and college students across the nation with opportunities for service learning, civic engagement, and personal development.
Kentucky Youth Assembly | KYA
Kentucky United Nations Assembly | KUNA
Go For It! Conference | GFI
Leadership Training Conference | LTC
Y-Corps
Youth Advocacy Leaders (YAL)
Young Kentuckians Advocacy Program
Diversity & Inclusion
Our FOR ALL Commitment
"For all" is a simple but powerful phrase. Without it, the Y mission is incomplete. Our commitment to inclusion creates better communities, a better country and a better world.
We know that the key to effectively empowering young people to reach their full potential, improving individual and community well-being, and inspiring action in our communities is a passionate, experienced and diverse array of staff, volunteers and members who value what everyone brings to the table. Working in 10,000 U.S. communities and more than 120 countries worldwide makes strong diversity and inclusion practices paramount for the Y.
This means:
- Recognizing that a diverse and inclusive organization is foundational to developing and engaging everyone across the entire Y spectrum. Our volunteers, members, program participants, families, leaders, staff, vendors, suppliers, donors, collaborators and the community at large all contribute to our efforts to make positive, lasting personal and social change.
- Believing we all benefit from the unique talents of our diverse staff. We encourage our 20,000+ Y staff to participate in our six national Employee Resource Groups, which offer opportunities to contribute, learn, network and share experiences as they progress in their careers.
- Having a supplier diversity program that seeks out talented minority and women-owned contractors and service providers.
Offering Y staff and volunteers professional development and training programs that build key competencies to welcome, engage, serve and advocate for all segments of society. - We are passionate about strengthening communities and know that our ability to achieve it begins with reflecting and partnering with people from all walks of life.
The Kentucky YMCA Youth Association is an antiracist, multicultural organization. We enthusiastically welcome persons of every ability, age, background, ethnicity, faith/religion, gender expression/gender identity, income, nationality, race, sex, or sexual orientation. The Kentucky YMCA Youth Association believes that in a beautifully diverse world, we are stronger when we are inclusive and when everyone has an equitable opportunity to learn, grow, and thrive.