Afterschool Y-Care Address Children’s Social and Academic Needs

Registration for before and after school childcare, Y-CARE, at the Portage Township YMCA is now open for the 2012-2013 school year

As children and teens return to school, the Portage Township YMCA encourages parents looking for safe, secure childcare, to take advantage of the Y’s before and after school program, Y-CARE. Combining play with academics and service learning projects, the Portage Township YMCA Y-Care program is a safe, secure and affordable. The Portage Township YMCA will be incorporating their LAUNCH program for the second year as a proactive approach to address the recent rise of childhood obesity. With funding from the United Way of Porter County, LAUNCH will provide the opportunity for each child in our School Age Child Care program (Y-Care) to eat fresh fruits and vegetables for snack after school at least three days per week, to participate in active play at least one hour each day with special guests from the YMCA Sports & Wellness Departments, and to learn about health and nutrition with St. Mary Medical Center’s nurse, Danny Gonzalez, so that they can prepare to make positive choices for themselves in the future.

LAUNCH has its own core values associated with the program. These values are “People First”, “Be Learners” and “Be Excellent”. In teaching these values through the LAUNCH program, staff are helping children to focus on mutually respectful relationships with others as well as self-esteem and self-respect, learning a lesson from each experience they have in life – good or bad, and giving 100% effort in all they do.

According to the Afterschool Alliance, 15.1 million children in the United States are left unsupervised after 3 p.m. In Indiana, 30% (332,642) of K-12 youth are responsible for taking care of themselves after school.

The Y offers before and after school care (Y-Care) for children in grades 1 thru 8 enrolled in one of the six Portage Township Elementary Schools that are located in Portage. The program provides guided, structured and educational activities in a safe and secure, fun environment with low child to staff ratio. Children can be dropped off before school as early as 6:30 a.m. and picked up after school as late as 6:00 p.m. Y-Care is held at Aylesworth (serving Aylesworth, Willowcreek, Central, Myers and Fegely) and Jones (serving Jones, Crisman and Kyle). Program fees vary according to hours of usage.

As one of the leading providers of school age child care, the nation’s Ys have been engaging children in these types of programs for more than 50 years. Today, Ys impact the lives of hundreds of thousands of youth in afterschool programs at nearly 10,000 sites across the country. Afterschool programming at the Y focuses on the holistic development of youth, promoting creativity, a love for learning, academic success and friendship and character building. Financial assistance is available to those in need, to ensure every child and teen has the opportunity to learn and grow at the Y. The Portage Township YMCA also accepts CCDF vouchers.

For more information regarding this program please contact Ms. CC, School Age Child Care Coordinator at 219-762-YMCA(9622) or at ms.cc@ymcaofportage.org. Additional Portage Township YMCA information is available at- www.ymcaofportage.org.