Northfield Area Family YMCA

Collaborations

Current Community Collaborations

The YMCA is collaborating with Friends of Way Park to present Explore the Outdoors, a Way Park Gathering, on May 5, 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
The Church of St. Dominic and the YMCA are partnering to offer a Zumba class to parishioners.
SEEDS Farm Experiential CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) is teaming up with the YMCA to provide members with local, seasonal, farm-fresh food and on-site farm experiences for families and kids. Learn more by visiting http://northfieldymca.org/seeds-farm
The YMCA is working with Arcadia Charter School to provide physical education activities for their middle and high school students.
Carleton College and the YMCA collaborate to offer the Prairie & Wood 1/2 day camp program.
The YMCA and Northfield Senior Center are partnered to provide aqua fitness classes and open/family swim and work together to ensure all group exercise instructors are properly certified.
Just Food Co-op and the YMCA collaborate to manage the Ron Griffith Young Leaders Fund and to provide healthy snacks to camp participants.
The YMCA provides soccer instruction to 50+ preschool children with the Northfield Soccer Association.
The YMCA offers volleyball for grades 3-5 with the Northfield Volleyball Club.
The National Guard Armory provides space for the YMCA offices and many of their programs.
United Methodist Church, St. John’s Church, The Church of St. Dominic and Emmaus Church also provide space for YMCA programs.
The Northfield Retirement Community provides space for the YMCA Health and Wellness Center.
The YMCA and Laura Baker Services Association join forces to provide physical activity programs for kids and families with disabilities as well as programs for people of all abilities.
The YMCA is partnering with Healthfinders Collaborative in a program called Pura Vida Healthy Lifestyles. The focus of the program is proper nutrition, physical activity, stress management, and community involvement.
Partnering with Rice County Public Health and the United Providers Association (formerly the Northfield/Dundas Child Care Association) to provide the Healthy Champs program.This program is designed to provide healthy exercise opportunities for children enrolled in licensed child care facilities in our community as well as to better connect the providers to each other for further resources and support.
Working with Northfield High School to provide a basketball league to ensure all students can participate in basketball each year. A team of high school teachers participates for added fun!
Epic Enterprise and the YMCA match volunteer opportunities for persons with disabilities during summer camp, preschool programs and school-age sports.
Northfield Public Schools Early Childhood Special Education and YMCA preschool programs join forces to provide social and physical activities for young ones.

Past Collaborations

Carleton College and the YMCA teamed up to hold the inaugural Knights’ Gauntlet obstacle course race in September 2012.
Carlson Capital Management, 5th Bridge and The American Center for Philanthropy partnered to present the 11th Annual Northfield Jingle Bell Run/Walk in December 2012.
Partnership with Rice County Public Health and Blue Cross Blue Shield in worksite wellness for businesses in Faribault and Northfield.
Northfield Public Schools Community Services, Emmaus Church and the YMCA collaborated to provide the Youth PLUS program in August, 2008.
The YMCA collaborated with Arcadia Charter School and the National Guard Armory to provide kitchen space for the preparation of school lunches.
The YMCA and Northfield Public Schools Community Services cooperated to offer Early Release programming each Wednesday throughout the school year for K-5th grade.
The YMCA and the Northfield Skating School collaborated to provide Lap Skating Fitness for adults.
Forza! and the YMCA worked together to provide Kettlebell programs for the Northfield community.
The YMCA provided childcare and safety training for volunteers in the Parents Meeting Parents program, which is a support group for families who have children with disabilities.
The YMCA and the Northfield High School Ready to Work program came together to provide hands-on work experience for students during the school year.

Intern Partnerships

The YMCA has been fortunate enough to be the leading community work study employer for the past several years. We have opportunities for students from Carleton and St. Olaf and have employed as many as 25 work study students each year.

February 2013 – The YMCA began a semester long collaboration with St. Olaf College students in Rebecca Richards’ Professional and Business Writing course. Teams of students will work on the Y’s website pages looking for improvements in writing, appeal and technology.
January 2013 – Four St. Olaf College students chose to collaborate with the Northfield YMCA for their service-learning Community Applications of Psychology course taught by Dana Gross. Emily Haller experienced the Y in a hands-on role by working on-site with our Child Watch and preschool programs. Tommy Cullen researched local park amenities to help us make better use of local resources for YMCA field trips. Sianchay Pader Vue and Ka Yang researched preschool and youth programs in the Northfield area to determine community strengths in programming as well as needs and gaps.
Summer of 2012 – Josh Corbin, University of St. Thomas college intern, worked as an voluntary office intern for the Summer of 2012. He helped in a variety of ways, including acting as a liaison to lead Y staff to gather feedback for improving our summer camps and programs. In addition, he joined the capital campaign effort by providing photos and footage of YMCA activities.
2011-2012 – Jon Lyons, Artech Charter School high school intern, focused on designing YMCA videos. He used his artistic skill to get hands-on experience with a not-for-profit to develop 30 and 60 second videos educating the community about the YMCA’s impact.
2011-2012 – Andrew Wilson, Artech Charter School high school intern, focused on further developing surveys to better evaluate YMCA programs and services including membership, youth sports and adult fitness.
Fall of 2011 – The YMCA collaborated with Carleton College’s Health Psychology students on their policy and health projects. The students critically examined an area of interest to the Y, cited strengths and limitations and made recommendations for improvement.
Spring of 2011 – St. Olaf College’s Research Methods in Psychology class “adopted” the YMCA and as a class developed surveys on a variety of topics including exercise preferences of older adults, resources for families of deployed military personnel and parent/child and preschool programs.
January 2011 – Sara Nobbs, Katie Caffrey & Ben Langholz, St. Olaf College students, completed service learning internships over J-Term in a variety of YMCA programs including preschool programs and youth sports.
2010-2011 – Jake Wagenknecht, Artech Charter School high school intern, focused on developing the initial program surveys for the YMCA which included research on an intern survey tool and evaluation of existing surveys used at the national Y office and other YMCA facilities
2010-2011 – Jennell McKenna was the YMCA’s first high school senior from Artech Charter School. Her internship and senior project focused on curriculum for our Young Scientist program.
January 2010 – Amy Kasch, St. Olaf student, worked as an Intern for the YMCA. Amy’s role was “Summer Camp Curriculum Research & Designer“. She gathered past summer camp trip information (based on feedback from parents and past counselors) as well as made recommendations for additional trip opportunities. She also developed curriculum for Y Navigator Camp.