Collaborations

Current Community Collaborations

• Carleton College and the YMCA collaborate in offering the Prairie & Wood 1/2 day camp program.
• The YMCA and Northfield Senior Center is partnered to provide more opportunities for open swim for adults and families and works together to ensure all Group Exercise instructors are properly certified for safe and healthy exercise.
• Just Food Co-op and the YMCA collaborate to manage the Ron Griffith Young Leaders Scholarship Fund and to provide healthy snacks to camp participants.
• YMCA  offers basketball instruction for elementary age children plus will launch a High School Basketball League in 2010 with the Northfield Basketball Association.
• 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 YMCA provides 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 National Guard Armory provides space for the YMCA offices and many of their programs.
• United Methodist Church, St. John’s Church and Emmaus Church also provide space for YMCA programs.
• The Northfield Retirement Community provides space for the new YMCA Health and Wellness Center.
• The YMCA collaborates with Artech Charter School and the National Guard Armory to provide kitchen space for daily lunches at the school.
• Northfield Public Schools Community Services Division, Emmaus Church and the YMCA collaborated to provide the Youth PLUS program in August 2008
• Partnership with Rice County Public Health and Blue Cross Blue Shield in worksite wellness for businesses in Faribault and Northfield.
• Working with Laura Baker Services to provide programs for kids and families with disabilities opportunities for further physical activities and programs open and available to all people with all abilities.
• The YMCA is partnering with Healthfinders in a program called Pura Vida Healthy Lifestyles. The focus of the program is on proper nutrition, physical activity, stress management, and community involvement.
• Partnered 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 licensed child care facilities in our community as well as better connect the providers themselves to each other for further resources and support.
• Working with the Northfield High School Basketball program to provide a Basketball league to ensure all students can participate in basketball each year.  A team of high school teachers has also participated for added fun!

Proud Past Collaborating Partners

• The YMCA works with the Northfield Public Schools and Community Services to offer Early Release programming each Wednesday throughout the school year for K-5th grade.
• The YMCA and the Northfield Skating School collaborate to provide Lap Skating Fitness for adults.
• Forza! and the YMCA are working together to provide Kettlebell programs for the Northfield community.
• The YMCA provides childcare and safety training for volunteers in the Parents Meeting Parents program, which is a support group for families who have children with disabilities.

Intern Partnerships

The YMCA has been fortunate to be the leading Community Work Study employer for the past several years. We have oppurtunities for students from Carleton and St. Olaf and have employed as many as 25 work study students a year.

• 2011-2012 -Jon Lyons, Artech Charter School high school intern will focus on an intern designing YMCA videos.  He will use 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 will focus on further developing program surveys to better evaluate YMCA programs and services to include 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 examinded 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 worked on a variety of community surveys to include what adults 46- 65 do for exercise, deployed military families resources and parent child, and preschool programs.
• January 2011 -Sara Nobbs, Katie Caffrey & Ben Langholz, St. Olaf College students worked on YMCA service learning internships over J-Term in a variety of programs to include coaching and preschool programs.
• 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 or other YMCA facilities
• 2010-2011 -Jennell McKenna is the YMCAs first high school senior from Artech Charter School working on an internship and senior project which will focus on curriculum for our Young Scientist program.
• January 2010 Amy Kasch, St. Olaf student who 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 making recommendations for additional trip opportunities.  She also developed curriculum for the Y-Navigator’s camp program.