Dear Tampa Community,

Area youth are either back at school or will soon return and our YMCA staff team is breathing a sigh of relief at the end of summer.  What fun we’ve had throughout 10 weeks of summer camp activities, shaping the character of young people, developing social skills and a sense of belonging, building self-confidence, and more.  For many youth summer camp is a great part of growing up, creating memories and friendships that last a lifetime.  It’s easy to see how one of the Y’s causes, For Youth Development, comes to life through summer camp.

You’ll be pleased to know the number of youth served this summer versus last increased by almost 15%.  Our Y branches recorded over 28,000 camper weeks.   The average camper attended four weeks of summer camp providing us a tremendous opportunity to influence young lives.  Camp scholarships awarded increased by 50% to almost $600,000…so a lot of kids in need of a positive summer experience received one, regardless of financial circumstances.  Thanks to all you support the Y’s annual giving campaign and helped give a kid a chance this summer.

While several of our camp locations exhibited good growth this summer, the Brandon Y and Camp Cristina stand out achieving 36% and 31% growth.  Some good things, obviously, are happening in eastern Hillsborough County!  This is the second consecutive summer of strong growth at Camp Cristina, indicating our investment in facility and program upgrades is paying off (thanks to the Ray Campo family for their support of Camp Cristina!).  The “return on investment” in this case is the opportunity to influence the lives of young people.

Finally, our quality evaluations completed by parents of campers also indicate strong improvements.  Using the Net Promoter Score system we recorded a 4% increase over 2009 scores, a nice gain that exceeded our expectations.  My thanks to the 1,200 + parents who completed evaluations this summer.

Well, that sigh of relief is momentary…fall programs are upon us.  More youth to develop through sports, leaders club, and afterschool programs!

See you at the Y!

Tom Looby
President & CEO