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W E I N G A R T E AS T L O S AN G E L E S YM C A W I N T ER 2 0 1 2 N E W S L E T T E R VO L U M E 1 , I S S U E 3

IN THIS ISSUE

Preschool: Youth Development at the Littlest Level

A Year in Family, Community and Health

Aquatics: A “Shark” is Born

MEND and Salsa, Sabor y Salud

Youth & Government

Board Member Highlight: ABC7’s Alysha Del Valle

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UPCOMING EVENTS

December 31 The Gift of Health Essay Contest Deadline

January 18 7:30-9:30 AM Dr. Martin Luther King Brotherhood Breakfast @ Millennium Biltmore Hotel

January 28-31, M-Th, 6-7PM Family Week Kick-Off

February 14 - 18 Youth & Government participate in the Model Legislature @ California State Capital in Sacramento

April 27, 2013 Healthy Kids Day

WEINGART EAST LOS ANGELES YMCA

2900 Whittier Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90023

Winter 2012

www.ymcala.org/wela

Hello YMCA Friends, This has been an incredible year for the Weingart East Los Angeles YMCA. We have launched our Youth Institute Program and Early Learning Readiness program which you will learn more about in the this newsletter. We also celebrated our 8th Annual Heart of the Family Award Luncheon with recipients Oscar De La Hoya, Matt Barkley and Senator Kevin De Leon. We are very thankful to everyone that sup-ported our luncheon and our award recipients. There is much more that we are proud of and this newsletter edition will highlight some of our programs.

This year we celebrate our success with our community partners because together we have worked to address the most pressing concerns in Boyle Heights/East Los Angeles. This year marks 101 years of service in East Los Angeles. Through the course of these years, the Y has provided free to low cost programs and services that include health and fitness programs, child care and preschool services, swim and self defense lessons and other various forms of programming that focus on the strengthening of character devel-opment and community ownership.

The Weingart East Los Angeles YMCA continues to create meaningful relationships with other community agencies to expand the amount of services provided to Boyle Heights/East Los Angeles residents and to strengthen our role as a cause-driven organization.

Long after the Weingart East Los Angeles YMCA established the first sports ground in Boyle Heights in 1911, we continue to grow and expand in ways reflective of community needs. The Y is a cause-driven organization that is for youth development, for healthy living and for social responsibility. That’s because a strong community can only be achieved when we invest in our kids, our health and our neighborhood.

The Weingart East Los Angeles YMCA is for everyone. Our programs, services and initia-tives enable kids to realize their potential, prepare teens for college, offer ways for fami-lies to have fun together, empower people to be healthier in spirit, mind and body, pre-pare people for employment, welcome and embrace newcomers and help foster a commu-nity service ethic. And that's just the beginning.

On behalf of the Weingart East Los Angeles YMCA we thank you for believing in our cause and for partnering in our efforts to strengthen our community. We hope you enjoy our newsletter and look forward to your continued support.

I wish you a Happy Holiday Season and a prosperous New Year!

Yours in Service,

Executive Director of the Weingart East Los Angeles YMCA

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The Youth Institute has had an incredible first year of operation. Earlier this year, we graduated our first class of 25 middle and high school kids through our Summer Academy that trained them in digital media arts. These kids have turned into young leaders for our community and are beginning to take their skills out to Boyle Heights and beyond.

Since the last time we offered an update, several of our Youth Institute participants have been hired by our program to work on contracted jobs from the community - doing everything from graphic design to filming and shooting videos for public events. One recent contract put our group at the forefront of documenting the Dia De Los Muertos event held at Rose Hills Memorial Cemetery, which draws over 10,000 people in attendance every year!

This Winter season, we have jobs available for many of our alums to help in media projects for the Building Healthy Communities collaborative. Many of them will be documenting the BHC process for Boyle Heights, proving to the rest of California that "health happens here." The California Endowment remains a strong supporter of our work and has recently selected our Youth Institute to provide technical assistance for five BHC sites in the SoCal region. In the coming months, our young leaders will undergo further trainings to prepare them to lead workshops in digital media and filmmaking for residents and youth in South LA, Long Beach, Santa Ana, City Heights in San Diego, as well as on our home turf of Boyle Heights.

This grant will allow us to expand our Youth Institute staff and continue to evolve our program into a social enterprise - one that works with and for the community!

Take a look at the Youth Institute’s work @ http://vimeo.com/53192823

YOUTH INSTITUTE

Alysha Del Valle is the weekday morning traffic reporter for ABC7 Eyewitness News at 4:30am, 5am and 6am. Alysha was born and raised in Southern California. She majored in communications at the University of Southern California and graduated with honors. She began her broadcasting career on the Assignment Desk at UPN/Fox 11 News, as well as doing field reporting for local sto-ries. Shortly after, she reported on South-ern California traffic for the "The George Lopez Morning Show" at Hot 92 Jamz. She then moved on to morning show positions at 102.7 KIIS FM (Los Angeles). As part of "Rick Dees in the Morning" and "On-Air with Ryan Seacrest," Alysha reported on enter-tainment in her "Filmgirl" segment, as well as lifestyle and cultural news with her daily "On the Streets with Alysha Del Valle" seg-ment. In her evenings, Alysha hosted and produced several shows on the nationally viewed LATV Network, including "LATV LIVE," and then co-hosted on LATINO 96.3 FM. Alysha is an elected member on the board of the East LA Weingart YMCA. She also donates time and resources to several other organizations, including VotoLatino, Read-ing to Kids, Adelante Mujer and The Sierra Club. She also mentors at-risk high school students. Alysha has been officially recognized by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa for her commu-nity service.

OUR SUPPORTERS

MEND and Salsa, Sabor y Salud are FREE healthy living programs for families with children be-tween the ages of 7-13. These programs help families change their eating and exercise habits to help improve their child’s physical activity levels, nutrition and self esteem. The MEND Pro-gram is a research based healthy lifestyle program for overweight children and their parents/caregivers and it has proven effective in achieving a healthier weight for children’s age and height. It coexists with Salsa, Sabor y Salud, a program specifically tailored for the Latino cul-ture in order to create awareness of healthier food choices and the importance of energy bal-ance while putting emphasis on family values, experiences, traditions and language.

HEALTHY LIVING

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PRESCHOOL

This year has been one of growth, for both our kids and our preschool program. Family events, like our Thanksgiving potluck (left), continue to strengthen our partnership with parents, while giving kids a safe, fun place to display their inner performers.

Early Learning Readiness Program

Since its launch in early September, our Early Learning Readiness (ELR) program has estab-lished itself as a signature YMCA program. The program provides a stimulating environment for children and their caregivers to interact and strengthen their relationships. The ELR teach-ers support and guide participating caregivers to jointly develop the physical, verbal and so-cial skills of their children, preparing them for school

Camp Round Meadow 2012 June 30-July 7, 2012

This year the WELA Y ventured out for a week-long wilderness experience in the forests of Big Bear to provide 120 boys and girls, ages 8-14 with a memorable sum-mer. Rock-climbing, horseback riding, kayaking, archery and many other character developing activities not only kept campers active and engaged but provided oppor-tunities for campers to make friends and life-long memories!

Summer Food Service Program 2012

The 2nd Annual Summer Food Service Program was made possible by a Fighting Hun-ger Together grant awarded to WELA Y by the Walmart Foundation. This grant al-lowed the WELA Y to open its doors to community members ages 18 and under for a free daily lunch. For ten weeks, youth in the community were provided with organic and nutritious lunches alongside free activities sponsored by the WELA Y. By the end of summer, over 4,500 lunches had been distributed!

Summer Day Camp June 25-August 10, 2012

This summer, WELA Y’s Summer Day Camp Program expanded from three weeks in 2011 to seven weeks of themed activities. Approximately 250 boys and girls ages 6-12 participated throughout the seven weeks which included swim lessons, physical activities, arts and crafts-all in a safe environment that encouraged positive social interaction. A few of the popular themed weeks included, Glee Week, Culinary Week, Sports Week and Science Week!

Family Week 2013

Family Week will kick off for 2013 during the week of January 28-31 (Monday-Thursday, 6pm-7pm). Family Week provides families with classes designed for entire family units so parents and their children can develop relationships through charac-ter building activities. Some of the classes will include: Family Aerobics, Family Arts & Crafts, Family Dance and Family Cooking. From January to May Family Week will take place during the last week of every month unless otherwise noted

Mark your Calendar! Healthy Kids Day is April 27, 2013

YOUTH DEVELOPMENT AND HEALTHY LIVING

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On December 7, the Weingart East Los Angeles YMCA Sharks Swim Team participated in their first US Swimming swim meet. The stakes were high-only Division 1 College Swimming and the Olym-pics are at a higher level-but the team wasn’t fazed in their first US competition and the kids drastically improved their times as a result of the excitement. When the team goes to these swim meets the focus is not about placing or beating other teams. The focus is about family bonding and the kids having fun, while learning skills that’ll allow the kids to develop into healthy, socially responsible adults.

One of the highlights of the meet was 12 year old, Sheyby Jimenez (pictured above with mother Anto-nia) who got an amazing time on her 50 yard free-

style. She obtained a time of 28.45 seconds, that means that she’s as fast or faster than our lifeguards and she’s only 12! Her time also qualified her and got her an invitation to the Southern California Winter Age Group, the first invitation extended to a Boyle Heights resident in over 10 years. The top 1000 youth swimmers from San Diego to Santa Barbara will be at this swim meet, in-cluding our own Sheyby, who will be representing our YMCA and the community of Boyle Heights. If Sheyby does well at this upcom-ing swim meet, she’ll have a chance to become a part of the All Star Swim Team that will represent all of Southern California on a national level.

AQUATICS

The Weingart East Los Angeles YMCA Youth and Government Program focuses on to high school aged youth and helps them develop important skills such as public speaking, organization, problem solving and time man-agement. Youth have also had the opportunity to meet elected officials like Speaker of the Assembly John A. Perez, State Senator Kevin de Leon, Con-gresswoman Judy Chu, Congress Woman Lucille Roybal-Allard. These meet-ings make government more tangible and allows youth to feel a connection to the politicians that are making decisions at various levels of govern-ment. All these dedicated efforts and opportunities are done in an effort to ensure that the youth are successful when the Model Legislature & Court in February rolls around.

What is the Model Legislature and Court program? ML/C is a statewide youth education program where 6our WELA YMCA youth join more than 2,500 other high school students in a 9-month, hands-on experience. Teen delegates write bills, select governmental posi-tions to role play, attend statewide training conferences and run for various elected offices. The program reaches its peak in Sacra-mento at the State Capitol over President’s Day weekend. There, real government steps aside and the teen delegates take over, using the historic halls, chambers and offices of our State Capitol and the Supreme Court.

Youth use the skills they acquire in the program to engage in community advocacy efforts to ensure that they put into practice all that they learn This is demonstrated through their engagement in the Building Healthy Communities Boyle Heights Collaborative work and the Brothers, Sons Selves Coalition that focuses on addressing issues that disproportionately affect young men of color. The pro-gram’s ability to nurture the potential of every one of our youth through leadership and character development is nothing short of spectacular when we see our youth participate and engage in efforts to improve their community.

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY