The soul of the YMCA of the Triangle (YMCA) is its commitment to nurturing children and improving the health and well-being of the community. Each day, neighborhood YMCAs open their doors to 130,000 children, families and adults. While children’s safety is a theme throughout the YMCA and its programming, a dedicated focus on child sexual abuse prevention is new.

Leading up to a culture shift

In 2014 the YMCA was awarded a grant from the John Rex Endowment to support its ability to train Wake County youth-serving organizations and the community on child sexual abuse prevention, and to develop resources supporting the implementation of policies and practices to keep children safe. While doing this work, YMCA leadership took the opportunity to look inward and closely review their own approach to child sexual abuse prevention.

In 2016, YMCA leadership reviewed the results of the YMCA-nationally mandated Safety Equation®. The assessment looks at eight organizational operations to identify gaps that create the potential for abuse by employees, volunteers, or other program participants. The YMCA leadership is proud to have received above average scores; however, they agreed that their organization could do more to protect children.

And, in the 2017 “State of the YMCA Address” when CEO Doug McMillan was asked what kept him up at night, he replied that he could handle managing multiple YMCAs, but the thought that there were children in their organization or in the community who were suffering from abuse kept him awake.

The commitment is real

Child sexual abuse is a difficult subject for many adults to accept. But, the YMCA knew that confronting the issue and being intentional about prevention was essential because no child is immune from these heinous crimes. And so it began. The YMCA leadership took on the responsibility of creating a culture shift.

To-date, over 96% of the YMCA’s full-time staff has been trained in the Darkness to Light program Stewards of Children© which teaches adults how to prevent, recognize, and react responsibly to child sexual abuse. The training is regularly scheduled as employees join the YMCA team.

Leadership created the position Director of Child Safety within the Risk Department. This full-time individual manages the local Darkness to Light initiative, engages with the community on trainings, and leads the Child Safety Cohort, a recently formed group whose focus is solely on child sexual abuse prevention.

The Child Safety Cohort is comprised of employees from headquarters and each of the # of branches.  The cohort meets regularly to prioritize action steps and to follow-through with development of practices and policies that are consistent throughout the branches.

To enlist the support of all staff, the cohort knew they had to engage employees to see beyond their individual work and to see themselves as part of the prevention community. Today, that ongoing commitment can be seen in multiple ways including the ways that branches take responsibility for training and celebrating local champions, and departments participating in “Five Days of Action” culminating with a competition to create Pinwheels for Prevention gardens.

It’s the responsibility of our community to protect our children from the crime of child sexual abuse. Through knowledge, practices and policies, the YMCA is continuing to strengthen its commitment to ensuring all children are surrounded by safe relationships and environments.

Contact LeQuandra Ballen, LeQuandra.Ballen@YMCATriangle.org, to learn more about the YMCA of the Triangle’s initiative to prevent child sexual abuse.

Statistics are provided by Darkness to Light.  The grant referenced in this story is part of our Preventing Injury portfolio.