YMCA Discovery Visit Australia

Time with Victoria Y - from the first day staff and volunteers at YMCA made every meeting and site visit, exciting and informative, I am taking so many ideas home with me to improve and make positive change. I am absolutely blown away by the sheer size of Y Vic with 116 sites and 6000 staff and impressively 50% being under 30 years old.

The evident passion to keep young people active and healthy through the wellness programmes is inspirational and close to my heart, especially interested in the recreation and leisure programmes offered by the Y, who keep thousands of children and young people active and engaged in numerous activities.

Kings swim and YMCA swimming lessons Is such an inspirational swim and water safe initiative, 55,000 participants access swimming lessons each week , wow . We learned 372,000 people in the world die every year through drowning with 95% being in Asia. Drowning is a preventive death and  Y Vic have really taken on the role of making access to swimming  lessons available in areas of Asia, determined to save lives. 

The time spent with the youth development team informed us of the many programmes delivered to young people and I was particularly interested to hear how they had Set up a building maintenance social enterprise, giving training and employment opportunities to young people leaving prison. A very successful enterprise with fantastic results in participants not re offending.

The time spent with Y Vic finished with us attending the annual general meetings and annual staff awards. A glamorous and enjoyable evening learning of the dedication and passion of the staff going that extra mile for what they believed believe in, helping others to succeed and be the best they can.

Saying goodbye to Victoria we moved on to YMCA Brisbane, the sun was out and we embarked on the second phase of the visit. lan Bray CEO and his team explained their approach to sustaining their operations to be unbreakable. We are Staying at the the George Williams hotel which is just one of the initiatives to income generate. I have to say the standards and professionalism at the hotel are very high and deserve a good trip advisor entry.

I applaud the "Head for business and heart of charity " as a strong approach to the new generation of the non for profit sector. To survive we have to change .

Today has been an unbelievable experience of learning , firstly at a YMCA school in North Lakes, accommodating 65 students needing an alternative to state education. Andrew and Stephanie at the school demonstrated the difference being made to young people who have experienced dramatic trauma in their lives who needed the additional support as well as education. Truly inspirational.

The afternoon took us to something unexpected and magical, Old Peitre Town , I can only describe as a Oz museum and fantastic venue for functions and weddings.

We were embraced by Terry, who explained the indigenous peoples  ways and got us involved tribal dance, music and art. To top it off a lesson in flying a boomerang. Some members of the team threw a good boomerang which actually returned, not me.

Posted on behalf of Anthea Clements - Barry YMCA

Discovering the wonders of YMCA Victoria

After a 24hr flight and arriving in Melbourne late on Sunday, Monday was pretty much consumed with jet lag, but the excitement of being on the other side of world kept me going so after touring the city on one of the oldest trams – something Melbourne is known for – I took myself off to the Melbourne Museum to see the First People’s exhibition.

First People's exhibition, Melbourne Museum

In recent years, the Australian Government has started to recognise the injustices inflicted upon Aborigines and many organisations have began to develop reconciliation strategies, including YMCA Victoria who start each meeting with an Acknowledgement of Country.

After managing to get about three hours sleep, the group were up bright, early and bushy tailed on Tuesday to visit YMCA Victoria’s central office. In our crisp white YMCA shirts, we certainly made an impression as we were welcomed by the lovely Ang, Manager of Global and Voluntary Services. As our host for the week, she made sure we were well looked after and couldn’t have been more helpful.

Suited and booted for our first day at YMCA Victoria 

The day included master classes from YMCA Victoria’s Services and Strategy Directors who took us through their approach. As a local YMCA with 6000 staff, they occasionally take the lead, working with YMCA Australia to develop the federation as a whole.

I was delighted to hear from Cinzia, Head of Engagement, who leads the brand team and spearheaded the Australian national rebrand.  The work they have done around segmentation, core messaging and brand awareness really enthused me and is something I’ll certainly be thinking about when we return.

After a full on day of presentations, and several cups of coffee, I was inspired but exhausted so after some delicious pasta in the Italian quarter, I attempted to get an early night.

Wednesday was all about youth services, a relatively small division of YMCA Victoria, which sits outside of their camping and recreation services. They presented some impressive projects, including Youth for Causes, a social enterprise programme for young people, and the hugely successful Youth Parliament programme which puts forward Bills to the Victorian government, such as the distribution of the morning after pill, which was recently passed.

Thursday was time to give back, so after three impressive sustainable project case studies – including unearthed, swim for safety and international camping – Gillian Sewell, CEO at YMCA Derbyshire, took the floor and gave a master class on social finance.

Both entertaining and informative, Gillian presented a thorough case study to YMCA Victoria about young residents who take part in a placement with key employers in the local area, resulting in enhanced employment opportunities.

The presentations took place at Carlton Baths, a centre run by YMCA Victoria on behalf of the City of Melbourne, which had an outdoor pool, fully equipped gym, café and various spaces to deliver activities.

It was interesting to see the City of Melbourne’s logo, which strangely resembled our new national brand! It was also exciting to see YMCA merchandise for sale, another thing I’ll be taking back to the UK.

YMCA branded merchandise and the City of Melbourne logo

After finally recovering from what I can only explain as ‘torture’, my sleeping pattern was back to normal and I was excited for the facilities tour which included a childcare centre and campsite – both key services delivered by YMCA Victoria on behalf of the local authority. The passion and dedication from the staff was prevalent and the sense of YMCA pride made me proud to be part of an amazing global movement.

After a dash back to the hotel to meet with marketing manager, Bec, we talked about our similar struggles and successes rolling out a national brand - another great global contact to add to my network and someone I’m sure to liaise with on a regular basis as we work together to raise awareness of YMCA locally, nationally and on a global scale.

Unfortunately, we didn’t have long to chat as we were expected at the YMCA Victoria AGM, followed by the Staff and Volunteer Awards. So after 15 minutes getting glammed up, we headed off.

Not knowing what to expect at the AGM, it was a slick affair and it is easy to see why the Chair, Anthea, who was stepping down, is loved and respected by all at YMCA Victoria. A natural public speaker and clear visionary, she has worked with YMCA Victoria over the past three years helping it become the dynamic organisation it is.

The AGM was swiftly followed by the awards and after some amusing and emotional performances, we heard about the amazing achievements of staff and volunteers, including a staff member who worked his sick colleagues shifts for months so he could continue getting paid.

Saturday was all about sightseeing and despite the torrential rain we visited the Hearsville Sanctuary and met Skippy the kangaroo. This was followed by some lunch, an informative wine tasting session and a trip to the chocolate factory.

Skippy the Kangaroo

After arriving back at the hotel, there was just enough time to pack and get ready for our flight to Brisbane the next day. With so much learnt and experienced, it’s hard to imagine what more I can take back, but I’m excited to see what YMCA Brisbane has planned for us – and of course get some sun. The weather in Melbourne has been shocking!

Jade Asije, YMCA England

Social impact Australian Style

Well it's the last full day in Melbourne with time to reflect on yesterday's (Friday) full on schedule with YMCA Victoria. I could begin my reflection by diarising the day, starting with a visit to one of their  childcare facilities where I met truly outstanding staff whilst learning about the Reggio Emilia style of nursery, a style I will certainly be exploring back home, or I could tell you about the amazing Camp we visited called Lady Northcote

where again learning will be drawn or I could talk about the YMCA Victoria's AGM or the outstanding, inspirational, sparkly, humbling, funny, tear jerking, team uniting, alcohol available! YMCA Victoria awards ceremony, all extremely beneficially with lots and lots to take back. However, I want to use this blog to tell you about my experience of Victoria YMCA , an inspiring YMCA true to its vision - "everyone can be healthier, happier and connected to their community; and help those who are not". They embody their understanding "together anything is possible". They believe in healthy living, empowering young people, social impact, youth justice, civil engagement , civil leadership and social enterprise. They challenge one another, they support each other and  they truly believe in the unity of the Y with the attitude knowledge is not power but a learning tool they are happy to share with others.

Many people look at "YMCA Discovery Visits" as a jolly, I experienced it as a privilege and opportunity to learn from world leaders in health and well being, youth empowerment, experienced sector leaders able to sustain and grow their organisation whilst walking the fine line of community access and sustainable development. I heard of their calculated risk taking, their monitoring and evaluation to ensure informed services, their determination to prevent drowning in Australia and Asia Pacific, their drive to assist developing countries through sustainable tourism, tourism such as YMCA Unearth in Cambodia. I am blown away by the fact 50% of their 8000 staff are under 30! I leave Victoria humbled by such a determined and united team and if I'm honest envious of their ability to continuously grow thorough sustainable and targeted development whilst employing and enabling young staff.

New gym programme and global initiatives

Discovery Visit Day 3

After 2 days meeting at YMCA Victoria office locations it was great to visit one of their centres - Carlton Baths in a suburb of Melbourne - and meet some of the staff there. Carlton is one of 7 large multipurpose leisure or 'rec' Centre's owned by local authorities in the state of Victoria and operated by the YMCA (or the 'Y' as they say here) on a lease. There is a big focus on 'aquatics' or swimming in what the Y does here. Carlton Baths is the name of the original open-air (I don't think you will find that in England!) public baths which have stood on the site for over a 100 years. The facilities have been expanded since then to include a fitness centre, sports hall, crèche and various multi-purpose rooms

We learned from this YMCA's Health and Wellness Strategy Leader, Troy, that just as in the UK over the last couple of years they have seen intense competition from 24 hour and budget gyms. They had also see competition from a range of High Intensity Training (HIT) physical programmes - many of them derived from one called Reebok Crossfit. As a result they have seen their membership levels dropping. In response to this they have developed their own high intensity trademarked programme called 'Adrenaline Hit' which they intend to licence to both YMCAs and other operators

Much of the day was spent learning about various global initiatives that YMCA Vic (Australian's seem to shorten everything) is involved in. It was amazing to discover what this YMCA was doing in this area, or space, and how they were aligning what they do with global YMCA initiatives. Much of this work seemed to have its origins in the YMCA World Council in Colorado in 2014, which I was privileged to attend, and to World Urban Network (WUN) conferences. Many of the people who presented to us had been to one or both of these and had come back inspired to make this YMCA more globally relevant

YMCA Vic is a massive organisation with a large workforce - over 6000 people. Many of these are casual workers and over 50% of them are under 25. It has learned from external research that a high proportion of young people (87%) expect their employer to provide international opportunities and is working hard to make this a reality. As a result they are developing peer to peer relationship with other YMCAs particularly within the Asia Pacific YMCA region and creating 3 month internship opportunities for many of their young staff with these YMCAs.  At the same time they are creating reciprocal internship opportunities in Victoria

We were given two other fantastic case studies of global initiatives:

YMCA Unearth

We learned from Linda that Y Vic has partnered with the YMCA in Cambodia to develop a volunteer tourism programme called 'YMCA Unearth' which is currently being piloted with Y staff and volunteers. Participants pay for a 2 week trip or holiday to Cambodia. Under this scheme not only do they get to see amazing tourist sights like the sun rising at the 8th wonder of the world, Ankar Wat, they get to be involved in some genuine volunteering opportunities as part of the work that YMCA Cambodia is doing. This project is a triple win: the travellers contribute through their volunteering in Cambodia, YMCA Cambodia receives a % of the cost of the, very good value, price they have paid for the holiday, the travellers return to Australia enthused by their experience and wanting to volunteer further for the YMCA 

Global drowning prevention

To

Tim Fallon

Visit to the Victoria YMCA’s Youth Social Enterprise Programmes.

Spent the morning with Jess, Paul, Ian and James looking at various aspects of the work of the Department.

Made to feel very welcome and were very open and honest inn outlining the challenges and opportunities for the work with young people.

They have five pillars of engagement: namely Youth Justice; Youth Development; Civic Engagement; Leadership and Social Enterprise.

The Department has a volunteer team of some 350 people who are recruited from universities, the website and word of mouth. This has $1 million of benefit in kind.

The work undertaken covers the whole of Victoria, however a major concentration is in Melbourne.

The work has a primary focus on empowering young people and encompass:

Youth Parliament: This programme runs annually in conjunction with the Victorian State Government’s office for Youth and has been running for almost 30 years. It involves 120 young people annually and issues are debated and Bills passed. Those passed are then forwarded to the Minister for Youth who in turn distributes them to the relevant Government Minister. Since inception 15 Bills passed from the Youth Parliament have become legislation with the State of Victoria.

Youth for Causes: This pilot programme introduces young people between 15 – 25 to social enterprise experiences. Teams of four to five young people are given $2000 to develop a social enterprise idea and bring this to life for another charitable organisation. The YMCA provides professional mentoring and support through workshops and webinars.

Youth Voice: The YMCA Is committed to listening to the voice of young people and have put in place a number of strategies to enable this. For example, there are two places on the Board of Victoria YMCA for young people under the age of 30. A young people’s strategic development team, consisting of young people has been set up whose primary role is advocacy and promotion. There are challenges such as how to hear the voice of young people in their recreation centres and the need to empower the wider staff team across the YMCA.

Centre for Empowering Young People: A new centre is soon to open that will provide a greater resource for programmes and opportunities that will support young people to reach their potential, lead change and be entrepreneurial.

Work is also undertaken in supporting young people involved in criminal justice system, mentoring programmes for disadvantaged youth and after school and holiday activities.

It was clear form the session that there is a huge commitment and passion to work with young people from across the social and economic spectrum.

We were hugely grateful to the staff team who gave their time to share the work they are undertaking.

Office of the National YMCA of Australia

I and two members of the delegation who happen to be National Board Members had the opportunity to visit the National office in Melbourne. We spent a short time, Stephen, with the newly appointed National Youth Empowerment Officer. Part of his role is to have a shared language and understanding of youth empowerment and how to assess the impact of this work.

He indicated that a lot of work had been undertaken by the YMCA of Los Angeles Youth Institute on this.

We then had the opportunity to meet with Melinda Crole, the interim Chief Executive Officer.

We explored a number of issues, including: 

Ø  There are 22 local associations with a combined annual turnover of $430 million (£270M)

Ø  The affiliation fee, as a percentage of turnover, paid by local YMCAs range from 0.15 to 0.20 and this makes up 85% of the income of the National Council.

Ø  The minimum affiliation fee is $10,000.

Ø  No staff from a local YMCA is permitted to be a member of the National Board.

Ø  Voting entitlement is tiered, with a cap of 15%

Ø  The have an 89% brand recognition with a far lower recognition of what the YMCA does.

Ø  15 years ago they started a process of licence agreements with local YMCAs which took 6 years to be fully implemented.

Ø  The licence agreement gives the National Council the right to intervene in a local YMCA in certain nationally agreed circumstances.

Ø  There is a fit for purpose programme in place covering financial sustainability, purpose and relevance and safeguarding.

Ø  The National Council has the authority to remove the name from a local YMCA.

Ø  The local YMCAs have doubled in size in the last ten years.

Ø  The Chair of the National Board has a key role in ensuring regular communication with the Chairs off local YMCAs.

Ø  Chairs of local YMCAs are brought together every six months.

Ø  The CEOs of local YMCAs are brought together every three months.

Ø  Governance training is a key role of the National Council

Ø  Local YMCAs are appointed as National champions for certain areas. YMCAs would be asked to bid for such roles.

Ø  Risk audits are undertaken of local YMCAs and these are now outsourced

We are indebted to Melinda for her frank and open responses to our unending questions and a phrase she used will remain with me:

 “We can no longer be debilitating polite”

Paul Smillie

Victoria YMCA first visit

Tuesday 18th October

Well,what a night for all the wrong reasons. Jet Lag has kicked in for many of the team with some being awake from 2am, myself from 4am. a hearty breakfast was no substitute for lack of sleep.

Today we spent the day discovering the Corporate workings of YMCA Victoria at the Copropate Office. We arrived there at 9.15am and were met by Ang and Lyndsay of Victoria YMCA. We introduced ourselves to the team and talked about our work in the UK.

Ang presented on "welcome to the Y" a presentation for new members of staff. strong acknowledgment of the country which is an understanding of the heritage of  indigenous people.

Y Victoria has 7 health clubs, childcare and holiday programmes, skateparks, swimming pools with a strong focus on community. "communities are better because we are in it".

Y Victoria impact: 160 locations with 6500 staff and 1500 volunteers.

The mission of YMCA Victoria is in three focus areas in Australia, Healthy Living, empowering young people and social impact.

Healthy Living: health and fitness, aquatics, camps

Empowering young people: advocacy, education, 

Social Impact: global work, evidence based work, 

Y Victoria does not own much of its real estate. it is leased via the Government or others.

Cinzia, Group Manager for engagement was the next to present to us. Her responsibility is for marketing, communicationss, engagement, brand, fundraising and digital.

She talked about their Father's Day fun run and brand campaign. A public facing event built on the fact that the YMCA invented Father's Day. It was promoted through camps, gyms, local media connecting staff to the event, building the experience on the day. A YMCA village on the day promoted the variety of services provided by the YMCA.

We then had a presentation from Greg Jennings - Acting CEO.

he focused on Mission Alignment - developing areas in childcare and camps.

One of the things which Greg mentioned was the purchase of a Private Swim School and how they have maintained the brand of the school which contributes to the possibility of a 'House of Brands' in the future. The school provides swimming lessons and preventing drowning.(King Swim).

Consideration is being given to whether the YMCA should brand some of their programmes differently to meet the programme users expectations.

Gerard Bolger - Corporate Planning and Performance

Gerard spoke about YMCA = business as usual + new work - stop doing stuff to do the new.
In relation to this he stated that they are always looking at doing more new things but when they ask what will we stop doing to facilitate  new things if was difficult to identify areas of work they would stop doing.

Bringing teams together to plan projects and then dispersing once it is launched.

We also heard from Lexi on the use of ITC in large organisations and the HR function challenges of running large organisations. 

So a long first day but lots of learning for all of us from the UK.

Early night for most and a hope of a good nights sleep.

Discovery Visit Australia

Yesterday evening I arrived into Melbourne Australia for this year’s YMCA Discovery.

Within the Federation of YMCAs of England & Wales we have a Leadership Development Strategy which enables Staff and Trustees to improve and develop their leadership to become excellent leaders within YMCA.

Currently Discovery visits are focused on CEO’s and Strategic Leaders of local YMCAs in England & Wales. We are currently exploring this to Trustees but more on that another day.

As YMCA we seek to capitalise on being a Global organisation and create opportunities for staff to travel to YMCAs in difference geographical and cultural locations to ‘discover’ what YMCA is doing in those contexts to deliver what is in effect our basic global YMCA Mission and how we interpreted that mission and values into the local needs of their communities.

As you can imagine, an organisation which is 173 years old, working in 119 countries and reaching 58 million people, YMCA is a rich and vibrant tapestry when you consider it as a global ecumenical Christian youth organisation.

So this year, there are eight of us on this discovery visit which will last ten days. There are four CEO’s in the group and four strategic leaders.

We will spend time in Melbourne and Brisbane engaging in presentations, discussions and visits to services.

Each day one of the group will post a blog on the experience of the day to both help participants reflect on what they are hearing, seeing and learning and communicating that to other readers of the this blog.

From here I hope you will enjoy and find informative, what is written during the next ten days.

My name is Gillian Sewell, CEO YMCA Derbyshire, Yesterday I embarked on my shared journey as a YMCA leader who has been given the privilege of going to Australia on a YMCA discovery visit.

As normal with the YMCA a group of individuals came together already as friends, why because we are YMCA. You never meet strangers in the YMCA you meet a friend you don't yet know!

Over dinner the group consisting of  one English, two scots, two Welsh and our wonderful Irish man who was in the hotel (there's a joke there somewher as we did go into a bar!), Came together for a meal.

Again with the YMCA especially when it's with fellow YMCA leaders who have the ability to be opinionated, discussions started to take place around our view of the YMCA. During this debate I realised something fundamental, in the YMCA we love  a good debate because there is an unspoken,  unwritten ground rule enabling us to feel safe and be free to debate; mutual respect!
We don't have to agree with each other, we don't even have to like what is being said but we always, always respect the other.

Having met my fellow travellers I awaken this morning thoroughly looking forward to spending time with my YMCA friends and look forward to meeting our Australian YMCA cousins after the dreaded 24 hour flight! Good bye Blighty hello Australia.

Gillian

Prepared?

so, as I sit on the sofa at home on Friday morning, I contemplate on the trip ahead. A number of questions arise. Do I have everything I need? What time is my train to London today? Have I done everything Ken has asked? Will this mini blog post? Really looking forward to spending time with colleagues and learning together on our discovery trip. Not looking forward to the long flights but needs must. Really excited to be meeting some of our international colleagues in Australia and leaning from them. Hoping that our contribution to them is helpful. Better get packing. 😀