Our Vision
Since 1953, the Mission YMCA has been building strong kids, strong families and strong communities from our location in the Excelsior Neighborhood.
In addition to our onsite preschool and senior center, we also deliver programming at over 6 offsite locations in the Mission, Portola, Sunnyside, Visitacion Valley, and other adjacent neighborhoods. In total we serve over 3,000 families a year and over 85% of our program participants receive financial aid in some form.
The Excelsior and surrounding neighborhoods have a high density of families with children, are predominately low income, and are extremely diverse linguistically and culturally. The Excelsior itself has the lowest per capita income in San Francisco ($19,176), the second highest percentage of households with children under 18 (40%), and is the second most ethnically diverse district in the city.
This combination of factors means that kids in the Excelsior are less likely to have access to other high quality opportunities to learn and grow. Furthermore, there is an explicit lack of developmentally appropriate activities for youth in the neighborhood as expressed by San Francisco’s Department of Children, Youth and their Families (DCYF) targeting of the Excelsior as a high priority neighborhood.
The Mission YMCA is committed to helping this diverse group of families thrive in life, work, and personal matters. In our annual campaign appeal for scholarship funds we ask people to imagine how hard life can be when you’re worried about the health, safety, and well being of your children or parents.
It is our vision that families in our service area will not face this hardship because we will provide affordable, professional family programming that empowers our community and gives it the freedom to succeed.
Mission YMCA. Fun. Safe. Affordable. In the neighborhood!
