YMCA Awarded Grants for After-School Programs

The Tampa Metropolitan Area YMCA has received four $5,000 grants from jcp cares, jcpenney’s new charitable giving program, to provide school-aged children with financial assistance to attend after-school programs at the Y.

This gift provides children in the Tampa Bay community, who otherwise could not afford to participate, with access to life-enriching after-school programs that cultivate the values, relationships and skills kids need to thrive.

A total of $20,000 in grants has been awarded to the Bob Gilbertson Central City Family YMCA, Northwest Hillsborough Family YMCA, YMCA Camp Cristina and YMCA Child Care Services.

According to the Afterschool Alliance, a nonprofit public awareness advocacy organization, 15.1 million U.S. children are left unsupervised after 3 p.m. during the school year. Studies show participation in after-school programs helps boost school attendance and academic performance and reduces gaps in academic achievement among children from disadvantaged households.

“As a company founded on the Golden Rule, jcpenney has a strong legacy of giving back,” said Miki Woodard, president of jcp cares and vice president of philanthropy at jcpenney. “We are firmly committed to organizations like the Y, which truly make a difference in their communities.”

The Tampa YMCA sees the benefits of this collaboration first-hand.

“The support of jcpenney enhances our efforts to serve as many children as possible with meaningful, high-quality after-school programming,” says Lalita Llerena, communications director with the Tampa Metropolitan Area YMCA. “By working together, not only can we keep children safer, but also help provide them with lasting benefits, including healthier lifestyles, improved social skills and an enhanced academic performance.”

With 10 family branches, four express Ys, a camp, youth and family center and two golf facilities, the Tampa Y serves more than 140,000 children and families every year providing $7.7 million in community benefit and $4.1 million in financial assistance to 36,152 children and adults.

In addition to supporting local Ys’ after-school programs, jcpenney, through jcp cares, has named the Y as its featured charity for the month for January. jcpenney team members will invite customers throughout the month of January to round up their purchases in stores to the nearest whole dollar and donate the difference to the Y.

These resources will support the Y’s national commitment to closing the achievement gap through three key programs: early learning, after-school and summer learning. jcpenney will feature the Y prominently on the company’s web site (www.jcp.com), in mailings to customers and nationwide in stores throughout January. Donations will also be accepted online through Jan. 31 at: jcp.com/jcpcares.