Behind every number, there is a story, a community, and a young person who found in the YMCA a safe space to grow and lead. In 2025, we continued expanding our reach across Latin America and the Caribbean.

Strategic Direction 1: Our Organizational Transformation

Ensure inclusive, safe spaces that promote health and wellbeing.

Strengthening Safe Environments

We continue building a more inclusive and safer YMCA for everyone. In 2025, we developed a regional pathway that integrates best practices and standards for inclusion and abuse prevention, ensuring that youth and communities feel safe and welcome across the region.

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Strategic Direction 2: Our Community Impact

Create innovative community interventions that contribute to the community’s health and wellbeing.

Contributing to Youth Mental Health and Wellbeing

Eleva empowers young people as change agents in one of the regions with the least access to mental health services. Through workshops, support networks, and awareness campaigns, youth break down stigma and promote emotional wellbeing. By training key adults and sharing knowledge, we strengthen emotional resilience and mobilize communities to become inclusive support networks for all young people.

Fostering Healthy Habits in Children

In partnership with Break It Kids from Maxwell Education and with the support of 2BeLive, we brought active breaks into classrooms across the region. Intentional movement activities that helped children release energy, regulate their emotions, and return to learning with greater focus. The result was a healthier, more inclusive, and more effective environment for growth.

Promoting Water Safety

In Chile, drowning is the second leading cause of accidental death among children and access to swimming lessons remains a privilege. YMCA Santiago, with the support of Delta Air Lines, launched the Swimming Academy for Life. The program saves lives by developing flotation, breathing, and water safety skills, while strengthening autonomy, confidence, and a community culture of prevention.

Promoting Early Aquatic Education

In Mexico, more than a quarter of all drowning deaths occur in children under 15. For the third consecutive year, YMCA Mexico, with the support of Delta Air Lines and Aeromexico, responded with the Water Safety Program: a theoretical and practical educational approach equipping children and youth with prevention, flotation, and emergency response skills.

Democratizing Physical Activity

In Peru, learning to swim remains a privilege. Economic and cultural barriers leave entire communities without access to swimming skills. YMCA Peru, with the support of Delta Air Lines, broke down those barriers through the Swimming Academy at its Pueblo Libre and Surco centers, offering a multigenerational program that supports children, youth, and older adults with methodologies tailored to each stage of life.

Improving Community Development Spaces

At YMCA Villa Maria in São Paulo, a covered multi-sports court became a space where children and youth develop leadership skills, teamwork, and confidence. Thanks to the support of Delta Air Lines, the community now has a safe, welcoming place to grow, play, and gather all year-round.

Supporting Holistic Care Environments

In Bogotá, communities with the highest rates of poverty, such as Usme and Ciudad Bolívar, exceed 57%, underscoring the need to invest in the most vulnerable children. YMCA Bogotá's Solidarity Banquet, "Painting Life with Color," brought together companies, donors, and volunteers to transform that reality through art, education, nutrition, and play. This was a chance to celebrate the collective power of those who believe every child deserves an opportunity.

Youth Emotional Wellbeing

In Ciudad Bolívar, YMCA Bogotá led the "Connected for Mental Health" project, promoting emotional wellbeing in school environments through youth development, teacher training, and pedagogical innovation. Young people, empowered as multiplier leaders, led community initiatives that transformed their surroundings and positioned mental health as a collective priority.

Youth Emotional Wellbeing

YMCA Honduras, through the "Live and Connect" project, supported adolescents in a first, conscious approach to their mental health. Through play-based activities and safe spaces for dialogue, we worked on life skills, emotional intelligence, self-esteem, and stress management. With these activities we addressed topics many participants had never encountered before.

Promoting Holistic Wellbeing

YMCA Camps are learning spaces for children and youth, where they develop socioemotional skills and immerse in meaningful experiences. Through the exchange of experiences and best practices, we continue strengthening these spaces that reduce inequalities and build more inclusive communities.

Spiritual Wellbeing

YMCA's ecumenical legacy inspires leadership rooted in empathy, solidarity, inclusion, and transformative action. In 2025, the Mission Network gathered 64 participants in the annual conference, under the theme "Extending the Kingdom: Vision 2030 in Action," reaffirming the role of spirituality as a driver of more united and resilient communities across the region.

Strategic Direction 3: Our Advocacy And Positioning

To promote youth engagement and participation in advocacy efforts related to the defense, promotion, and protection of the rights of children and young people.

Youth Voices for Global Mental Health

We remain active members of the Youth Advisory Group of the Being initiative, positioning youth at the centre of the global mental health agenda. In 2025, we co-authored Youth Voices, a guide influencing how funders design their grant-making processes. Also, we brought the YMCA voice to the G7 2025 agenda, helping establish mental health as a global economic priority.

Mental Health Impact Networks

We joined the Coalition for Scaling Mental Health (CSMH), a global network founded by pioneering community-based mental health organizations working to increase access to care through community-based models. This network gives us access to evidence-based, best practices, and innovations that strengthen the design and impact of our programs in the region.

Strategic Direction 1: Our Organizational Transformation

Ensuring decent and meaningful jobs for staff and volunteers, and creating employment opportunities for all people.

Promoting Dignified, Inclusive, and Healthy Work Environments

We continue working to advance dignified, inclusive, and healthy working conditions within YMCA. In 2025, we launched a regional theory-of-change adaptable to each local context, an initial assessment of working conditions, an organizational climate assessment, training processes, and a shared platform to share tools and best practices.

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Strategic Direction 2: Our Community Impact

To innovate in the development of community-based initiatives that create job opportunities and provide training for all

Youth Employment Programs

Youth employment programs built skills for the jobs of the future by combining digital skills, career guidance, entrepreneurship, and social-emotional development. Through mentoring and exposure to real-world opportunities, we supported more than 1,000 young people in their transition to education, employment, or entrepreneurship, addressing the structural barriers that limit their access to meaningful work.

Innovating in community initiatives focused on mitigating the impacts of climate change and building environmental resilience

Strategic Direction 2: Our Community Impact

Create innovative community interventions focused on mitigating the impacts of climate change and building environmental resilience.

Renewable Energy for a More Sustainable YMCA

YMCA Rio Grande do Sul installed the largest photovoltaic plant in Porto Alegre on the rooftops of the João XXIII Ecumenical Cemetery,  2,222 solar panels capable of generating 110 MWh per month, enough to power all its facilities with a 30% surplus. This initiative reduced electricity costs by up to 84%, freeing resources to reinvest in community programs and consolidating YMCA's commitment to environmental, social, and economic sustainability.

The YMCA believes in the power of youth and communities to promote and advance justice, peace, equity, and human rights for all individuals.

Strategic Direction 1: Our Organizational Transformation

Strengthen our governance and institutional leadership

Organizational Health Assessment

To remain a strong organization at the service of communities, we foster a culture of continuous learning and strengthen our resilience and sustainability. In 2025, organizational health assessments were applied to continue strengthening governance, strategic planning, and data-driven decision-making.

Participating YMCA Movements

Strategic Direction 2: Our Community Impact

To innovate in community-based initiatives that contribute to the empowerment of young people and their communities.

Youth Leading Change

The Youth in Governance Roles (YGOR) training program began a new cycle. This is an opportunity for young people across the region to prepare for decision-making roles within their YMCAs. In this cohort, 37 youth explored transformational leadership, innovation, and strategic planning with the goal of increasing local impact.

Expanding Access to After-School Education in the Caribbean

The after-school education program,  in partnership with CIBC FirstCaribbean ComTrust Foundation and BlueDrop, offers scholarships, training, and digital access to close educational gaps in the Caribbean. Beyond academic learning, the program gives children and youth in vulnerable situations a safe space where they receive balanced nutrition, develop socioemotional skills, and rebuild the confidence to dream of a better future.

Strengthening Formal Education

We drive pedagogical innovation and intercultural exchange among YMCA schools in Colombia, Peru, Argentina, and Venezuela. In 2025, the network facilitated student exchanges, a debate tournament, the International Youth Congress, and the first leadership meeting in Argentina.

Strategic Direction 3: Our Advocacy And Positioning

Encourage youth to train and participate in decision-making spaces where they address, discuss, and make decisions on issues related to justice and social inclusion.

Leadership in the Children's Agenda

We maintain an active role as part of the coordinating board of the Global Movement for Children Latin America and Caribbean Chapter (MMI-LAC), championing the defence of children's rights in the region. In 2025, we participated in the annual hybrid membership meeting, strengthening regional decision-making and coordination.

Contributing to Children's Policies

As part of MMI-LAC, we contributed to the development of a regional policy for the comprehensive protection of children through participation in the SPINNA Forum alongside YMCA Bogotá. The outcome was a regional roadmap consolidating the right to peace, protection from abuse, and children's meaningful participation as binding commitments for states across the region.

National Consultations — Summit of the Americas

As part of the National Consultations leading to the 10th Summit of the Americas (Organization of American States), we supported the YMCA of Dominican Republic to strengthen its participation in this advocacy event. The region, through a young leader from the Dominican Republic, brought the voices of Dominican youth to the regional agenda, demonstrating the YMCA's role as a bridge builder between communities and political decision-making spaces.

Strategic Direction 1: Our Organizational Transformation

Strengthen our institutional capacities.

Strategic Support for YMCAs

We supported YMCAs facing difficult contexts, strengthening their institutional and operational capacity to remain resilient and continue serving their communities. This support helps preserve the YMCA's presence in the region, defend human rights, and sustain social cohesion in environments of uncertainty and change.

Driving Synergies for a Legacy of Impact

In 2025, REGIONLAC, our Annual Regional Conference, brought together leaders, volunteers, and youth from Latin America and the Caribbean to build capacities in social impact and financial sustainability. The conference expanded youth participation in training and decision-making, generating collaborative networks that amplify the reach and impact of YMCA across the region.

Building a Culture of Philanthropy

We strengthened the culture of philanthropy by promoting strategies adapted to the regional context. A Fundraising Showcase was held to share best practices and success stories. Additionally, at REGIONLAC, workshops were held in collaboration with NAYDO experts focused on fundraising trends and the new generation of donors.

Emergency Response — Jamaica

Hurricane Melissa left more than 75 people dead and affected 6 million people in the Caribbean. In response, we joined forces with YMCA Jamaica, launched an international appeal, and delivered an action plan to address the most urgent needs in the short and medium term.

Strategic Direction 2: Our Community Impact

Improve our knowledge management and impact measurement.

Empathy Training

In partnership with Hello Insight and Coschool, we developed the course "How to Cultivate Empathy" designed to strengthen the abilities of those who work directly with communities. By strengthening this skill, 154 YMCA leaders improved their ability to connect, listen, and support communities from a more human and transformative perspective.

Strategic Direction 3: Our Advocacy And Positioning

Strengthen our positioning at the regional level.

Regional Youth Visibility

Our digital strategy places the voice of youth at the centre, generating relevant content adapted to each digital platform,inspiring participation, collaboration, and regional impact. Every post is an opportunity to strengthen the sense of community and the commitment to social change.

Regional Communications for Collective Visibility and Advocacy

We drive YMCA brand positioning in the region by coordinating key campaigns: International Youth Day, the Regional Mental Health Campaign, and the year-end campaign. With these campaigns, we promoted exchange between movements and amplifed social impact.

Strategic Direction 4: Our Sustainability

Mobilize technical, technological, human, and financial resources.

Participation in the 2025 NAYDO Conference

The participation of 18 leaders from the region in the 2025 NAYDO Conference in St. Louis, USA, was key to strengthening our capacities in fundraising and resource mobilization. The experience not only brought new knowledge and motivation, but also allowed us to actively share our learnings through a virtual session, fostering collaboration and reinforcing strategic partnerships.

Meet Our Leaders

Executive Committee

Regional Node Staff

Commissions

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