The Londonderry YMCA is looking to expand the range of activities that it offers the community and wants your input.
The Youth Men’s Christian Association is currently in the process of submitting a national survey in its more than 2000 locations in the U.S. in the hopes of particularizing each location’s events and recreations around the needs and desires of their community. Dubbed the Community Needs Assessment, it is currently making the rounds through Londonderry, but has been met with less-than-stellar results.
As of today, only 133 have been completed in Londonderry and the YMCA is attempting to make one last big push before the survey ends in the coming weeks.
Lisa Fitzgerald, who is the YMCA of Greater Londonderry’s Branch Director, hopes to use the survey to expand its footprint in the community, but they need the community’s advice in order for that to happen.
“We need to know what the community needs before we can move further with it”, noted Fitzgerald.
She believes that the low response numbers are due to the fact that many people don’t understand what the purpose of the survey is.
The survey itself asks the taker about both how satisfied they are with what their YMCA should or does offer for both adults and youth/teens and how important these things are to them. Specifically, it asks how they feel about how their YMCA promotes healthy physical and eating habits, the learning and community service opportunities it offers, its ability to help youth build good character, creative skills and academic skills and ensuring the youth have a safe and secure community space. It also asks what they would consider is the community’s most pressing need or needs.
According to the Londonderry YMCA’s home page, it “offers a wide variety of exciting activities for kids, athletes, families, seniors, and everyone in between. We are a community with an everyday mission to helping our members achieve a balance of spirit, mind, and body. We do that by encouraging good health and fostering connections with new and old friends through sports, fun, and shared interests. Like our sister branches in Manchester, Goffstown, Portsmouth, and Rochester, we are pleased to offer a wide variety of fun individual and family programs.”
The surveys, which are not individually tracked and are kept confidential, should take no more than five minutes. If you are interested in taking this survey, a link can be found on their Facebook page: facebook.com/YLondonderry/ For more information about the Londonderry YMCA, please visit HYPERLINK “http://www.graniteymca.org/locations/greater-londonderry” http://www.graniteymca.org/locations/greater-londonderry.