The Family YMCA

The Family YMCA was founded by volunteers in 1955 in Los Alamos. At that time, Los Alamos was a “closed” community due to the top secret work of the National Laboratory, and the isolation and lack of activities were community concerns. This put The Family YMCA on the historical map for two reasons.

For one, our Y came into existence through an Act of Congress. Community volunteers had to petition Congress for permission to operate and for a place because all land and buildings were federally owned since World War II's Manhattan Project.

The other historical fact is that The Family YMCA is the unique name ascribed to this Y located in Los Alamos. Ours was the very first “family” YMCA in the United States of America. Since 1955, some 480 of the U.S.’s 2,700 YMCAs, now incorporate the word “family” into their name, but our Y was the first one.

Our Purpose and Mission:

The Family YMCA is a charitable, community-serving organization that promotes values, leadership development, service-learning, community interaction, healthy life choices and active lifestyles.

We are led by a volunteer board of directors and an executive director.

• The mission of our organization is to build individual, family and community strength by focusing on youth development, healthy living and social responsibility.
• Our driving vision is to provide the best facilities and programs that will support total community wellness.
• Our purpose is to engage partners in our communities to promote healthy life choices and to support community well-being beyond our facilities.
• Our goals are to provide quality programs and critical services that meet the needs of the communities we serve.
• Our core values of caring, honesty, respect and responsibility are stressed in all programming and interactions.
• Our primary services include youth, family and community programming; after school and summer camp programs, a wellness facility in Los Alamos; and teen recreational and academic programming in Española and Los Alamos.
• We serve approximately 8,000 community members annually in memberships and through health-related programs.
• Our annual budget is $2.7 million dollars.