Ozarks Regional YMCA January Newsletter

OZARKS REGIONAL YMCA • www.orymca.org • Winter 2016
Roy Blunt YMCA of Bolivar • Ozark Mountain Family YMCA • G. Pearson Ward • Monett Area
YMCA • Pat Jones YMCA • Cassville YMCA • Dallas Co. Area YMCA • Lebanon Family YMCA
School Age Services • Camp Wakonda
WHERE COMMUNITY
COMES TOGETHER
INNOVATION GRANT
HELPS CLOSE ACHIEVEMENT GAP
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
By Trent Sims
The Ozarks Regional YMCA in partnership
with the Ozarks Literacy Council and funding
from Community Foundation of the Ozarks’
Innovation Grant are teaming up for collective
impact. The project is a pilot that will lay the
foundation for future achievement gap initiatives
in the Ozarks Regional YMCA’s after
school program. The network currently serves
over 2,000 youth in 35+ schools across the
region. If successful, it has the potential with
community support to create population level
impact on academic achievement, when scaled
and implemented in other schools. It could
also be a part of a future community-wide
cradle to career collective impact model.
This pilot program will pair 20 elementary
students from Boyd and Bowerman Elementary
with a trained literacy coach from Ozarks
Literacy Council two nights a week for an
hour. The pilot will occur from January to April
of 2016 and will measure pre and post Developmental
Reading Assessment (DRA) scores
to determine impact. Independent third party
evaluation will be provided by Christina Ryder
at Missouri State University through funding
provided by Community Foundation of the
Ozarks.
Bowerman and Boyd were chosen for the pilot,
because they are located in Zone 1. The area
has an academic achievement gap, an issue
that was highlighted as a red flag in the 2011,
2013, and 2015 Community Focus Reports.
Data from Springfield Public School’s 2013-
2014 annual report highlights the differences
in achievement at schools like Boyd and Bow-
erman compared to
the city and state as
a whole. The mobility
rates for Bowerman
and Boyd are 30% to
40% higher than the
district average. Third
Grade English Language
Arts (ELA) Map
scores for Bowerman
Elementary and Boyd
were lower than the
state and district averages
for the 2013-
2014 school year. The
percentage of students
receiving proficient
and advanced
standing were 10.5%
and 21.4% compared to 36.4% in the district,
and 42.3% statewide. For more information
on this program feel free to contact the OR-
YMCA or OLC.
The Ozarks Regional YMCA has served the
community for more than 125 years and has
more than 20,000 members in the association
and hopes to engage more people in
the communities it serves whether it is as a
member, volunteer, supporter or advocate. To
learn more about our program, family centers,
and how you can get involved, visit orymca.
org, or join us on Facebook “Ozarks Regional
YMCA”. The Ozarks Regional YMCA consists
of eight family centers including, The Ozark
Mountain Branch in Hollister, Bolivar/Dallas
County, Monett/Cassville, Lebanon Family
YMCA, two facilities in Springfield, Resident
Camp Wakonda and School Age Services.

2 • OZARKS REGIONAL YMCA • WINTER 2016
NEW LAKE AT CAMP WAKONDA
YOUTH DEVELOPMENT
By Steve Maynard
Get ready for some good old fashioned
splashin’, fishin’ and boatin’ for the summer
of 2016! YMCA Camp Wakonda recently
broke ground on a pond expansion that will
change our current 1 acre pond into a 5 acre
lake. This will mean more room for some
favorite activities like canoeing, kayaking
and fishing, and allow for us to add some
exciting new activities like swimming, water
trampolines and air blobs. The new lake will
feature a large sand beach on the expanded
shoreline. An existing building, located at
the east end of the lake, will serve as the
boathouse, housing canoes, kayaks, paddles,
life jackets and fishing poles. As enrollment
at camp continues to increase an additional
swimming area will allow older and younger
campers to swim at alternating locations.
As always our goal is to provide the best
week of the year for our campers while
helping them grow in self-esteem and confidence,
learn new skills and how to develop
relationships with peers and counselors.
The lake expansion will afford counselors a
larger sphere and a few more tools to help
campers achieve these goals.
The lake will feature a dock system provided
by Monett based E-Z Dock, and a solar
powered aeration system designed by Living
Water Aeration. Timber is being harvested
by Custom Timber Harvester from Mount
Vernon. The timber will be milled and then
return to camp as siding for some current
and future buildings. Lafollette Excavating
will handle the site work, pond & spillway
design.
This project has been made possible by a
generous donation from Ryan and Brandi
O’Reilly, a Capital Grant from the YMCA of
the USA, as well as the collaborative efforts
of the Missouri Department of Conservation,
Missouri Fish & Wildlife, the Lawrence County
Road Commission, Miller Engineering, the
Camp Wakonda Board of Managers and the
Ozarks Regional YMCA Executive Board.
BUILDING
CONFIDENCE
YOUTH DEVELOPMENT
By Dawn Decker
When we think of Dodgeball, we may
think of a fun chaotic game that is
nothing more than throwing foam balls
at other participants. For the most part,
this is true.
However, for 1st grader Cuylar, this was
an intimidating and scary setting at first.
On the first night of the league session,
Cuylar didn’t venture far from his
parents. We could tell by his actions that
it was a lot to take in for this youngster.
The amount of participants that were in
attendance, their parents, the balls flying
from one side of the gym to the other,
would be a lot for many to absorb.
Throughout the evening Cuylar found his
courage and slowly took one small step at a
time away from his parents and into line to
play. By the time his turn came up, it was
the last game of the evening but he was in
and having a great time.
Over the course of the next few weeks,
Cuylar didn’t stay behind with his parents,
he stepped forward on his own and soon
became the first one on the floor and the
last one to leave. He was completely in his
element and having a ball! Literally! As his
courage and bravery grew, so did his smile
and love for his new found dodgeball friends.
In visiting with his parents, they shared that
it sometimes takes him a little bit to expand
his circle and participate. They appreciated
the environment the YMCA created to help
encourage their son to get active and be a
part of the group.

3 • OZARKS REGIONAL YMCA • WINTER 2016
HOPPING THE GAP
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
By Trent Sims
Staff from the Ozarks Regional YMCA traveled
to Washington, D.C. for the first annual
YUSA Achievement Gap Convening. Y staff
attended workshops, learned from collective
impact model experts, and discussed ways
of implementing local evidence based programing.
The purpose of the event was to
educate and align Y affiliates around a common
mission to move the needle on academic
achievement. Working with pilot sites, YUSA
has developed programming that has shown
to reduce summer reading loss, improve social-emotional
skills, improve school conduct,
and increase self-sufficiency. By empowering
Y’s across the country to use these best
practices, YUSA aims to make a measurable
impact in reducing the Achievement Gap for
the 9 million youth that are served by Y’s nationally.
In addition to being a part of a national network,
ORYMCA strives to make a different in
our local community. The Achievement Gap,
a local red flag issue since 2011, is the term
used to describe the difference in academic
performance between different population
groups. In Springfield, low-income youth are
more likely to struggle with reading, science,
and math which contributes to lower graduation
rates and continued cycles of generational
poverty. By reducing the Achievement
Gap, the ORYMCA aims to empower local
youth to successfully transition into adulthood,
leading to a stronger local workforce,
and improvements in quality of life for the
community.
The first step in moving towards
YUSA’s evidence based model will involve piloting
an after school literacy program with
funding from Community Foundation of the
Ozarks. The program will be in partnership
with Ozarks Literacy Council at two SPS elementary
school sites. Bowerman and Boyd
were chosen for the pilot, because they are
located in Zone 1, the area targeted by the
local Impacting Poverty Commission, the City
of Springfield, and CFO’s Northwest Initiative.
Data from Springfield Public School’s
2013-2014 annual report shows the mobility
rates for Bowerman and Boyd are 30%
to 40% higher than the district average. The
percentage of students receiving proficient
and advanced standing in third grade English
Language Arts were 10.5% and 21.4%
compared to 36.4% in the district, and 42.3%
statewide. At the end of the pilot, partners
will be able to see if the program impacted
youth enrolled. If successful, the ORYMCA
plans to scale the program and make population
level impact in the community.
LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT AT THE Y
Branson Daily Independent News
Eharmony eat your heart out. Hollister YM-
CA’s SilverSneaker fitness class turned out
a heart smart choice for two local seniors
in more ways than one. On the first day of
class, Janice Harl took one look at fellow
class attendee Chris Farell and her heartbeat
did a few extra repetitions. “She came over
that first day and asked me if I wanted to
go to Silver Dollar City with her,” Farell said.
He wasted no time in saying “yes.” That was
in May. That first date began a fast-track to
love.
Friday, September, 25th, the SilverSneaker
class hosted an engagement reception
for the couple - after the exercise class, of
course. The two were married on Oct., 31.
“It’s a match made in heaven,” Farell said.
Farell retired as the North American Sales
Director for Haldex and lives in Ridgedale.
Harl, a cosmetologist, lives in Hollister.

4 • OZARKS REGIONAL YMCA • WINTER 2016
FACES
OF THE Y