In this edition of Us!...
- Send a Kid to Camp
- Devonne Franklin's Story
- Associate Referral Program
- Career Growth
- Shout Outs
- Y Swim Team and Coaches are Victorious
- Community Kudos
- Get Paid!
- Why Risk It?
- A Note from John Hoey
- Organization Announcements
Y ASSOCIATE UPDATES
Help Send a Kid to Camp this Summer
Right now, nearly 200 children are on the waitlist for financial aid to attend our Y summer camps.
By donating, you can bring happiness, safety and fun to the lives of children in our community who might otherwise miss out.
Y associates can support the Send a Kid to Camp campaign by making a gift online or through payroll deduction.
Thank you for your support!
"I Am Compelled To Do This.": Devonne Franklin's Story
Devonne Franklin, the Y in Central Maryland’s Executive Director of Community & Associate Wellbeing took an unconventional route in her career trajectory. With a Masters Degree in Business Intelligence and Analytics and a BA in Nutritional Sciences, she may have easily slid into a leadership position in health analytics or a similar high profile career. Instead, she listened to her heart and plunged full force into her 18 year community development career.
Associate Referral Program
We are growing our Y associate community and need your help. If you know someone who may be a qualified candidate as an educator, lifeguard or other referral program position, please encourage them to apply. If the person you referred is hired, you can potentially earn up to a $500 referral bonus!
Y CAREER GROWTH
Grow your career and exposure within the Y! Job opportunities are currently available for a variety of positions including instructors, lifeguards, educators, and more. Browse open positions in Dayforce to see available career growth opportunities.
1. Log into Dayforce (open web browser > Cloud Bookmarks > Dayforce)
2. Click the menu icon in the upper left corner, select Careers, select Search Jobs
3. Browse the list of open positions or search by keywords (ex. "teacher")
GOOD VIBES
Y ASSOCIATE SHOUT OUTS
We have only one Y Associate Shout Out today, but it’s a great one! Organized around our four core operating principles: empathy, cleanliness, engagement, and safety these are stories about pitching in, reaching out, showing initiative, being a great colleague, and going the extra mile: all of which are hallmarks of Y associates and our organizational culture.
Click the blue "Shout Out" icon above to read about Phylicia Young and Sasha Batts.
We know there are so many more incredible examples out there of associates living out the Y’s mission and core operating principles on a daily basis, so if you have a colleague you would like to “Shout Out,” please fill out the nomination form. We'd like to hear from you!
Y Swim Coaches Lead the Way to Victory at East Field South District Championships!
Submitted by Brooke Bartko
Congratulations to the incredible Y in Central Maryland swim team coaches for organizing and hosting the East Field South District Championships at Fairland Sports & Aquatics Complex in March! Your hard work made it a success—plus, winning First Place Girls, Boys, and Combined for Large Team was the perfect icing on the cake!
COMMUNITY COMMENTS
The good work you do doesn't go unnoticed. Enjoy reading these real comments from our Y community and soak in the praise!
Majesty's Parent, Y Head Start, Sherman Early Childhood Center
"The learning environment helped my daughter thrive. Her vocabulary has improved. Her social skills have improved, and she is now starting to write her first name. The teachers at Y Head Start are very caring and attentive. This was the best decision my husband and I made to enroll our daughter in this program!"
Pamela, The Weinberg Y in Waverly
"Linda Smith, fitness instructor - she is so motivating, personable, humorous, and patient. She's just awesome! The members in my classes have become like family making me truly happy to participate."
Joshua's Parent, Y Before & After School Enrichment, Rippling Woods Elementary
"The director reached out to me before my son started to welcome us and to see if he could address any questions or concerns I had. We felt very welcome and wanted."
Chloe's Parent, Y Preschool at UMBC
"Great experience! They treat the children like their own. I really appreciate Ms. Quetta, Ms. Michika and Ms. Alexius. They are the sweetest, most caring, genuine people I have come across. I go to work comfortable everyday knowing my daughter is in the best care."
Ronin's Parent, Y School Partnerships, Fort Worthington Elementary
"Ms. Lance and her team always go above and beyond. I haven’t had a bad experience as a parent, nor has my son. They always ensure the kids have what they need. I know my son is safe with them and is having a meaningful experience."
Murelle, The Greater Annapolis Y in Arnold
"We love this Y! We mostly use it for family activities like swimming or the rock climbing wall. How amazing for a Y to have a climbing wall! We also lean heavily on their camps which are great, and we love the Parents' Night Out when we can get in. The Y really seems to support families and we so appreciate it."
WE NEED TO HEAR FROM YOU!
The Us! associate enewsletter is published monthly and we need to hear from you! Share your stories, what’s new in your Y world, and what you are proud of. We want to know! The next edition of Us! will be published on May 14th. The submission deadline is Friday, May 9th.
RESOURCES, POLICIES AND PROCEDURES
GET PAID!
| PAY PERIOD | PAY DATE |
|---|---|
| April 20 - May 3 | May 13, 2025 |
| May 4 - 17 | May 27, 2025 |
WHY RISK IT?
The Y's Risk Management Team has created a monthly newsletter to highlight key risk reduction practices, reviews and reminders. This serves as an excellent quick reference for high priority risk awareness in our Y programs, centers and sites.
OUR WORK TOGETHER
Dear Colleagues,
I think it’s fair to say that we are living in rapidly changing and uncertain times. While we’ve always been an inherently complex country, with vast differences in how people live, what they believe, and how they think about the world, we’ve generally accepted that those differences need to be negotiated and resolved in a civil manner. America is, by its very nature, meant to be a pluralistic society, in which our differences are actually our strength, and that power and influence are not concentrated in the hands of a few but rather dispersed across the many. In many ways, pluralism is the basis of our constitutional system of government.
And so, in the communities we serve, there is much complexity and points of difference. In so many ways, this reality is something to be celebrated. But it also requires a certain set of core values and principles for it all to work. At the Y, we may not be able to solve all the challenges we collectively face here in our communities, but we can control how we interact with those we encounter every day. We can slow down to listen better and to do a better job of trying to understand where the person right in front of us is coming from. What does he or she need from us to feel truly comfortable in our shared space? How can we exhibit more empathy, tolerance and acceptance of all of the differences we find in front of us; whether perceived or real?
I would argue that the Y’s longstanding core values of caring, honesty, respect and responsibility are great values to exhibit in a pluralistic community like ours. I’d also argue that our core operating principles of cleanliness, empathy, engagement and safety are the things that make people want to spend time together in our spaces and programs.
Case in point: years ago, a woman wrote to us and said, “I’ve been going to the Y since I was little. I learned to swim in Y pools. I learned sports at the Y and I learned how to be a reasonable person at the Y. The Y made me who I am. It will always be a part of me and I am grateful for that.”
Helping to build communities in which people feel comfortable and valued is both a challenge and a privilege for all of us here at the Y. I hope you feel as I do that we’re lucky to be able to do it and that by doing it, we are filling a deep and powerful need; one that lasts well beyond whichever way the wind is blowing at the moment.
Keep up the amazing work you are doing!
All the best,
John Hoey
President & CEO
The Y in Central Maryland
ORGANIZATION ANNOUNCEMENT
We have had some changes within our workforce since the last edition of US! Click below for updates.