The Y Canberra Region is changing.

Our organisation is a part of the World YMCA network reaching over 65 million people in more than 120 countries. We have the power to unite people and inspire communities.

The Y Canberra Region team operates across the ACT and the adjacent NSW region and is part of the largest and oldest charitable youth movement in the world.

The World YMCA has a new Strategy 2030 that aims to unite all Y’s around the world under a compelling purpose to build a better world, with and for young people.

Supporting and empowering children and young people is our organisation’s primary charitable purpose.

From today, the Y Canberra Region organisation will commence its journey in transitioning all our sites and services across ACT and NSW region to align to this new 2030 Strategy. This involves important decisions about our current and future services.

We want to elevate our role as a charitable, for-purpose organisation, with a focus on child and youth development, benevolence, social justice and youth advocacy.

We will also be a charity for the entire Y Canberra Region, focusing on our important role and contribution in both Canberra, and importantly, renewing our focus on how the YMCA best serves the community of Queanbeyan and the adjacent NSW region over the coming years.

Strategy 2030 is about aligning behind a focused vision and being intentional in whom we serve, what we do, why and how we do it. This means important choices.

Today, we are announcing a new Health and Wellbeing Strategy aligned to the Y Strategy 2030.

This new Y Health and Wellbeing Strategy focuses on preventative health and wellbeing, inclusion, and social support for children and young people across our region. It has a particular emphasis on equitable access to play, leisure, and recreation, as a human right, for fill children and young people, no matter their background and different abilities.

This new strategy has an early intervention and prevention, biopsychosocial (body/mind/spirit) focus, with an emphasis on activating school and community-based sites and leveraging school and sporting partnerships to deliver more scale and impact across NSW and the ACT. This strategy will see growth and support for our Sailing Club, Paddle Hub, and RAID Inclusion Basketball and more cross-programming between Children’s Services and Student Accommodation.

Today, we have also made the important and carefully considered decision to close and exit from certain aspects of our Health and Recreation Business that unfortunately does not align with this new 2030 Strategy and our renewed focus on children and young people.

The Y Canberra Region team has made a decision to close the Y Chifley Health and Wellness gym in the ACT and close the ‘Get Up and Go’ classes at Karabar, NSW.

The Y team are immensely grateful for the support and patronage we have received throughout the years for these Y services, which primarily support our community of seniors across ACT and NSW. It has been a pleasure serving our community, and we are truly thankful for the relationships we have built along the way. We understand that this is extremely difficult time, for not only our Y members, but also the dedicated Y staff involved in the closure of these services.

The Y team believe that this service is very valuable to our Canberra community and we would love to see this type of community-based health service continue in a more sustainable way, managed by an appropriately accredited health provider and adequately supported by the Government.

For the remaining few weeks of operations of these two sites, the Y will provide membership and client case management to support members in finding alternative providers to minimise this impact The Y will also host farewell gatherings for clients and staff to thank them for their time with the Y at both Karabar, and Chifley sites.

I would sincerely like to thank all staff, managers, clients, partners, and community members in understanding and supporting this important change, as we renew our commitment to building a better world, with and for children and young people across the ACT and NSW region.

Kirsty Dixon
Chief Executive Officer
Y Canberra Region