{"id":57166,"date":"2025-08-09T17:56:18","date_gmt":"2025-08-09T21:56:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=57166"},"modified":"2025-08-09T17:56:23","modified_gmt":"2025-08-09T21:56:23","slug":"ymca-expands-after-school-programs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2025\/08\/09\/ymca-expands-after-school-programs\/","title":{"rendered":"YMCA Expands After-School Programs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Polk County families are having difficulty finding affordable, accessible after-school care that fits their work schedules \u2014 especially parents or guardians with limited support networks or nontraditional hours.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" data-dominant-color=\"abc8e5\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" style=\"--dominant-color: #abc8e5;\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"257\" height=\"196\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1110px) 100vw, 1110px\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/download-4.webp?resize=257%2C196&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-57167 not-transparent\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>What the YMCA is doing<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ymcawcf.org\/\">YMCA<\/a>&nbsp;in Polk County is expanding its after-school programs.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Par 3 After School Program in Lakeland is returning, offering structured enrichment and safe supervision for elementary-aged children.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Winston Elementary, in Lakeland, now offers both before- and after-school care, helping working parents to coordinate drop-offs and pickups.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The YMCA\u2019s after-school programs serve children from kindergarten through 8th grade, operating from school dismissal until 6 p.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They help bridge the gap between the end of school and work hours with activities such as:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Homework help and academic support<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Science exploration and arts &amp; crafts<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Math and literacy enrichment<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Character development<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Sports, fitness, and healthy snacks<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp;Values-based programming also reinforces skills like resilience and leadership, the Y says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Making after-school care accessible<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To keep care affordable, the YMCA accepts multiple forms of financial assistance:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Early Learning Coalition (ELC) School Readiness vouchers to reduce tuition costs for eligible low-income families<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>YMCA financial assistance, available on a sliding scale. Families can apply confidentially at\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:FA@ymcawcf.org\">FA@ymcawcf.org<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>How to register<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Families can learn more or register online at:&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ymcawcf.org\/\">https:\/\/www.ymcawcf.org\/<\/a>, or visit any YMCA West Central Florida location for in-person assistance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Polk County families are having difficulty finding affordable, accessible after-school care that fits their work schedules \u2014 especially parents or guardians with limited support networks or nontraditional hours.&nbsp; What the&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":57167,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"6","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNVwvMDhcL2Rvd25sb2FkLTQud2VicD9maXQ9MjU3JTJDMTk2JnNzbD0xIiwidHh0IjoiWU1DQSBFeHBhbmRzIEFmdGVyLVNjaG9vbCBQcm9ncmFtcyIsInRlbXBsYXRlIjoiaGlnaHdheSIsImZvbnQiOiIiLCJibG9nX2lkIjoxNjMwNDA2NjF9.Vp6ER9p_Yib_LOYa1-SoX3ABetu3IkHlUpIJgRszD50MQ"},"version":2,"attached_media":[{"id":57167,"url":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/download-4.webp","type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[6],"tags":[11953],"class_list":["post-57166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-ymca-expands-after-school-programs"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57166"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57166\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57168,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57166\/revisions\/57168"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}