As its name implies, YMCA of Northern Utah is a nonprofit, grant-funded program intended to serve kids everywhere in Utah north of Provo. But here’s a little secret: Just by “the luck of the draw” as much as anything, the program concentrates a lot of its service right here in Taylorsville.

Salt Lake YMCA Regional Director Rhonda Clark explains there are several reasons for this. For starters, the organization has only two community family centers – in Taylorsville and Ogden. Second, demand for YMCA services has always been strong in our community. And third, Clark says the Taylorsville City Council is consistently supportive through the Community Development Block Grant funding it doles out each year.

YMCA Teen Programs Coordinator Taylor Black offers a variety of after-school activities to students at Eisenhower Jr. High. (ymcautah.org)

“YMCA of Northern Utah built its 4,000-square-foot Community Family Center in Taylorsville in 2013 after the Granite School District made some land available on its Fremont Elementary School (4249 S. Atherton Dr. – about 1550 W) property,” Clark said. “Soon thereafter, our second center was built in Ogden. We are always looking for opportunities to expand. But our grant funding limitations mean much of our service is concentrated near those community centers – which is good for Taylorsville kids and their parents.”

Clark began her YMCA journey a decade ago as the organization’s lead preschool teacher. Now she oversees early childhood education, after-school activities and teen leadership programs. At Eisenhower Jr. High, Taylor Black serves as Clark’s Teen Programs Coordinator.

“We have 38 students registered in our program and about 20 of them normally come in after school each day,” Black said. “We provide them with a hot meal from the Utah Food Bank, followed by some instruction, outdoor recreation time and free time to work on homework. Our program runs from right after school to 6 p.m. at Eisenhower.”

This humble YMCA Community Family Center has been serving Taylorsville kids on the campus of Fremont Elementary since 2013. (ymcautah.org)

A couple of years ago, this Eisenhower Jr. High program produced a pair of students who qualified for a YMCA-sponsored trip to Washington, D.C. Funding challenges forced the Utah organization to suspend that program. But Clark reports they have rounded up the additional money necessary to resume the opportunity next year.

“Our Leaders in Training Program begins with teens all across the country writing essays and it ends with those students who qualify traveling to Washington for additional youth leadership learning opportunities,” Clark said. “I chaperoned two Eisenhower Jr. High girls the last time we went in 2022. They attended youth advocacy training and participated in a youth governors program. Hundreds of kids attend, sponsored by YMCAs all across the country.”

YMCA of Northern Utah has been serving Taylorsville kids for decades. (ymcautah.org)

After funding challenges forced YMCA of Northern Utah to stop participating in the D.C. trips, Clark went to work trying to secure new grant funding to resume the program. They won’t send any Eisenhower students to Washington this summer. But they are committed and funded to do so in June 2027.

“It’s a long process for students to qualify to make that trip,” Clark said. “In fact, the first steps in the process are already underway now at Eisenhower – even though the trip, if any of our students qualify, is still 15 months away.”

Next fall, students hoping to qualify for the Washington trip will write and submit their essays about leadership. But before that, right now, students have begun receiving leadership training and instruction from Black.

“We offer lots of different activities and training for our students to learn how to resolve problems and conflicts,” Black said. “I began teaching leadership skills to my Eisenhower students one day a week back in January. As a part of the program, the kids are keeping a journal. I know all of my students will not submit essays to be considered for the D.C. trip; but some will. They will turn those in this fall. But the journey toward that goal has already begun for them.”

YMCA Teen Programs Coordinator Taylor Black keeps Eisenhower Jr. High students busy after school. (ymcautah.org)

Meantime, aside from the Eisenhower Jr. High program, YMCA of Northern Utah also serves younger students – the K through 5 crowd – at a variety of Taylorsville Elementary Schools.

“We operate a preschool and daycare out of our family center which actually has fewer kids than usual this year,” Clark said. “We have room for up to 45 kids. But this year we are at 32.”

Because the family center is so close to Fremont Elementary, on the same property, YMCA is also able to operate a before-school program for students who attend there.

“We currently have parents dropping off 12 Fremont students at our community center, between 7:30 and 9:00 a.m.,” Clark said. “We provide them a breakfast and walk the students over to the school, which starts at 9:05 a.m.”

Most of those Fremont students return to the YMCA Community Family Center after school as well. At that time, they get to play with additional students from other area elementary schools.

The YMCA Community Family Center in Taylorsville provides lots of activities for kids, before and after school. (ymcautah.org)

“Each afternoon we pick up students at Vista (4925 S. 2200 West) and Rolling Meadows (2950 W. 3985 South, West Valley City) Elementary Schools in our 12-passenger van and bring them back to the family center,” Clark said. “We also operate an after-school program at Fox Hills Elementary School (3775 W. 6020 South). Our students remain at the school for that one. And in Kearns, YMCA operates an afterschool program at Thomas Jefferson Junior High (5850 S. 5600 West).”

For more details about the many YMCA of Northern Utah programs at all of these schools, visit ymcautah.org or call 801-466-6299.