April is Child Abuse Prevention Month, and as one of the largest child care providers in Monroe County, the YMCA of Greater Rochester is committed to ensuring kids in our care are safe.
April 21-25, 2025, is known as Five Days of Action, a Y-USA campaign that increases awareness of child sexual abuse while empowering and equipping everyone to prevent it, making it a fitting time to remind, and share, the work we do to keep children safe in our community.
Through our partnership with the Child Advocacy Center of Greater Rochester, our Before & After School Program (BASP) has implemented the After School Safety Matters curriculum. Once a year, all of our BASP sites (more than 30 across four counties), have lesson plans around After School Safety Matters, showing students what safety looks and feels like. Topics include how to identify bullying, cyber concerns, and uncomfortable situations they may be in with adults – family or otherwise.
“We want to provide the kids in our care with life skills, and to know how to get the help and support when they need it,” said Terrence McElduff, VP of Youth Enrichment, YMCA of Greater Rochester. “We’ve seen the impact of this curriculum has on the kids in our program in just the three years since launching the curriculum, and that’s why we will continue to train and provide as many resources as we can to support our families.”
In addition to this program, all staff working with children in licensed care not only are put through rigorous background checks but undergo multiple hours of training not only for the YMCA of Greater Rochester, but with OCFS (Office of Children and Family Services) on the local level as well as Mandated Reporter Training at the state level.
By taking part in this important campaign and implementing abuse prevention practices year-round, we at the YMCA of Greater Rochester are committed to the safety of all children in our community.