and welcome to another dish and a focus on tonight my guest is kate peck who is the chief executive officer of the water right here in princeton and we'll be talking a lot about the mission of the why the expansion the programs that are going on and all the good things that that's great well kate so a little bit of you know no background will talk live about or so for those of you who do know where you can go and get something and come back in about ten seconds and then for those who don't please hang in there kate basically has thirty years experience in the not for profit sector and then with the princeton family y m c a for ten years before before joining the why in two thousand and seven she served as a chief investment officer for the girl scouts of southeastern pennsylvania in philadelphia where she led organization's fundraising and communications programs for six years her other experiences include this six year tenure with the pen why so striation and another five years with a small girl scout council in suburban philadelphia kate also directed the  fund for the master school dubs for new york and started her career with the rosen backed museum and library as an event squared their fall in college and a volunteer life she has served as president of a semi professional theatre a trustee of her local library and facilitated strategic planning for several community groups she's a member the garden club of trenton stories of the group corresponding secretary and is a graduate of mcallister college in st paul minnesota and received their certificate in fundraising madras from the university of pennsylvania and she lives right here in named george williams who worked in a department store and he saw a need in london at that time for activities programs that would be a positive influence on the young men who were coming to london to work who were from the countryside and really didn't have a positive outlet he was watching them sort of misbehaving get into trouble and he saw this opportunity so why i'm saying that is you know it's interesting because while of course the activities at that time it was very much centered on its  christian heritage and beginnings where bible study was the primary activity at that time with george and today we're very wide ranging organization across the country with you know a presence in more than ten thousand communities and  the activities in the programs are the tools basically and our mission is to strengthen the foundations of community and we do this by focusing on three areas on use development on healthy living and social responsibility you know well we very much honor and recognise that our value system is based in this judeo christian heritage and tradition it is very much an inclusive organization that is open to all  regardless of background ethnicity faith you know it really is a big big tent and so today's why while it looks a lot different than george's original vision it's doing much of the same work that's great so you've talked about some of the programs there that are offered and maybe could talk a little about you have development sure and especially you know helping the gaps and talking about sure sure so while we continue to do the very traditional classic youth development programs that i'm sure people my age watching go oh yeah i grew up at the y i learned to swim at the y i played basketball and played baseball all of those youth sports are still very much central and a part of our community at the y however specifically in my ten years there i've really felt strongly that in princeton i saw a need for programs that would specifically connect to an address children who are frankly those with the fewest resources so princeton is often misunderstood and just seen print principally is a very well off community and of course there are loads of resources here however there are people in this community historically who have you know been the folks who were working up at the university or in roles that are more in a working class world where their income is not anything like what you'd see in the upper stratosphere so there are children here now who live you know close to or near poverty who qualify for free and reduce lunch and it's a very real issue here in town so us for us at the y use develop means to really be about helping every child be their very best selves it's finding a place where they can grow learn and thrive so hopping the gaps is actually a national initiative which is really trying to find a way that the why i can bridge for those children in areas of learning health and well being is certainly part of that hunger  water safety and safe spaces frankly because there are a few places for kids certainly in their middle school years for instance where they have feel a safe space so the y is is positioned beautifully to sort of function in those roles and here in princeton especially so we've got several programs that are specifically targeting kids who families may have fewer resources and they don't have access to the same kinds of enrichments and so forth that middle class or upper middle class kids have so right now in fact happening at the panelled center at the henry canal center on clay street we are running for the third summer program called jumpstart at the y in conjunction with the princeton public schools where we've identified rising kindergarteners who had little to no preschool experience which when you think about that there are children who have been in preschool since the time they were evidence so you know helping children who have never crossed the threshold of the classroom be prepared for a windfall comes we saw a need there where the y could step in and operate a program where we could focus on some of the basic skill building but also really about building their confidence and helping them sort of set the stage for what will be a successful educational experience that they will like learning that learning will feel good in exciting and if they see the potential for themselves as opposed to if they go in cold come fall with no experience whatsoever they're going to feel perhaps like an outsider as somebody who doesn't quite understand what's going on so this is really aimed at trying to build that confidence and help them feeling gaged and feel like they have a sense of they know what's going on they they've got it down they know what taking turns is they know you know the sort of rituals of what a kindergarten classroom is about so it gives them a bit of a leg up so that programs happening right now in the summer we never stop has been great we've worked very closely with the shop during the summer time and then over the course of the school year through the princeton young achievers program which is also a program that again targets children with the fewest resources in town in grades  kindergarten through fifth grade at three learning centers and we partner and again that one of the best parts of our job and in among my colleagues in the staff and our board is that we very much value the collaboration so that we have in town can't take credit for we have a wonderful volunteer here in the community who had a a vision for creating a sort of a drop in free early learning program over at the pinellas center which it now operates on tuesdays and thursday mornings from ten to eleven thirty conny baan who is a retired crossroads teacher she's just a genius at this it was her vision and so it was through her volunteer initiative that we launched this and it's a free program for intended to support parents to be their children's first teachers so conny teaches techniques that have little to no cost and all sorts of ways to expand  vocabulary and again sort of showcase the fun of learning and spark it you know get that excitement for a child there are curious city going that is just an embracing of learning for the rest of their lives so that's scholars has been a wonderful program and often sort of year to year reflects its leadership we've been very fortunate to have many really gifted leaders from the seminary come over and who with an interest in particularly youth development take the reins of the program and it's a it's a program that meets usually two saturdays a month in the morning of ten to twelve it's intended it's not an academic program per se it's not intended to be for specifically tutoring or skill building that way it's really about helping young people identify their own personal goals in setting those goals and thinking about their own aspirations and connecting to hi usually do a couple college trips it creates a setting in which the parents also feel mutual support particularly if their family is there their child is one of the first to go to college you know admit navigating that college process can be a daunting thing for anyone let alone someone who's never done it so why scholars is really intended to be a program that is also youth driven in the sense that  the program attic goals and what they're focused on for the year the thematic elements are sort of done part and parcel of the kids so they so last year a large discussion focused on social justice and they talked about access to learning and access to food issues and they did some research on these issues and then they presented their findings to a panel that we'd selected other years we've done a focus on values character what that means and it  culminated for several years and something to what we called a life day over at mercer county community college one year they were very inspired to make the show shark tank and they did a terrific job it was really an entrepreneurial ism in business so it sort of varies year to year it there's nothing it is a little organic but really the goals here what i when i got to the y and i saw an opportunity there really it was about connecting largely african american young people to adults professionals who looked like them and they felt a connection to a role model relationship but also access to a professional network which was as we know is really critical in this day and age and building  confidence and just as i say serves creating a support network among one another and their parents so that's been that's been rolling along and we're looking to get that started actually in about three weeks we have a wonderful young man named david magruder who's going to lead that this year theirs years ago that were created committed and faithful and it was a stand alone nonprofit much that like princeton young achievers was at one time and it got to a place where it seemed to make sense that they should come under the y m c a umbrella simply because we from a practical standpoint could help and support in a lot of the kind of mundine issues associated with running programs like insurance and we saw it as a great way to support larry and fern so they could really matic side of it and we could give them more support on the back end so it's really a credit to them that they've again been the leaders of that they're the driving behind force find it and over the years now we've seen i've seen and experienced young generations of kids who've grown up through it and get a lot of support and encouragement from larry and fern personally but also from the adults that they bring in who've been speakers and inspiring and offer lessons and  also gives them an opportunity to the kids themselves to take leadership roles and they raise money every year and usually take a big trip a camping trip which is very popular go up to the y m c a frost valley camp which is a huge  endeavor and where they do team building exercises in the high ropes courses and all the stuff that scares me to death but you know it gets them there builds confidence does all those good things and then the latino some progress it was an initiat e we started with the princeton public schools again identifying a need among middle and high school kids whereas there was a parent component that the schools were leading to a work with the newcomers here in town spanish speaking families we saw an opportunity to offer then a youth component concurrently and that's more very nicely so what typically happens is there's a parent element activity please call we're always happy to answer questions and dari and direct anybody where they need to go and are always happy to have new people join us on you know it's great to see faces all the time one of the things i want to talk to you about and maybe clarify for me michigan exactly what is that you know is that you have to work so i guess it's been almost five years now that there is in fact something called the new jersey state alliance of so the alliance made the decision a few years back and with the wise all jumping on board that we should provide free memberships to all seventh graders in the state of new jersey with recognizing that seventh grade is a pretty pivotal year for many young people often their first toll in the water with independence and in a town like princeton where it's a walking town that goes a long distance we see it at the y as a consequence of the kids who do take advantage of the seventh grade initiative we see particularly in the winter basketball's a huge popular activity right after school and it's interesting from my perspective to observe that it's one of the remaining few places where kids self organize where there are it is not a formal program it's really where they have an opportunity to among themselves figure out how they're going to work with each other and how they're going to resolve conflicts and you know some are more successful than others and there is the occasion when there has to be adult intervention but in general by and large doing just fine but green initiative is a really i think a great example of the way collectively y m c a s can make an impact in the community and certainly in the state of new jersey because we can be a safe space for seventh graders we also have like many y m c a a wellness center and we have the fitzpatrick wellness center on our lower level which features you know strength quitman and free weights and and cardio equipment and seventh graders are welcome if they once they go through our orientation to you use those facilities as part of their membership which many of you by and large fitness clubs health clubs while we don't see ourselves competing with them they tend not to have teens in their in their facilities so again we really try to be available to everybody in the and organized chaos and that is somewhat intentional but we appreciate and understand that you know campus camp y m c a we are very proud of the fact that we are a classic why n c a a can't run we are about  you know kids again having an opportunity to be in a different setting make friends with other children that maybe they don't know from school this is you know again it's all kinds of families from all over because mind you we serve princeton but we also serve a wide range we serve west when they're in montgomery and so there we have a large service area and it's consequently you know there is you know lots of activity we are outside a lot so you know there it is one our goal every day is lots of water is being drunk and we also make sure that lots of sunscreen is being used but there's usually weekly barbecue that culminates just there's usually a field trip every other week they go to the they've gone to the aquarium to the franklin institute they have wonderful opportunities enrichments and again what's important to note about camp is that we give a lot of financial assistance away and again this is a way to connect to children with the fewest resources to ensure that they're getting an enriching summer experience because those enrichments the things that by and large middle class upper middle class families take for granted  are keeping their child in gauged and learning throughout the summer whereas for children with fewer resources where they don't have access to that there could be the alternatives or are a little more bleak in terms of what their options are so we in we all know about the summer learning loss that exists for children who with fewer resources so again because you know we really try to connect kids to make sure that they're having an opportunity to participate in these acts activities that are you know stimulating their brain helping them with the social emotional growth that is critical making friends getting to know somebody testing yourself and as you know in a way that maybe you've never done something maybe you never raised your hand in front of other kids you know and that's the first time it can't because it's different than school cardboard boats that are created and again the leadership of paul's eagar who is their senior director who's really sort of the pied piper it's really all the credit is to him and his vision and leadership for camp because he really makes it fun and it in i about learning so and as i say we give a lot of financial assistance away this year alone i think we gave sixty thousand dollars away and those are all dollars that we're raising you know those that those are funds that fortunately for us we have donors in the community who give us  charitable contributions that we can use to pass on to it to pay for children to participate and our board is a big part of that you know going in seeking out those resources and then and then you know and this is where the why world if you work in the why you cannot i often joke you you have to be big of heart but you can't be faint of heart because as soon as camp wraps up we're talking days we switch gears in school opens and right away were in the after school program and where we run  afterschool programs here in princeton at little brook and at johnson park in addition to p y a at the three learning centers both at little brook the henry pernelle center and over at the criminal center in princeton community village boom we just turn over and switch gears and that's and that's critical work because those children need a place to go after school and their parents need a safe space for them where they can be again in a rich ng setting safe setting where their parents can go to work and do what shut down week which is we have to do it only because we open at five forty five were open you know we stay late every night we're open seven days a week the building as you can imagine gets a little beaten up so we have to take a week once a year where we redo the floors give them a good cleaning and you know waxing and all of that and we repaint and we take care of all of the things that need to be done because if we didn't take that week we would never have that opportunity because again we never  could do it but either way though i know you talked a lot about what's going on and i know there's a lot of improvements that are going on in the facility maybe in the short term we have talked live about sure the improvements that are coming up that people can see and also your annual lobby the child watch area the women's changing area and just in the main corridor there and updated some office spaces because we had moved into that building to be completely under one roof which was different had been a big change and so that meant that we had the board felt strongly and i was right there with them that you know we were long overdue for some improvements and we characterizes our refresh so we've been calling it our refresh campaign so this was the first step that we got accomplished which really made a big difference and i encourage anybody who hasn't been over the wire to come check it out it really just changes your whole perception it feels fresh and modern welcoming the second step our goal is to take what were many folks will remember we have racquetball courts that came from the early seventy's but racquetball is not exactly a high ranking sport of interest right now quite the way it was in the seventy's so we're going to repurpose those studios and actually put a floor horizontal floor to create two multi purpose spaces to accommodate we have a very robust fencing program and we also offer martial arts so that will also the beauty of that is by using that space better we'll be able to open up our gymnasium even more than we have which will be will be able to accommodate our members and other people with an interest in basketball and other gym based sports so that's a biggie and then the third step is to give the pool a few cosmetic uplifts which is long overdue as well and then we have our big party at the end get a bit of a yes so the centennial wards this will be our tenth which is kind of stunning and it was a lot we started in two thousand and eight which was the hundredth anniversary of the princeton y m c a and this year we're going to be focusing on healthy living we rotate around our three themes and we honor a five to six people in the community who have demonstrated the y m c a values in their daily lives of honesty caring respect and responsibility but on top of that within that particular area where they've really done good things for our community so this year with the focus on healthy living so we have some wonderful folks we sent a save the date card out in the will be going out shortly i would try to remember everybody's name but i will inevitably forget somebody so we'll have all of that information up shortly but it's october twenty sixth it's a thursday night we do it in the gymnasium the food is fabulous it's really fun and what makes it very very unique to an event is that no adults speak this is entirely presented by young people the folks who've been involved with us at the y so they interview the arena advance they share with the audience what they've learned and i can tell you that over the years we've learned we've gotten great insights from these young people who have bring a different perspective and they take away lessons from these adults that are pretty powerful that sometimes we forget in our adult lives it just gives us different insights so it's a wonderful event and tickets are available and we have sponsorships but it's our major fundraiser of the year it's really where we put our energies to to tell the wife story but also bring everybody together in the gym which is also fun it's great you know who's this yours on every honorees plural so i'm going to give it my best shot ok bear with me so you mention shop so ross wish nick is going to be among one of our honorees for the making health and available to people in our community in supporting the hospital we have the princeton clergy association they are sort of unsung heroes they are a group here in town that do remarkable work to support people spiritual health and well being so they will be recognized gosh this inevitably happens when i have to remember several and then oh no i'm going to forget somebody