Strong Start, Great Future — It's a Wrap, Thanks to You!
Thanks to generous support from hundreds of incredible donors, our capital campaign to build new YMCA Centres of Community across the GTA has officially wrapped!
Thank You For Your Extraordinary Support
Whether you’ve stood behind this campaign since its inception over 15 years ago, or joined along the way, our amazing donors are part of a powerful legacy of community building that stretches back more than a century.
The first purpose-built centre owned by the Toronto YMCA, Shaftesbury Hall, opened in 1873. 150 years later, because of donors like you, we’ve expanded into 500 locations across the GTA, each one a hub of possibility, belonging, and opportunity.
Strong Start, Great Future is the latest chapter in this rich history. Your support made it possible to open five new YMCA Centres of Community: spaces where kids discover the magic of camp, teens find mentors who believe in them, newcomers find their footing, and families grow stronger together.
That’s the real legacy of this campaign, and of your support: the lives changed, opportunities opened, and the sense of hope and possibility built into every brick and beam.
Thank you for turning our shared vision into places where people can grow, connect, and belong — for generations to come.
Your Generosity In Action
Five New YMCAs, Now Serving Our Communities
The McDonald Family YMCA
Opened: July 2025
The Steve & Sally Stavro Family YMCA
Opened: August 2022
The YMCA at The David Braley Vaughan Centre
Opened: May 2022
The Cooper Koo Family YMCA
Opened: May 2016
The Wagner Green YMCA
Opened: January 2015
What Happens Inside A Y
The Y delivers essential services, from licensed child care to employment services, shelters for unhoused youth, camps, and more. But many of these programs can't happen without a safe, brick-and-mortar place.
When we build a new YMCA, it means more people in more neighbourhoods can access these essential services they need to thrive.
Essential Programs and Services
Each YMCA Centre of Community delivers a suite of programs and services tailored to meet the unique needs of the neighbourhood it serves. Some of the signature YMCA programs offered at our new Ys include:
Teen Nights, where youth access our centre for free, giving them opportunities to get active, meet positive role models, and join new activities that financial barriers might otherwise prevent them from trying.
Free Youth Leadership Development groups, where youth build the skills they need to succeed in school, work, and life; grow a network of friends and adult allies; and find a sense of community and belonging.
Health and fitness programs, including group fitness classes, sports and rec programs, and child and family programs that support physical and mental well-being for people of all ages and abilities.
Licensed, not-for-profit child care, where kids build foundational literacy, numeracy, arts, and science skills through our Playing to Learn Curriculum, and caregivers gain the support they need to pursue careers.
Day camps, where children and youth build self-esteem and vital skills like leadership and teamwork, all while making lasting friendships.
You can make a real difference in your community by donating to the Strong Start, Great Future Capital Campaign.
Make your donation online, or contact Tony diCosmo, Vice President, Campaign Giving, to discuss your gift:
Tony.diCosmo@ymcagta.org
416-305-2792