As part of our commitment to social responsibility to the communities we serve, the Hockomock Area YMCA, along with YMCAs throughout Massachusetts and across the nation will be sponsoring Five Days of Action for Child Abuse Prevention, a campaign committed to raise awareness and inspire adults to take an active role to protect children from sexual abuse.  Please visit one of our three branches to pledge to take action to protect kids all year long.
While child protection is our Y’s number one priority every day, this critical campaign will run April 21st through April 25th as we approach summertime, and will shine a collective spotlight on how everyone can do something to prevent child sexual abuse.

Our Y will share information and resources each day to our members and community partners about how adults can prevent, recognize and respond to child sexual abuse situations to keep children safe.

Statistics from Praesidium and the CDC indicate that 1 in 20 boys and 1 in 4 girls in the United States are sexually abused, typically by someone they know and trust. Child sexual abuse is happening regardless of age, gender, race, religion or socio-economic class.

But these are not just numbers. Behind every number is a child, a child who has been robbed of their innocence. A child whose life will forever have been changed by the heinous act of an adult. We owe it to our children, and we owe it to their future, to do better.

Help us prevent child sexual abuse through Know, See, Respond.  When adults know how abuse happens, see the warning signs, and respond quickly to prevent abuse, they foster a culture of child abuse prevention. Together we can bring awareness to the issue of child sexual abuse in our communities and have important conversations on how we can all work together to prevent it from happening. Please join our YMCA to spread important awareness and resources with your social networks and family and friends around this devastating epidemic.

Our YMCA is proud to partner and collaborate with school systems, municipalities and other human service organizations throughout our service area to help bring awareness, education and training regarding this issue. We remain committed to this collaborative cause and our effort to be part of a community-based prevention movement.
Our YMCA was awarded Praesidium Accreditation® in 2024 by Praesidium, the leader in abuse risk management.  To achieve accreditation, our Hockomock Area YMCA underwent a rigorous process to implement Praesidium’s Accreditation Standards focusing on eight primary operational areas within our business: policies, screening and selection, training, monitoring and supervision, consumer participation, internal feedback systems, responding, and administrative practices. Praesidium then verified our Y’s successful implementation of these standards. The Hockomock Y will be accredited for three years, and during this time will commit to uphold fundamental organizational values and stringent safety practices that demonstrate our commitment to protecting those in our care from abuse.  We are proud to be one of three YMCAs in Massachusetts to reach this status and look forward to helping mentor other YMCAs in their process of becoming accredited.

As responsible adults, we need to give children a happy, healthy and safe childhood. Our world needs them, and they need us. Let’s give them the childhood they deserve.   
Jim Downs
CEO, Hockomock Area YMCA