June 5, 2025 • 10 mins
We spoke with President and CEO Tim Bartlett about the mission of the YMCA is to put Christian principles into practice through programs that build healthy spirit, mind and body for all.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning, Thank you for listening to Community Access. My
guest this morning is President and CEO Tim Bartlett from
the Central Connecticut Coast YMCA.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Good morning, good morning, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
For people who don't know about the Central Connecticut Coast YMCA.
How did it all begin? How did it originate?
Speaker 2 (00:18):
It used to be the Greater Bridgeport YMCA and the
Greater New Haven YMCAs, which people are very familiar with,
and those two merged in thirty years ago and they
became the Central Connecticut Coast YMCA, which serves twenty six
towns in New Haven and Fairfield Counties.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
And what is the mission of it.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
We exist to help strong kids, strong families and strong communities.
And we're for healthy living, social responsibility, and we basically
exist to do whatever the communities need. We're there for them.
So one community, we might be housing, which is what
we do a lot of in Bridgeport and in New
(00:57):
Haven and others. It might be childcare and day camp,
which we do pretty much all over the state. Or
it might be things like food and security or hunger.
You know, unfortunately find that in too many of our towns.
But we also help support those initiatives as well. If
it really depends on the communities.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
So would you like to talk about the programs and
services that you offer.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
I would love to we As I mentioned before, we
do housing. That is usually a surprise to some people
that we provide housing for folks. We've got four hundred
and thirty ish units of housing between Bridgeport New Haven.
We do coming up big one for us, it's going
to be summer camp. We actually have a large thousand
acre summer camp up in Massachusetts called Camp High Rock.
(01:41):
But we also have summer camps for kids ford to
fourteen in you know, six of the different towns in
our area, but that serves multiple towns. We do childcare
before and after school. We've got close to eighty different
centers and sites in schools around the state so that
(02:02):
parents can have a place for their kids to be
that they know that they're safe and they're getting a
snack and they're getting exercise, but they're also getting help
with their homework, they're getting tutoring. So that's one less
maybe worried that a parent has to have when they
get back from work, that they know they know their
child's caught up and ready to go for the next day.
Another huge initiative we do and what people do know.
The why for is aquatic safety. We live in an
(02:26):
area where we've got coastal you know, waters all around
us or rivers or lakes, and one of our goals
is to try to make sure that every kid under
the age of twelve is safe around the water. And
that doesn't just mean teaching them to swim, but also
teaching them the rules and you know, how to be
smart when they're around a body of water and not
going in by themselves and making sure a parent knows,
(02:46):
but also how to you know, stop, you know, reach, throw,
you know, if that's the type of thing they need
to do in their emergency situation, to understand the signs
that around water, because we think any any drowning is
a prefenable drowning. You know. We also do a lot
of senior programming. So one of the things we're finding
is that some of our senior populations are getting more
(03:06):
and more isolated. You know, they're away from family, away
from friends, maybe things in their lives are changed a
little bit. So we try to provide social programming for
them as well as you know, physical programming, fall prevention
things like that and then the last thing I would
probably say that people don't realize we do is we
do a lot of disease prevention and disease support programming ms.
(03:30):
We have one of the few ms Yoga's programs in
the state. We also do something called rock Steady Boxing,
which is for folks with Parkinson's because it has been
determined that those type of exercises can help folks slow
down the progression of Parkinson's. And the other big program
we do is called Lipstrong, which is for folks with
cancer are cancer survivors to meet and socialize with other
(03:54):
folks who offer survivors and go in through these programs.
And so many of these programs are free because of
the donations that people from the community make. One of
the great reasons why we got involved with Berdie's for
Charity is that the support that that they make goes
directly to these programs to make sure we can keep
them either at low cost or no cost to folks
(04:14):
who otherwise can't afford them.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
And if anyone would like to make a donation, they
can go to CCCYMCA dot org and for every dollar
Webster Bank will donate fifteen cents. So the why will
not only get a dollar, but they'll get a dollar
fifteen cents. So again, go to that website CCC YMCA
dot org. You know, I grew up at the y.
My children grew up at the y. One of my
(04:36):
daughters played volleyball there. I learned how to swim there.
In all of these amazing things that you do, you
must rely on volunteer, sponsors and donations.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Without a doubt. I think last year we gave out
just over two million dollars in financial aid and that
comes from you know, things you just talked about is
volunteers and people working on our behalf and going out
in the community and telling our story about how we
couldn't do these things without. They're extremely generous support and
(05:09):
belief in the programs that we do. So I know
that tonight when there's some family out there who I
don't know, but they're going to go to bed tonight
better off because they got involved in a Y and
C program that was funded by someone who else I
don't know his generosity.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
And I was just going to ask you that without
mentioning names, are there any positive impact stories on the
children or the seniors or the families that you help.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Oh boy. Yeah, one of the great things about my
job is I get to hear these things all the time.
I mean, one that comes to mind. We had a
gentleman in January and come to one of our board
meetings and basically he told the group of about thirty
of us that hey, look, he'd made some bad choices
in his life and one thing led to another, and
(05:53):
quite frankly, he found himself out in the street and
you know, didn't have a job, didn't have car, didn't
have a house. You know, his basic living you know,
through the donations of few passerbys and things like that,
sleeping underpasses. And a friend had told them about the YCA,
and he kind of looked them like maybe in the
y say how can they help me? And he had
(06:14):
no idea, like most people don't that we do a
great deal with homeless services. And so he got he
called two on one and we hooked him up with
one of our MSWs who got him into housing, temporary
housing that's led to full time housing and then once
he's in there, he also gets the support services that
he so he was able to get working towards finishing
(06:36):
his g DAN. But also we did some financial literacy
with him. We did some health screening and got him
in the touch with the right people there. But he
quite frank. He told us that if he hadn't made
that call to two on one, he probably wouldn't be
here today. It beginns of the y must.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Feel really good. You have a great job. You can
put your hat on the pillow at night knowing that
you've made a difference.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
I tell myself and my vound years all the time,
I have the best job in the world because I
know that we're saving lives.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Yes, with the summer coming, Camp High Rock, is that
a camp for children to attend?
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Yes, Camp High Rock, that's the thousand acre camp I
mentioned before. It's actually up in Massachusetts. It borders the
Connecticut New York Massachusetts line, and it is it's for kids,
you know, seven through fourteen, and then we have cis
fifteen and sixteen, and then they become counselors. And it's
really a truly magical place. I was up there two
(07:31):
weeks ago for our work weekend helping them clean and
get ready for our camping season. Just a beautiful overnight
camp with a wonderful, beautiful lake. They can go fishing
and swimming and boating on and there's trails and there's activities.
But more importantly, it's really just a fate, a place
where kids can go to be kids and feel wonderful
(07:51):
about themselves. And you know, I can't tell you how
many times I hear from parents, well, we sent our
kids for two weeks we didn't know, Well, now they
want to go summer. You know, it's that type of thing.
And it's the same deal. We don't turn anybody away
for the inability to pay, so you know, if the
family situation is that they might need some financial assistance,
we do whatever we can to make sure that kids
(08:12):
can get up there with the help of generous donors.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
I know, I've seen the kids the first day on
the bus when they're going to camp. It's like Christmas warning.
Their faces are beaming, they have these grins on and
the parents are like yay, because they're also doing it.
You know, it's wonderful for them too, not only you know,
I joke that, you know, they get a break from
their kids, but their children aren't stuck in the house
in front of the television or you know, they're getting
(08:37):
fresh air. They're with other children, So it's a huge blessing.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
I think, you know again, I would ask people who
think about the YMCAM even a different way and that
you know, as I said before, we do the housing services,
I didn't really touch on the food, either directly or indirectly.
Our Wine Stay last year provided over three hundred thousand
meals to families in our area. And that's either directly
because you know, we literally serve food in our programs,
(09:03):
or we partnered up with other groups in the in
the community to make sure that people who the food
got them and that could be as simple as you know,
making drop offs to a senior's home or you know,
at a food pantry, because we have several of those
in our in our facilities, are going out and working
with other groups and putting groceries in people's cars because
they're unfortunately, we're seeing more and more of it. And
(09:24):
it's also something that the wind See really wants to
work towards, is to end ending hunger in our in
our time.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
And what advice would you give to someone who maybe
feel embarrassed and wouldn't want to take advantage of these services.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Oh? Never, you know what, there's never any questions asked,
and we see all sorts of walks of life for
people coming through the lines. You know, like each of
us is probably just one incident away from having a
neat like that. So never feel embarrassed. Come if you
need something, you know, go on our website. We've got
them listed, you know. Come to one of our food pantries.
(09:57):
You know, you literally you can just walk right up.
There's no one to question you. You grab bread, you
grab fruit, and grab whatever you need for your family
right out of our pantries, and nomal will ever say
anything to you. Never feel embarrassed.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
I don't know who does your website, but they deserve
a bonus because there is so much on your website.
I can't believe all of the things that you do,
and it's all listed there for everyone to see. Any
kind of need. If you want to sign up for something,
if you want to get involved again, it's CCC YMCA
dot org. And don't forget to make your donation there
(10:30):
so that we can get fifteen cents to every dollar
from Webster Bank. I'm speaking with President and CEO Tim
Bartlett from the Central Connecticut Coast YMCA. Thank you so
much for being here and for serving the community.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Thank you very much,
Good morning, Thank you for listening to Community Access. My
guest this morning is President and CEO Tim Bartlett from
the Central Connecticut Coast YMCA.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Good morning, good morning, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
For people who don't know about the Central Connecticut Coast YMCA.
How did it all begin? How did it originate?
Speaker 2 (00:18):
It used to be the Greater Bridgeport YMCA and the
Greater New Haven YMCAs, which people are very familiar with,
and those two merged in thirty years ago and they
became the Central Connecticut Coast YMCA, which serves twenty six
towns in New Haven and Fairfield Counties.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
And what is the mission of it.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
We exist to help strong kids, strong families and strong communities.
And we're for healthy living, social responsibility, and we basically
exist to do whatever the communities need. We're there for them.
So one community, we might be housing, which is what
we do a lot of in Bridgeport and in New
(00:57):
Haven and others. It might be childcare and day camp,
which we do pretty much all over the state. Or
it might be things like food and security or hunger.
You know, unfortunately find that in too many of our towns.
But we also help support those initiatives as well. If
it really depends on the communities.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
So would you like to talk about the programs and
services that you offer.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
I would love to we As I mentioned before, we
do housing. That is usually a surprise to some people
that we provide housing for folks. We've got four hundred
and thirty ish units of housing between Bridgeport New Haven.
We do coming up big one for us, it's going
to be summer camp. We actually have a large thousand
acre summer camp up in Massachusetts called Camp High Rock.
(01:41):
But we also have summer camps for kids ford to
fourteen in you know, six of the different towns in
our area, but that serves multiple towns. We do childcare
before and after school. We've got close to eighty different
centers and sites in schools around the state so that
(02:02):
parents can have a place for their kids to be
that they know that they're safe and they're getting a
snack and they're getting exercise, but they're also getting help
with their homework, they're getting tutoring. So that's one less
maybe worried that a parent has to have when they
get back from work, that they know they know their
child's caught up and ready to go for the next day.
Another huge initiative we do and what people do know.
The why for is aquatic safety. We live in an
(02:26):
area where we've got coastal you know, waters all around
us or rivers or lakes, and one of our goals
is to try to make sure that every kid under
the age of twelve is safe around the water. And
that doesn't just mean teaching them to swim, but also
teaching them the rules and you know, how to be
smart when they're around a body of water and not
going in by themselves and making sure a parent knows,
(02:46):
but also how to you know, stop, you know, reach, throw,
you know, if that's the type of thing they need
to do in their emergency situation, to understand the signs
that around water, because we think any any drowning is
a prefenable drowning. You know. We also do a lot
of senior programming. So one of the things we're finding
is that some of our senior populations are getting more
(03:06):
and more isolated. You know, they're away from family, away
from friends, maybe things in their lives are changed a
little bit. So we try to provide social programming for
them as well as you know, physical programming, fall prevention
things like that and then the last thing I would
probably say that people don't realize we do is we
do a lot of disease prevention and disease support programming ms.
(03:30):
We have one of the few ms Yoga's programs in
the state. We also do something called rock Steady Boxing,
which is for folks with Parkinson's because it has been
determined that those type of exercises can help folks slow
down the progression of Parkinson's. And the other big program
we do is called Lipstrong, which is for folks with
cancer are cancer survivors to meet and socialize with other
(03:54):
folks who offer survivors and go in through these programs.
And so many of these programs are free because of
the donations that people from the community make. One of
the great reasons why we got involved with Berdie's for
Charity is that the support that that they make goes
directly to these programs to make sure we can keep
them either at low cost or no cost to folks
(04:14):
who otherwise can't afford them.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
And if anyone would like to make a donation, they
can go to CCCYMCA dot org and for every dollar
Webster Bank will donate fifteen cents. So the why will
not only get a dollar, but they'll get a dollar
fifteen cents. So again, go to that website CCC YMCA
dot org. You know, I grew up at the y.
My children grew up at the y. One of my
(04:36):
daughters played volleyball there. I learned how to swim there.
In all of these amazing things that you do, you
must rely on volunteer, sponsors and donations.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Without a doubt. I think last year we gave out
just over two million dollars in financial aid and that
comes from you know, things you just talked about is
volunteers and people working on our behalf and going out
in the community and telling our story about how we
couldn't do these things without. They're extremely generous support and
(05:09):
belief in the programs that we do. So I know
that tonight when there's some family out there who I
don't know, but they're going to go to bed tonight
better off because they got involved in a Y and
C program that was funded by someone who else I
don't know his generosity.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
And I was just going to ask you that without
mentioning names, are there any positive impact stories on the
children or the seniors or the families that you help.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Oh boy. Yeah, one of the great things about my
job is I get to hear these things all the time.
I mean, one that comes to mind. We had a
gentleman in January and come to one of our board
meetings and basically he told the group of about thirty
of us that hey, look, he'd made some bad choices
in his life and one thing led to another, and
(05:53):
quite frankly, he found himself out in the street and
you know, didn't have a job, didn't have car, didn't
have a house. You know, his basic living you know,
through the donations of few passerbys and things like that,
sleeping underpasses. And a friend had told them about the YCA,
and he kind of looked them like maybe in the
y say how can they help me? And he had
(06:14):
no idea, like most people don't that we do a
great deal with homeless services. And so he got he
called two on one and we hooked him up with
one of our MSWs who got him into housing, temporary
housing that's led to full time housing and then once
he's in there, he also gets the support services that
he so he was able to get working towards finishing
(06:36):
his g DAN. But also we did some financial literacy
with him. We did some health screening and got him
in the touch with the right people there. But he
quite frank. He told us that if he hadn't made
that call to two on one, he probably wouldn't be
here today. It beginns of the y must.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Feel really good. You have a great job. You can
put your hat on the pillow at night knowing that
you've made a difference.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
I tell myself and my vound years all the time,
I have the best job in the world because I
know that we're saving lives.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Yes, with the summer coming, Camp High Rock, is that
a camp for children to attend?
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Yes, Camp High Rock, that's the thousand acre camp I
mentioned before. It's actually up in Massachusetts. It borders the
Connecticut New York Massachusetts line, and it is it's for kids,
you know, seven through fourteen, and then we have cis
fifteen and sixteen, and then they become counselors. And it's
really a truly magical place. I was up there two
(07:31):
weeks ago for our work weekend helping them clean and
get ready for our camping season. Just a beautiful overnight
camp with a wonderful, beautiful lake. They can go fishing
and swimming and boating on and there's trails and there's activities.
But more importantly, it's really just a fate, a place
where kids can go to be kids and feel wonderful
(07:51):
about themselves. And you know, I can't tell you how
many times I hear from parents, well, we sent our
kids for two weeks we didn't know, Well, now they
want to go summer. You know, it's that type of thing.
And it's the same deal. We don't turn anybody away
for the inability to pay, so you know, if the
family situation is that they might need some financial assistance,
we do whatever we can to make sure that kids
(08:12):
can get up there with the help of generous donors.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
I know, I've seen the kids the first day on
the bus when they're going to camp. It's like Christmas warning.
Their faces are beaming, they have these grins on and
the parents are like yay, because they're also doing it.
You know, it's wonderful for them too, not only you know,
I joke that, you know, they get a break from
their kids, but their children aren't stuck in the house
in front of the television or you know, they're getting
(08:37):
fresh air. They're with other children, So it's a huge blessing.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
I think, you know again, I would ask people who
think about the YMCAM even a different way and that
you know, as I said before, we do the housing services,
I didn't really touch on the food, either directly or indirectly.
Our Wine Stay last year provided over three hundred thousand
meals to families in our area. And that's either directly
because you know, we literally serve food in our programs,
(09:03):
or we partnered up with other groups in the in
the community to make sure that people who the food
got them and that could be as simple as you know,
making drop offs to a senior's home or you know,
at a food pantry, because we have several of those
in our in our facilities, are going out and working
with other groups and putting groceries in people's cars because
they're unfortunately, we're seeing more and more of it. And
(09:24):
it's also something that the wind See really wants to
work towards, is to end ending hunger in our in
our time.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
And what advice would you give to someone who maybe
feel embarrassed and wouldn't want to take advantage of these services.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Oh? Never, you know what, there's never any questions asked,
and we see all sorts of walks of life for
people coming through the lines. You know, like each of
us is probably just one incident away from having a
neat like that. So never feel embarrassed. Come if you
need something, you know, go on our website. We've got
them listed, you know. Come to one of our food pantries.
(09:57):
You know, you literally you can just walk right up.
There's no one to question you. You grab bread, you
grab fruit, and grab whatever you need for your family
right out of our pantries, and nomal will ever say
anything to you. Never feel embarrassed.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
I don't know who does your website, but they deserve
a bonus because there is so much on your website.
I can't believe all of the things that you do,
and it's all listed there for everyone to see. Any
kind of need. If you want to sign up for something,
if you want to get involved again, it's CCC YMCA
dot org. And don't forget to make your donation there
(10:30):
so that we can get fifteen cents to every dollar
from Webster Bank. I'm speaking with President and CEO Tim
Bartlett from the Central Connecticut Coast YMCA. Thank you so
much for being here and for serving the community.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Thank you very much,
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