Lead Organizations:
Contacts:
- Sandi Boland, Associate Executive Director, YMCA of Greater Springfield, sboland@springfieldy.org
- Leah Serafin, Coalition Coordinator, YMCA of Greater Springfield, lserafin@oldcolonyymca.org
- Lauren Bartell, Healthy Living Coordinator, Old Colony YMCA, lbartell@oldcolonyymca.org
Partners and Collaborators Include:
- Springfield: Autism Speaks, YMCA Youth/Teen Director, Behavioral Health Network
- Brockton and Stoughton: Brockton School Department, Old Colony Planning Council
Massachusetts features three inclusive health coalitions in near proximity to and working closely with one another.
As part of the Old Colony YMCA, the Brockton IHC has partnered with its local school district to begin offering goalball to students with visual impairments and blindness at the Central Brockton branch of the YMCA. The Stoughton branch of the YMCA is currently undergoing a remodel, and in its new iteration will feature a fully ADA-compliant facility, adaptive equipment, and programs designed with inclusion as a guiding principle to ensure all potential members can participate in exercise, programs, and other YMCA activities as they desire. Additionally, both IHCs have plans in place to soon implement the CHII in both of their communities to determine where to direct future IHC efforts to improve inclusion in the community at large.
In Springfield, as part of the YMCA of Greater Springfield, the IHC has begun working with its city planning board to improve pedestrian accessibility and thus promote inclusion along its city’s central corridor. Additionally, it is working to bring additional programmatic offerings, such as adaptive swimming, to the YMCA for local youth and young adults with disabilities.