Editing YMCA (section)

==== Panama ====
{{More citations needed section|date=July 2021}}

[[File:Former YMCA building in Panama Canal Zone.jpg|alt=Former YMCA building in Panama Canal Zone, a gold and white building, now fenced off from the public.|thumb|Former YMCA building in the Panama Canal Zone]]

In 1904, a letter was written by the chief engineer of the [[Panama Canal Zone]], [[John Findley Wallace]], to Admiral J.G. Walker, chairman of the [[Isthmian Canal Commission]], recommending that YMCA be brought to the Canal Zone. With the approval of both President [[Theodore Roosevelt]] and [[United States Secretary of War|Secretary of War]] [[William Howard Taft]], A. Bruce Minear, an experienced secretary, was sent to organize the association work in the Canal Zone.<ref name="archives.lib.umn.edu">{{cite web |title=Collection: Records of YMCA international work in Panama {{!}} University of Minnesota Archival Collections Guides |url=https://archives.lib.umn.edu/repositories/7/resources/960 |access-date=2020-03-13 |website=archives.lib.umn.edu}}</ref> Construction was started on YMCA clubhouses in Culebra, Empire, Gorgona, and Cristobal, Panama, as well as in Panama City. These clubhouses were operated by YMCA for several years and were financed by the Canal Zone, they contained billiard rooms, an assembly room, a reading room, bowling alleys, dark rooms for the camera clubs, gymnastic equipment, an ice cream parlor and soda fountain, and a circulating library.{{citation needed|date=January 2022}} By 1920, there were nine buildings in operation in the Canal Zone.

Panama YMCA was founded on 24 May 1966.<ref name="archives.lib.umn.edu" /> The 1968 impeachment of President Marco Aurelio Robles and the ensuing riots and political unrest impacted YMCA's work and the after-school programs at Panama YMCA were cancelled. Use of the school equipment, such as the pool and gym, greatly helped YMCA's ability to continue on with the swimming classes and summer programs. These programs remained popular throughout this time.

In 1983, planning was started for the integration of Panama YMCA and the American Services YMCA (ASYMCA). The integration of the remaining two ASYMCAs, the Balboa Branch and the Cristobal Branch, with the Panama Branch, a merger that was completed in 1990.

YMCA Panama continues its work for the betterment of today's society. In 2005, YMCA Panama inaugurated the new YMCA Panama School located on Colinas del Sol, in the Nuevo Chorrillo District of Arraijan.