Editing YMCA (section)

==== YMCA Scouts ====
YMCA was one of the earliest organisers of [[Scout Movement|Boy Scouts]] in the [[United Kingdom]] from 1907, before there were central Scout organizations. Some of the first recorded Boy Scout troops were YMCA Boy Scouts who met in the Nottingham and Birkenhead YMCA buildings.<ref>{{cite news |title=YMCA Through the Years |url=https://www.ymca.org.uk/about/history-heritage/timeline |access-date=15 November 2021 |website=YMCA.org.uk}}</ref> YMCA Scouts in Britain remained separate troops under the YMCA but registered with local and central scout associations. Later, when [[Robert Baden-Powell]] formed his own [[The Scout Association|Boy Scouts organization]], a YMCA worker who had organized many YMCA Boy Scout troops became one of his first two travelling organizers. In Devonport, Tasmania, Australia, YMCA Boy Scouts met at the YMCA hall and later affiliated as 1st Devonport Boy Scouts with the Tasmanian branch of [[The Boy Scouts Association]]. The YMCA would also influence the [[Boy Scouts of America]] (BSA) and [[Verband Christlicher Pfadfinderinnen und Pfadfinder|German Scouting]]. [[Edgar M. Robinson]], a Chicago-area YMCA administrator, worked at YMCA while also becoming the BSA's first director. In Europe, national YMCA Scout organizations were formed.

In 1916, [[K. T. Paul]] became the first Indian national general secretary of India. Paul had started rural development programs for self-reliance of marginal farmers, through co-operatives and credit societies. These programmes became very popular. He also coined the term "rural reconstruction", and many of the principles he developed were later incorporated into the Indian's government nationwide community development programs. In 1923, [[Y. C. James Yen]], of YMCA China, devised the "thousand character system", based on pilot projects in education. The method also became very popular, and in 1923, it led to the founding of the Chinese National Association of the Mass Education Movement. In 1878, YMCA was organized near the [[Jaffa Gate]] of the Old City of [[Jerusalem]] and the current landmark building was dedicated by General Lord Allenby in 1933 during the British Mandate of Palestine.

Within ten days of the declaration of [[World War I]], YMCA had established 250 recreation centres, also known as huts, in the United Kingdom, and went to build temporary huts across Europe to support both soldiers and civilians alike, run by thousands of volunteers. Some of them, known as field secretaries, also went into war zones to support prisoners-of-war in Europe and Russia.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Elliott |first=Wendy |title=Grit and Grace in a World Gone Mad: Humanitarianism in Talas, Turkey 1908-1923 |publisher=Gomidas Institute |year=2018 |isbn=9781909382442 |location=London |pages=141–43}}</ref> Notable supporters and volunteers included [[Clementine Churchill]]<ref>{{London Gazette| issue = 30460| date = 7 January 1918| page = 368| supp = y}}</ref> (for which she was appointed a [[Commander of the Order of the British Empire]] (CBE) in 1918), [[Oswald Chambers]] and [[Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell|Robert]] and [[Olave Baden-Powell]].<ref>{{cite web |date=2007-04-18 |title=Window on My Heart. Chapter X. The War Years. |url=http://pinetreeweb.com/bp-olave-10.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070418053447/http://pinetreeweb.com/bp-olave-10.htm |archive-date=18 April 2007 |access-date=2019-12-22}}</ref> Within the first month the YMCA Women's Auxiliary was formed, and [[Princess Helena Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein]] would go on to become a notable member and chairman of its organising committee.<ref>{{cite web |title=Christmas Day in the London Bridge YMCA Canteen: HRH Princess Helena Victoria, Chairman of the Ladies' Auxiliary Committee of the YMCA is standing by Mrs Norrie, CBE, Superintendent of the canteen. Miss Ellen Terry is sitting by the table |url=http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1056 |access-date=2019-12-22 |website=Imperial War Museums |language=en}}</ref>

During World War I, YMCA raised and spent over $155&nbsp;million on welfare efforts for American soldiers. It deployed over 25,000 staff in military units and bases from Siberia to Egypt to France. They took over the military's morale and comfort operations worldwide. [[Irving Berlin]] wrote ''[[Yip Yip Yaphank]]'', a revue that included a song entitled "I Can Always Find a Little Sunshine in the YMCA". [[Frances Gulick]] was a YMCA worker stationed in France during World War I who received a [[United States Army]] citation for valour and courage on the field.<ref name="That Damn Y">{{cite book |last=Mayo |first=Katherine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OFx0Lc4IQOYC&q=Frances+Gulick+YMCA&pg=PA118 |title='That Damn Y' a Record of Overseas Service |date=May 2009 |publisher=Bibliographical Center for Research |isbn=9781110810208 |access-date=9 October 2009}}</ref>

During [[World War II]], YMCA was involved in supporting millions of [[prisoner of war|POWs]] and in supporting [[Japanese American]]s in [[Internment of Japanese Americans|internment camps]]. This help included helping young men leave the camps to attend [[Springfield College]] and providing youth activities in the camps. In addition, YMCA was one of seven organizations that helped to found the [[USO]].

In [[Europe]], YMCA helped refugees, particularly displaced Jews. Sometimes YMCA participated in escape operations.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://journals.openedition.org/dhfles/2108|title=Accueil des enfants juifs étrangers en France et leur sort sous l'Occupation|first=Sabine|last=Zeitoun|date=1 January 2011|journal=Documents pour l'histoire du français langue étrangère ou seconde|issue=46|pages=123–144|via=journals.openedition.org|doi=10.4000/dhfles.2108|doi-access=free}}</ref> Mostly, however, its role was limited to providing relief packages to refugees.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GQO2gmIsKuEC&q=YMCA&pg=PA129|title=The Holocaust & the Jews of Marseille: The Enforcement of Anti-Semitic Policies in Vichy France|first=Donna F.|last=Ryan|date=11 June 1996|publisher=University of Illinois Press|isbn=9780252065309|via=Google Books}}</ref>

It was also involved in war work with displaced persons and refugees. It set up War Prisoners Aid to support prisoners of war by providing sports equipment, musical instruments, art materials, radios, [[Phonograph|gramophones]], eating utensils, and other items. [[Donald A. Lowrie]] of the YMCA created and led the Committee of Nîmes, also known as the Camps Committee, a group that gathered leaders from over twenty humanitarian organizations to coordinate advocacy for people in the internment camps, including helping children leave these camps to live in children's colonies or eventually escape to freedom.<ref>Donald Lowrie, The Hunted Children, 1963.</ref>

YMCA Motion Picture Bureau, renamed Association Films in 1946, was one of the United Kingdom's largest non-theatrical distribution companies.<ref>{{cite web |title=Collection: YMCA film bureau records {{!}} University of Minnesota Archival Collections Guides |url=https://archives.lib.umn.edu/repositories/7/resources/890 |access-date=2020-01-25}}</ref> In 1947 the World YMCA gained special consultative status with the [[United Nations Economic and Social Council]]. In 1955 the first black President of the World YMCA, Charles Dunbar Sherman from Liberia, was elected. At 37 years, he was also the youngest president in World YMCA history. In 1959 YMCA of the USA developed the first nationally organized [[scuba diving]] course and certified their first skin and scuba [[diving instructor]]s.<ref name="DivingHistory">{{cite web |last=Staff |title=History of YMCA Underwater Program |url=http://www.divinghistory.com/id21.html |access-date=13 January 2011 |publisher=Diving History.com |archive-date=15 December 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101215232647/http://divinghistory.com/id21.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="SPUMS1999">{{cite journal |last=Richardson, Drew |year=1999 |title=A brief history of recreational diving in the United States. |url=http://archive.rubicon-foundation.org/6019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090515131921/http://archive.rubicon-foundation.org/6019 |url-status=usurped |archive-date=15 May 2009 |journal=South Pacific Underwater Medicine Society Journal |volume=29 |issue=#3 |access-date=13 January 2011}}</ref>

By 1974, YMCA had set up a curriculum to begin teaching [[cave diving]].<ref name="Kendrick2009">{{cite journal |last=Kendrick, DF |year=2009 |title=Science of the National Association for Cave Diving (NACD): Water Quality, Hydrogeology, Biology and Psychology |url=http://archive.rubicon-foundation.org/10114 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130705014546/http://archive.rubicon-foundation.org/10114 |url-status=usurped |archive-date=5 July 2013 |journal=In: Pollock NW, ed. Diving for Science 2009. Proceedings of the American Academy of Underwater Sciences 28th Symposium. Dauphin Island, AL: AAUS; 2009. |access-date=2013-04-20}}</ref>

In 1973, the Sixth World Council in [[Kampala]], Uganda, became the first World Council in Africa, hosted by [[Uganda YMCA]]. It reaffirmed the Paris Basis and adopted a declaration of principles, known as the Kampala Principles.<ref>{{cite web |title=Kampala Principles |url=http://www.ymca.int/index.php?id=116 |access-date=2012-07-01 |publisher=Ymca.int}}</ref> It include the principles of justice, creativity and honesty. It stated what had become obvious: that a global viewpoint was more necessary. It also recognized that YMCA and its national member organizations would have to take political stands, particularly in international challenges and crises.

In 1976, YMCA of the USA appointed [[Violet King Henry]] to executive director to its Organizational Development Group, making her the first woman named to a senior management position with the American national YMCA.

In 1985, the World Council of YMCAs passed a resolution against [[apartheid]], and anti-apartheid campaigns were formed under the leadership of Lee Soo-Min ([[Korea]]), the first Asian secretary general of the World YMCA.

In 1998, the 14th World Council of YMCAs in Germany adopted "Challenge 21",<ref>{{cite web |title=Challenge 21 - 1998 |url=https://www.ymca.int/who-we-are/mission/challenge-21-1998/ |access-date=2019-12-21 |website=YMCA International - World Alliance of YMCAs |language=en-US |archive-date=21 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191221141209/https://www.ymca.int/who-we-are/mission/challenge-21-1998/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> intended to place more focus on global challenges, such as [[gender equality]], [[sustainable development]], war and peace, fair distribution, and the challenges of [[globalization]], racism, and HIV/AIDS.