The Village People were right.  When you need help, there’s a place you can go!  The YMCA and YWCA are great community resources.  Chock full of excellent facilities and great programs to help men, women and youth.

My first experience with the Y was quite recent.  Around 3 months ago I joined the Focus at Work Program at the YWCA located in downtown Vancouver, BC.  It’s a free program that helps women find the job and/or career best suited to them.  I am in a transitional stage right now with my small home-based business and would like to take it into a different direction or let it go altogether and pursue a different career path.  I needed help figuring what to do and so I joined the program.  I cannot say enough good things about this program and the Y.  They try and get you everything you need to in order to get the career of your dreams including free transit passes and even business attire in collaboration with another program called Dress for Success.

Aside from Focus at Work, the YWCA and YMCA have other career and job programs catering to many types of individuals and their needs.  They have excellent fitness facilities and classes in their fitness centres and even have a government-funded self-employment program where you can submit your business idea and if accepted, you’ll have access to bookkeeping, marketing and biz development classes as well as your own business advisor, all for free!  And, oh yeah, they even give you a living expense while developing your business.

So, if you haven’t checked out your local Y in a while, or ever, visit their website (just type in YMCA or YWCA + your city) and find out what programs and facilities are available in your area.