National Board of the Young Men's Christian Associations

Although segregation of YMCAs as a national policy ended in 1946 with the approval of a resolution by the National Council calling for the elimination of all racial discrimination, these changes were accepted and adopted to varying degrees and speeds at the local and national levels. During the next thirty to forty years, a variety of programs and committees were established to monitor and promote the process of integration and the progress of racial equality within the movement, as well as to identify and address the unmet needs of African American and other non-white people served by the organization.

During the period from 1949 to 1970, there were four National YMCA bodies commissioned to give primary attention to the elimination of racial segregation and the advancement of racial integration in the YMCA. The first body was the National Study Commission on Interracial Practices, which was appointed by the Program Committee of the National Board for two years, initially, to study and review facts and make recommendations for advance in the area of interracial practices within the YMCA. The Commission was reappointed in 1952 and culminated in the organization of the 1954 National Consultation on YMCA Interracial Work, a symposium held in Columbus, Ohio. The Commission was reorganized in 1955 as the Commission on Interracial Policies and Program, which developed the "Five Year Plan for YMCA Leadership for Interracial Practices and Developments."

The Board Chairman's Committee on Interracial Advance was created in 1964 and worked to help resolve legal suits brought against the YMCA by plaintiffs charging violation of the 1964 federal civil rights legislation. It also convened national conference in Washington D.C. to consider the implications of this legislation for the YMCA. Following the conference and a reorganization of the National Board, the Committee for Interracial Advance was constituted as a successor to the Commission on Interracial Policies and Program. The Committee provided the leadership for the development of a landmark amendment to the YMCA constitution, passed in 1967, which required all local associations to annual certify that "their policies and practices provide that eligibility for membership or participation in program shall be without any discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin" as a condition of membership.

Despite the efforts and progress made during the 1950s and 1960s, in 1968 the YMCA still counted 20 local associations practicing segregation. The National Conference of Black and Non-White YMCA Laymen and Staff, known as BAN-WYS, was founded in November 1968 by Leo Marsh (who served as its first chairman), Meredith Matthews, Dunbar Reed, Gordon Rowe, William McAllister, and other YMCA staff members who were disenchanted with the slow pace of change, the persistence of segregation and other discriminatory practices in some areas of the YMCA movement, and frustrated with the inaction of the YMCA's white leadership. A group of 120 black and other non-white YMCA staff members met in Atlanta, Georgia for a conference focused on making the YMCA, which was widely perceived as a white-oriented and dominated movement, more aware of and responsive to the unmet needs of African American and other non-white persons in the cities of the United States, more aware of the negative effects of certain personnel practices and policies on non-white YMCA staff, and more committed to utilizing the leadership resources of other black and non-white laymen. What began as an ad hoc group developed into an organized network to provide support and representation to non-white YMCA staff members. The group was also responsible for leading the planning and celebration in 1978 of the 125th anniversary of the YMCA service by and to the African American community.

Education and edification has been at the heart of the YMCA's mission since its founding in 1844. Early associations frequently featured libraries and reading rooms and regularly sponsored lectures. By the late 1860s, evening classes had become a regular part of the program at most associations. Subjects were varied and included foreign languages, music, penmanship, physiology, Bible topics, and more. While these lecture courses were mainly recreational in purpose, during the 1880s, several associations experimented with programs more specifically oriented towards the improvement of young men in the trades and factory work. The 1890s saw the growth of these industrial education classes, offered in technical and vocational subjects.

The growth in educational programs soon prompted demand for guidance at the national level. The Educational Department was established in 1891 with George Hodge as its first secretary. The education work overseen by the department grew dramatically after World War I with the establishment of the United YMCA Schools in associations and colleges to provide vocational, business, and professional education to returning veterans. The Education Council (acting as the sponsoring committee for the Education Department) was created in 1919 to administer the work of the YMCA Schools. These schools continued until the late 1930s, when many of the colleges separated themselves from the YMCA and budget restraints limited programs at local associations.

The objects of the YMCA's educational efforts were not limited only to its members. The organization also established numerous training institutes and schools for its own staff. The first of these was the annual conference held at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin beginning in 1884. The earliest YMCA training facility represented in these records is the Silver Bay Association for Christian Conference and Training, which was founded in 1902 by Luther Wishard and other YMCA leaders on Lake George, New York. Separately incorporated from the YMCA, it nevertheless functioned primarily as a place for YMCA education. Training courses for secretaries began there in 1903, and in 1913 the YMCA formally established the Eastern Association School there for professional education. A number of other training centers (often called summer schools) were established in the early twentieth century: Lake Couchiching (Canada) in 1905; Chesapeake Summer School Maryland (for African American secretaries) in 1907; Estes Park, Colorado in 1908; Blue Ridge, North Carolina in 1912; Asilomar, California (also called Pacific Summer School) in 1914; and Seabeck, Washington, in 1919.