Healthy Kids, Healthy Futures (HKHF) provided Northeastern University students with the opportunity to gain leadership skills, engage with the surrounding Boston community, and learn about childhood obesity as a public health issue.
Students with an interest in civic engagement, community health, social justice and community service are encouraged to volunteer with the Family Gym program (previously called HKHF’s Open Gym program) throughout the academic year (Fall and Spring semesters).
Family Gym is a free play program for families with children ages 3-8 that aims to encourage young children and their families to be active together and to promote open, non-fee based recreational use of Boston’s BCYF community centers.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Family Gym took place on Saturday mornings from 10:00am-11:30am* at different BCYF community centers in Boston during the Fall and Spring semesters. The program also ran during the Summer and Winter semesters when there was sufficient family participant and student volunteer interest.
- Family Gym follows the Northeastern University Academic Calendar when it session due to the overwhelming majority of our staff and volunteers being current and former Northeaster University students.
Students participating in direct face-to-face service will be assigned to one specific location for the duration of a semester. Student volunteers are present at their respective sites from approximately 9:30am-12:00pm* to setup the space, engage with families, and clean up the equipment after families have left.
- As of Spring 2023, Family Gym is only accepting remote, asynchronous volunteers as we are currently not running in-person programming for families in Boston.
- *Times for volunteers and families may vary slightly by location based on other BCYF programming in gymnasium spaces we share.
The majority of our volunteers are recruited through our partnerships with Northeastern University’s Service-Learning and Simmons University Community Engagement. Students take a core role in leading activities for families, conducting community outreach, and/ or developing wellness resources for families attending Family Gym s part of a site based placement.
- Students from other colleges and universities are welcome to volunteer with us as we continue to expand beyond our original core locations in Roxbury (BCYF’s Recreation Center at Madison Park), the South End (BCYF Blackstone), and Dorchester (BCYF Holland).
HKHF’s Saturday Open Gym program was successful in part due to its strong partnerships with Northeastern University and UMass Boston. Family Gym has continued to build upon existing relationships with community based and institutional partners as it has expanded its reach.
- Northeastern University undergraduate and graduate students from multiple disciplines have staffed all current and former Family Gym locations.
- Our first location in Dorchester hosted several UMass Boston students each year. This location was opened through a collaboration with the GoKids fitness Program in 2014 (UMass Boston Engage).
- Boston University pre-health students helped to staff our location in Allston during its first cycle in 2020.
- Family Gym has collaborated with students from several Simmons University undergraduate social work and graduate level physical therapy courses to staff and create resources for families.
- College and High School students from New England and across the United States have created multiple educational and recreational resources for families during the COVID-19 pandemic as we shifted to remote volunteer service.
- Northeastern University’s Community Volunteers Program helped us open three new locations of Family Gym across the City of Boston during May and June 2022.
If you are interested in learning more about the experiences of past volunteers, check out Northeastern University’s Service Learning Expo page to view examples of deliverables and personal reflections. We also have a student testimonial page you can visit for more information about the volunteer role from the perspective of former volunteers and staff.
If you are a student interested in becoming involved with Family Gym as a volunteer or as part of a capstone project, please contact our Program Coordinator at familygym@foundationforbcyf.org for more information.
We welcome students from any high school institution to join us for a semester of service or research.
- Interested students and faculty are encouraged to email us directly regarding current opportunities or possible collaborations.
- Potential volunteers can also find us on several volunteer platforms such as InnerView and GivePulse.
- Boston College Students can sign up through the BC Volunteer & Service Learning Center Portal.