A place of belonging, at the heart of Belfast.

Belfast YMCA have been helping the people of our city grow since 1850 - with ongoing childcare, youth programmes, forest school, and community projects.

Explore our services to discover how we can be part of your journey, or how you can support our mission.

The Colour Run is Back!

Join us as our whole community comes out on Saturday 16th May 2026 for our annual kaleidoscope of colour, connection, and celebration. Registration is now open - we'd love to see you there.

Colour Run 2026 – Homepage Card
Participants at the Colour Run throwing coloured powder
Belfast YMCA & CFC South

Community Colour Run 2026

A 2km fun run for all abilities, followed by a free community festival — inflatables, face painting, food trucks, and a finisher's medal for every runner. ✨

2km Fun Route
All Ages 0 to 100
£6.50 Per Runner
Find Out More & Register

The Colour Run is one of the highlights of our year — a chance for our whole community to come together, have fun, and celebrate everything that makes this place special. Whether you've run it before or this is your first time, you're welcome here.

  • We have been providing childcare in Belfast for over 30 years. We care for over 260 children every week in our nursery and after school services in Stranmillis and St Judes. Our aim is to provide flexible, affordable and high quality care serving both children and parents.

    CHILDCARE

  • We run community events and projects on our site in Stranmillis — creating connections across the local community. We also work in partnership with a range of other community partners who use our site on a regular basis. We have also recently established a community garden.

    COMMUNITY

  • YMCA is one of the oldest and largest youth organisations in the world. It has grown to reach over 65 million people a year across 120 countries. We deliver a range of youth work including good relations projects in schools across Belfast to a political education project for 16-18 year olds. We also run a youth club on our site in Stranmillis and provide volunteering opportunities.

    YOUTH
  • The Glade

    The Glade is our dedicated Forest School adjacent to Lagan Meadows, giving Belfast's young people a vital connection to the natural world. We deliver a variety of outdoor learning programmes, from parent-toddler sessions to after-school adventures and seasonal holiday camps. Sessions feed their curiosity, and a lifelong appreciation for the environment.

    The Glade

  • Find out how you can partner with us by volunteering your time or making a donation today

    SUPPORT US

Our vision is a city where life is better for children, young people and our communities.

All of our work is driven by that vision.

If you share it, we'd love for you to become a part of our story — whether that's supporting our work financially, bringing a charity day idea for your community, or something else you'd like to explore with us.

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Keep up to date with Belfast YMCA on our social channels:

View fullsize We had a great night celebrating our Autumn Moving Forward participants 🥳 with plenty of pizza, our new TBUC hoodies and our raffle from our fundraising coffee morning!
View fullsize This #givingtuesday we have joined with our Community Partner Spar Malone for a store collection. Staff and volunteers have been braving the cold to raise money for our youth and community work. Say hi if you see them! #Giveyourway #giveyourway
View fullsize Ubuntu Collaboration! We have had a great day with Yr8 pupils from Ashfield Biys and Yr9 pupils from Hazelwood Integrated. Both classes have spent 3 months learning with us in their classrooms and today they came together at Belfast YMCA to discuss i
View fullsize Last week, our Belfast E2T group began to look into ways to give back to their community through volunteering, both to help those around them and to help with their own employability. They looked into different opportunities around them that they wo
View fullsize
View fullsize Clare one of our founder volunteers has written a blog about the first year of our Community Garden. Click the link and read all about the amazing transformation and the wildlife and species that have made it their home! https://www.belfastymca.org
View fullsize We have had a fantastic year working with Northern Ireland Chest Heart and Stroke developing our Staff Wellbeing Programme. Belfast YMCA have introduced many new initiatives including Smoothie Tuesday, Staff Away Day, Free Fruit Bowl and Annual Heal
View fullsize A huge thank you to Frazer Kidd who have made a £1000 donation to our Youth Work programmes. We are so grateful to be one of their nominated charities and this money will go a long way in supporting our work with children and young people acr
View fullsize Our Youth in Government group just about dodged Storm Bert when visiting Derry~Londonderry this weekend. The Siege of Derry, the famous walls, Bloody Sunday, the Bogside, a compulsory visit to the Derry Girls Mural and a very competitive quiz are jus

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