In the early 1920's Harold Keltner, A YMCA Director in St. Louis MO., was taken by the words of Ojibway Indian hunting guide Joe Friday, who said "The Indian father raises his son. He teaches his son to hunt, to track, to fish, to walk softly and silently in the forest, to know the meaning and purpose of life and all that he must know, while the white man allows the mother to raise his son."

Harold was so taken by these words that he arranged for Joe Friday to speak at a father and son banquet in 1925. After the banquet, Harold observed the keen interest that both the boys and their dads had to try and get close to Joe Friday.

This gave Harold an idea. He felt that this mutual interest in the Indian could be put at the heart of a program aimed at closing the ever widening gap that he had seen between American fathers and their sons. He designed a program based on Dignity, Patience, Endurance, Spirituality, Feeling for the earth and Concern for the family – the same qualities of the American Indian culture and life. From this, the Y-Indian Guide program was born.

The YMCA Adventure Guide Program
is an evolution of the original YMCA Indian Guides program.

The father and son Y-Indian Guide program was developed in 1926 to support the father’s vital family role as teacher, counselor, and friend to his son. After World War II, the success of the father/son program nurtured the development of other parent-child programs. A mother/daughter program, called Y-Indian Maidens; a father/daughter program, called Y-Indian Princesses; and the mothers/sons Y-Indian Braves Program.

For 75 years, the program was the cornerstone for family programs in YMCAs across the country. But it is a different world today. The YMCA’s commitment to being a caring, honest, respectful, and responsible organization, and an evolving cultural sensitivity of Native American history prompted YMCAs across the country to re-evaluate their parent/child programs.

One of the strengths of YMCAs is that they have adapted and responded to societal changes in order to remain relevant to their communities. From late 2000 to mid 2003 YMCA staff and volunteers from across the country met on several occasions to craft a parent/child program that had a broader appeal. In the summer and fall of 2003, YMCA Adventure Guides was launched in YMCA communities everywhere.