Chris Francis, CEO of the Duluth Area YMCA, knows a lot about how to get a YMCA community center going. At a February 29 meeting of the Cook County Community Center Steering Committee, he explained how the YMCA operates. The steering committee has been investigating the possibility of the YMCA operating a community center facility built and owned by the county.
YMCAs are 501(c)(3)s independently owned and operated in each community. There are almost 1,000 YMCAs operating at about 3,000 different branches. The Duluth Y is one of the 300 biggest, with about 7,500 members and annual revenue of about $5½ million.
The cost of membership in a YMCA is lower than the cost of operating, Francis said. Because of this, fundraising is ongoing to help pay for programming and to help fund those in need. Members often get a discounted fee at Ys other than the one they belong to, and nonmembers can pay a daily rate to use YMCA facilities such as pools.
An endowment of about a million dollars would be needed to get started and a foundation would need to be established, Francis said, adding, “There’s just all kinds of potential opportunities we could look at.” He said he has already talked about this with the Lloyd K. Johnson Foundation, and they sounded excited about the possibility of a YMCA in Cook County.
Not many new YMCAs are created nowadays. Most new facilities are branches attached to already established Ys, and this is what the Duluth Area Y would expect if it became involved in building a program in Cook County. Local YMCAs pay dues to be part of the national organization.
The county plans to spend up to $9 million on a community center with outdoor recreational amenities near it, and that amount seemed doable to Francis. “For $12 million,” he said, “I could put up a facility in Duluth that would serve 10,000 people.”
Attachment to school
The committee has begun discussing the possibility of attaching a community center to the west wing of the Cook County Schools complex. Francis said he previously ranaYthatattachedabranchtoa school in Eagle River, Wisconsin. It has been very successful, he said. A lot of branches are doing this, he said. “Best practice for a town of this size,” he said, “is to attach the Y to a school.”
County Commissioner Sue Hakes pointed out that some amenities such as the kitchen and the Jane Mianowski Conference Room would already be in place if they attached a community center to the school. “I don’t think we need to demo the whole end,” said ISD 166 Superintendent Beth Schwarz.
Francis indicated that safety for YMCA users is paramount. They routinely use cameras, locked doors, and buzzing people into rooms to maintain security.
Francis said the Y would send in teams to analyze what could be done with the school space and how much it would cost. Commissioner Hakes said she would not want the county’s contracts with ORB Management (owner’s rep) and the Meyer Group (architects) to overlap with what the Y might do. Francis said the Y could work with the entities already in place. Commissioner Bruce Martinson said ORB was the construction manager on a YMCA facility in Alexandria, Minnesota.
The steering committee talked about what might be included in the building – a gym, a fitness center, a conference center, a pool? Francis said Ys often have meeting rooms and a child care center for the convenience of parents using the facility. They would need to look at what would bring in the most revenue here. A remote area like this could probably make good use of conference space, he said.
Steering committee member Bob Fenwick suggested that they avoid proceeding too far into planning the facility if they want the City of Grand Marais to be involved. Two spots on the committee remain open for city officials to fill once the city has resolved its alleged legal obligations to Burbach, a pool construction company it previously signed a contract with. The public is pretty adamant about the city being a partner in this, Commissioner Hakes said.
Some people still think the pool should remain part of the tourist park, Commissioner Sobanja said.
Chair Paul Sporn asked if the YMCA plans programming and then designs a building or vice versa. They go hand in hand, said Francis. What would be built would depend on needs identified by the community and the ongoing funding they could get for programming.
The YMCA started in London in 1844, Francis said. It stands for Young Men’s Christian Association, but YMCAs are located all over the world in places where Christianity is not embraced by the majority. YMCA programs are inclusive of all people, and the organization has a legal department that makes sure they operate in compliance with the law.
“I think it’s interesting,” said County Commissioner Sue Hakes, “that it’s not just for youth, it’s not just for men, and it’s not just for Christians.”
“Our mission is to put Christian values into practice through character development,” Francis said. The Y’s core values are caring, respect, and responsibility.
Commissioner Fritz Sobanja supported those core values, saying they are important to society.
“Just the legitimacy the YMCA brings to the whole project – I just think it’s great!” said Chair Sporn. “Bringing in the YMCA can help our community in so many ways and help the community rise and become better.
Plans from here
Chris Francis said that if a study that would be done by an independent contractor were to demonstrate the feasibility of a YMCA in Cook County, he would like to get an executive director in place by summer. Finding one wouldn’t be too hard, he said, because the organization would be likely to have current executive directors wishing to retire here or current program directors wishing to become executive directors apply for the job.
The Y is currently doing its own evaluation. If the project seems possible, they will hire Seer Analytics, which has done a lot of work for YMCAs across the nation, to do a feasibility study at a price of $2,000. The county board had offered to help pay for this but expected the cost to be about $5,000. “Oh good, Commissioner Hakes said, “we’re making money already!”
The steering committee will meet with the ISD 166 school board from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, March 14 at the school. Their next regular meeting will be Monday, March 26 starting at 8:00 a.m. at the current Community Center.
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