$ 3 Million Grant for New YMCA

Foundation gives big boost to University Park project partnering with Summa

By Betty Lin-Fisher, Beacon Journal business writer

June 15, 2010

The Akron Area YMCA got a healthy boost to its building campaign on Monday in a $3 million grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

The foundation board of trustees approved the three-year grant to the University Park YMCA project, which is under construction on East Market Street at Adolph Street on the Summa Health System campus in Akron.

The new YMCA, a 60,000-square-foot, $11 million fitness center, is a joint project of the Akron Area YMCA and Summa.

The grant is the largest commitment to the Akron Area YMCA from the Knight Foundation, which has funded some smaller projects in the past, said Doug Kohl, president and chief executive of the Akron Area YMCA.

‘‘This is a phenomenal show of confidence in the mission of the YMCA and our ability to serve the neighborhoods,’’ Kohl said.

The grant is a way to continue to improve the University Park area of Akron, a 50-block revitalization project of the University Park Alliance, an organization also funded by the foundation, said Alberto Ibarguen, president and chief executive of the Knight Foundation.

‘‘It matters to us that this is one of those areas where it's been a collaborative of leaders and institutions, public and private,’’ Ibarguen said.

The $3 million grant was important to the YMCA because it needs to meet an $8 million p>p>fund-raising benchmark by September before the banks financing the project would release their portion of the funds, Kohl said.

The grant brings the amount raised for the new building to $9.5 million. The YMCA hopes to raise the final $1.5 million so the project can open the facility in January nearly debt-free. The organization will still have some small debt indirectly related to the project because it is rolling some prior debt into the loan, Kohl said.

But by opening the doors to the new YMCA without a large debt, ‘‘we'll be able to do our youth and community development and family programs in the community with much greater ease,’’ Kohl said.

Kohl said the YMCA's oldest child care center is in the University Park area, opening at First Presbyterian Church in 1972.

The fact that the University Park YMCA is ‘‘right in an underserved area is so important and can do so much for the education there and the schools,’’ said Rob Briggs, chairman of the Knight board of trustees and president of the Akron-based GAR Foundation.

The $3 million grant brings the total that the Knight Foundation has committed to Akron in its 60 years to $132 million and counting, said Briggs. Ibarguen estimated about 10 percent of the Knight Foundation's grants have gone to Akron-area projects.

When the two-story YMCA building opens in January, it will have a gymnasium, elevated running track, aquatic center and other amenities. A physical therapy wing run by Summa will include therapy pool treatment and exam rooms.

The foundation's grant ‘‘demonstrates their belief that this is more than a swimming pool and a gymnasium. It is about sustainable programming in a fragile neighborhood,’’ Kohl said.

Betty Lin-Fisher can be reached at 330-996-3724 or blinfisher@thebeaconjournal.com.