Pottstown YMCA closing is wrong, should be reversed

Pottstown has seen more than its fair share of closings over the years from industrial giants like Bethlehem Steel to familyowned stores on High Street.

The losses to the community in jobs and tax dollars have been devastating.

So when the announcement came in November that the Pottstown YMCA would close in June, the news rippled through the community with shock and disappointment and a sad sense of resignation that Pottstown often finds itself on the losing end.

But as more information has come out surrounding the decision by the Philadelphia-based Freedom Valley YMCA, resignation has turned to indignation.

Many in the community are angry that this institution of value to the children and families of Pottstown is closing despite local funding, local history and local need.

On Thursday, the Pottstown School Board passed a resolution condemning the Freedom Valley board for its decision and calling on them to reconsider.

In addition, an online community petition has more than 200 signatures in support of keeping open the local Y.

The Pottstown NAACP and other community activists are working to draw attention to the issue. Pottstown School Superintendent Stephen Rodriguez said that the school will forward concerns to Shaun Elliott, the CEO of Philadelphia Freedom Valley YMCA, “and to the head of the national organization if necessary.”

The public outcry became more pronounced in the past two weeks after a series of columns written by Tom Hylton, former Mercury editorial writer and former Pottstown School Board member, published in The Mercury as paid advertisements. The columns are also posted on the Pottstown Citizens website.

Hylton interviewed former Pottstown YMCA board leaders and funders, painting a picture of a vibrant local organization swallowed up by a regional group that favors investing in the wealthier communities of the Philadelphia area.

The school board resolution also highlighted the wealth disparity.

“Two thirds or more of Pottstown students come from lowincome and minority families” and the “Pottstown School District has one of the lowest median incomes in southeastern Pennsylvania,” the board resolution notes. Since the regional merger of the YMCAs in southeastern Pennsylvania, new facilities have been constructed in wealthier areas such as Haverford and Upper Perkiomen and a $30 million facility is now under construction in Upper Moreland, it states.

Hylton reported that the Pottstown YMCA brought a $2.8 million endowment fund to the newly formed Freedom Valley YMCA when it merged with the Phoenixville Y in 2007. The stipulation for the endowment was to use $1 million for an Upper Perkiomen capital campaign, and $1.8 million to make improvements to the Pottstown branch, including fixing the boiler.

The failing boiler was never addressed and is now being cited as a reason to close the facility, Hylton wrote, quoting James Konnick, who was Pottstown YMCA board president at the time of the merger. In 2013 another merger followed creating a “four-county, two-state giant with 140,000 members and 15 branches.” Pottstown has no representation on the Philadelphia-based board.

The school board resolution states that the Y is one of the school district’s partners in its nationally recognized PEAK early education initiative and receives $296,000 a year from the school district for 40 Pre-K Counts students taught there. The Y is adjacent to the high school and middle school campus and thus easily accessed by Pottstown students without the need of a car, according to the resolution.

Recounting the 138-year history of the Pottstown YMCA, Hylton interviewed the granddaughter of Robert P. Smith, who founded Mrs. Smith’s Pies. She said her grandfather managed the Y cafeteria when he was 17 and he credited the organization with helping him succeed in life. He gave back hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years to the local Y — money which helped build the endowment that Pottstown brought into Freedom Valley.

The closing of this institution is a blow to Pottstown that is unfounded, unfair and wrong.

The YMCA is purposefully abandoning its “spirit of service ... uniting individuals from all walks of life to participate in, and work for, positive social change.”

We call on the Freedom Valley CEO and board leadership to do the right thing.

Reverse this decision to close the Pottstown YMCA and invest in keeping this building open and moving forward for future generations.