The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Closing Ys will worsen virus effects
Another viewpoint is a column The Morning Journal makes available so all sides of an issue may be aired. Dick Bennett is CEO, Lake County YMCA; Timothy Hilk is president and CEO, YMCA of Greater Cleveland; Jill Kolesar is CEO, Akron Area YMCA; and Rich Micelli is CEO, YMCA of Central Stark County.
YMCAs in Ohio support the governor’s efforts to stop the spread of COVID. We are contributing to that cause by operating clean and safe facilities while keeping people physically and mentally healthy. We urge him not to worsen the harmful effects of COVID on our communities by closing YMCAs. We are essential in every community we serve, providing an array of social assistance and wrap-around services, and we cannot endure another closing.
As a nonprofit committed to healthy living, we support all efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19.
However, YMCAs are not the problem. We meet or exceed the strictest CDC and health department requirements for COVID prevention. From June until now, the four YMCA associations represented in this correspondence welcomed more than 809,000 visits with only one COVID-19 case traced to one of our locations, or .0001%.
As The New York Times reported in July, before the pandemic, Ys were typically operating on margins of three percent or less, but the closings pushed revenues down 30 to 50 percent nationwide. Most YMCAs had furloughed 70 to 95 percent of their workers. Ohio’s 162 Ys have already lost $78 million in
revenue and lost over 200,000 members this year.
Yet, as nonprofits serving their communities, most Ohio Ys quickly pivoted and offered pandemic childcare centers to serve essential workers because that is what their communities needed. In doing so, many Ys took another hit as providing pandemic childcare services actually cost them money. Ys also provided free virtual programming to all, served over 1,400 children per day in childcare during a COVID environment, over 3,000 youth per day through feeding programs, and over 10,000 seniors per month with virtual wellness checks.
Since fitness centers and childcare centers were allowed to reopen, Ys again pivoted. We have provided exceptionally safe branches and programming meeting and exceeding CDC and health department guidelines.
Our school-age child programs are supporting students learning virtually, providing for them even as school districts change back and forth from inschool to out-of-school settings.
As essential community centers, Ys across Ohio have been clawing their way back to sustainability though none have come close to break even.
Now, Governor DeWine is again threatening to close gyms and fitness centers, including YMCAs.
Shuttering YMCAs again will cause them financial devastation that will not be recoverable. When that happens, the cost to communities will be likewise catastrophic.
The critical services Ys provide across the state, notably childcare, camps, active older adult programming, swimming lessons, food distribution, sports training, wellness programs and more, will cease to be available.
No one is turned away from a Y, so low-income individuals and families who have benefitted from our financial aid will have nowhere to go.
Also, at risk are thousands of YMCA jobs in this state and the shuttering of dozens of branches in cities large and small. The four YMCAs represented here have more than 1,800 jobs at stake.
Ohio’s YMCAs are advocating for the thousands of Ohioans who count on us for jobs, services and the essential work we do in communities across the state.
We are uniformly joined in the fight against the negative effects of COVID.
Shuttering YMCAs will do inestimable damage both in the short and long term that will inordinately affect those most at risk.
We implore the governor to not make Ys across our state and the communities they serve the unintended victims of an unnecessary shut down.