Activists organize to fight YMCA closure
A meeting will be held tonight at 6:30 p.m. at the YWCA
POTTSTOWN » Everything from seeking help from Philadelphia Eagles players to staging a protest outside the Philadelphia-Freedom Valley YMCA headquarters in Conshohocken is on the table as a growing crowd of community groups continue to work to prevent the closure of the YMCA next month.
In response to what they termed in a press release as “a broken promise by the Philadelphia Freedom Valley YMCA (PFVYMCA) to follow up with local NAACP leaders,” in the wake of a May 7 meeting, activists met last week and decided to step up their efforts.
About 50 people from various groups — including the Pottstown NAACP, Pottstown Police Department, Pottstown School Board, members of the disbanded YMCA Task Force, an individual who collected more than 1,200 signatures for a petition condemning the closure of the YMCA and group of community members who then organized the “Save the Pottstown YMCA” Facebook group to
continue putting pressure on PFVYMCA — all met Wednesday at YWCA TriCounty Area to coordinate their efforts.
Another meeting is set for Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at the YWCA Tri-County Area at 315 King St. and the public is invited.
Although many local municipal, school and civic boards have passed resolutions in support of keeping the Pottstown YMCA open, the group has decided to launch a blitz of letters and requests to area churches, PFVYMCA board members, YMCA donors, community groups, police chiefs, educators and others to ask for their support and enlist their help in the organizing effort.
Many of these groups – especially those that provide summer programs – will see an influx of youth and others after the Pottstown Y closes and will have to figure out how to accommodate everyone, said Bishop Everett Debnam, Senior Pastor of Invictus Ministries and Second Vice President of the Pottstown NAACP.
In addition, the group has drafted an appeal to both the Malcolm Jenkins and Chris Long Foundations, both headed by Philadelphia Eagle players, which are committed to youth development in under-served communities.
The solicitation will request that the foundations assist the Pottstown community in widening public media exposure regarding the closure of the facility and the negative and farreaching impacts this will have on the Pottstown region.
Ever since the decision to close the Pottstown YMCA in June was announced, local leaders have become increasingly alarmed about the potential effect on the community’s children, especially given that in the summer, they will have few other places to go for structured, safe activities.
Another group that will be particularly harmed is the elderly, many of whom have no transportation to programs that are outside Pottstown.
”I’m very concerned about the growth and development of our community,” said Shona Williams, a Pottstown resident. “We need to hold them accountable. This is a trend, for them to be lifting services from lower-income communities and directing more funds and attention to wealthier communities. We want it to stop right now, right here, in Pottstown.”
Williams read a letter from Lower Pottsgrove Police Chief Michael A. Foltz, who said that he was hopeful the Pottstown Y could remain open at least through the summer, “to accommodate those that have been dependent on summer programs.” Otherwise, he said, the closing could create “a social strain on our communities that may result in increased criminal activity and/or juvenile delinquency.”
Williams spoke at Thursday’s school board meeting and said in addition to Foltz, the group had secured the support of police chiefs in Pottstown and Upper Pottsgrove as well.
Williams told the school board, it’s “madness” to close the facility just as summer camps and activities are set to begin.
Johnny Corson, president of the local chapter of the NAACP, told the group that PFVYMCA president and CEO Shaun Elliott had promised at a meeting with the group on May 7 to call him back the next day to follow up. But Elliott never called, Corson said, adding, “At this point, I don’t think he’s going to.”
He might find it hard to ignore a protest at the regional Y’s Conshohocken headquarters some said at last week’s meeting.
“We’re like gum on the bottom of Shaun Elliot’s Gucci’s,” said one community member in attendance.
But the group also debated whether to even continue trying to work with Elliott. Several people said they suspected he was only paying lip service to being open to ideas.
Similar sentiments were voiced Thursday by Pottstown School Board member Susan Lawrence.
Lawrence said she worked for the Y for 10 years and “Philadelphia-Freedom Valley YMCA does not treat its employees very well, and I’m not sure they will ever do what’s right for Pottstown. I hope some of the energy from this group will be put into looking for other solutions,” she told Williams.
“The Pottstown School board is very much in favor of your efforts,” said School Board President Amy Francis.
School board member John Armato said “the community is being hurt by ‘corporate’ decisions being made by ‘so-called nonprofits’ like Philadelphia-Freedom Valley YMCA and Tower Health,” whose removal of Pottstown Hospital from the tax rolls accounts for a revenue loss of more than $1 million, more than the budget gap driving a tax hike of 2.5 percent in Pottstown.