Downtown location gains attention for YMCA office      

[FEB. 26, 2005]  The Lincoln YMCA office, now in its 14th year of operation in this community, has found its way to a new address, 604 Broadway St. The Lincoln YMCA has been independent since 1997, when it was able to break away from the Springfield agency and form its own identity in our community.

At the previous address of 319 W. Kickapoo St., the YMCA staff felt invisible. "We were not unhappy with the facility and our office space," says Linda Marini, Lincoln YMCA executive director. "We just felt so hidden from everyone."

Marini says people would come in from out of town trying to find their office and stop for directions. But even the gas station employees that they would ask could not tell them where to find the office because not many people from Lincoln even realized that there is a West Kickapoo.

But being at the Kickapoo location allowed the YMCA to save the money and build the finances to relocate.

Now, people just walking by have dropped in to say "hi" and see how things are going. "We never had that at the old location," Marini says. "This is a great change for us."

The YMCA has become a significant operation in this area, bringing positive, fun programs to people of all ages. "Our biggest impact in this community is our work with the kids," she says.

There are several different programs the YMCA offers, and they are spread all over the Lincoln area and available to all Logan County residents. In the year 2004, there were almost 3,000 members signed up, and that includes about 700 families in the Logan County area.

The Lincoln YMCA is considered non-facility, meaning it does not actually own its own building that facilitates a swimming pool, tennis courts and so on. Instead, being a non-facility YMCA for all of these years has caused the organization to be more one-on-one with the people of the community.

"Because we are a non-facility agency, we have had to rely on other places throughout the area to accommodate our programs, which essentially brings us to the people instead of the people to us," Marini says. "It made us look at the community and exactly what they need."

That is also what made the kids’ programs the most important part of the organization. The YMCA had to center its attention on the best target to get the agency running, and that was the children.

The closing of Lincoln Developmental Center hit the area’s economy pretty hard, including the YMCA. More home-based day cares were set up as individuals were looking for means to financially provide for their families when they lost their jobs due to the closing. Because of that, the YMCA’s after-school programs were strongly affected. The year 2003 was hit pretty hard, but the organization is now recuperating from that decline, and things are definitely looking good and are on the rise for the future.

There is now a long-range plan in place that will begin sometime around April. A survey will be sent out to the community to give the organization an idea of what people want from the YMCA for the future. This is a three-year plan through 2008.

"We want to eventually own our own operational facility where we can run most of our programs in a centralized area," Marini says. "But we need feedback from the community first."

Although the fact of being non-facility agency has created a great opportunity for better community outreach, Marini says finally having a facility would not change the relationship, as they were able to establish such a great bond with the people in the beginning.

Surveys sent to the community are not uncommon for the YMCA, as that is their main source of knowledge on what kind of programs to implement.

The last survey sent out showed that parents wanted more programs designed for preschool-aged children. Parents indicated in the surveys that they want more options in sports and even skill-building classes on computers for their toddlers. Because of that, there will now be a rookie flag football program set up in the fall for kindergarteners. There is also wee ball, which is tee ball for children ages 4 and 5. Biddy basketball is also for the 4 and 5 age group.

The organization also offers NYPUM, the National Youth Project Using Mini-bikes. This is a very positive project offered to local youth. To participate in NYPUM, the kids actually have to sign a contract that basically states they will stay drug-free and stay out of trouble as long as they are in the program. Once in the program they must have 21 lessons, and the program has trail rides only. The lessons and trail rides all take place out at the Lincoln Sportsman’s Club.

For children and adults, challenge courses are also offered. This includes what many are familiar with in the area as the "low ropes" and "high ropes" course. The low ropes course is for younger kids and offers incredible self-esteem-builders, team-building and trust-building exercises. The high ropes course is for older youth and adults and offers strong confidence-building and leadership-building exercises.

"We have had 1,000 people sent through our ropes course since the year 2000, and it has been an incredible, positive program," Marini says. Now the YMCA is looking for a new home for the ropes course, as the area used now will eventually be turned into a parking lot. "But we are going to do everything we can to make sure that the ropes course program continues," she says. "We will not let that one end."

Marini says people often get the YMCA and the Lincoln Park District confused, as many of the YMCA programs are offered out at the Lincoln Park District facility. "We need to form our own identity," she says. "Having our own full-functioning facility would allow us to do so."

"Our main goal is to have a permanent home," says Marini. "Once we have a permanent place we can offer a greater number of options and opportunities to our community."

For further information on the Lincoln YMCA, please visit www.lincolnymca.org.

[Janell Woolard]