Elsewhere in Columbiana County
Salem YWCA to close its doors
By MARY ANN GREIER/Staff Writer
SALEM — The YWCA of Salem became the latest victim of the economy, with Executive Director Susan Hays announcing Friday the nearly 53-year-old organization will close its office by Dec. 31 and dissolve by May 2011.
“The board has been wrestling with this decision for a good while now,” Hays said when contacted by phone.
On a bright note, though, she said the Kin & Kids program which catered to grandparents and relatives serving as parents to grandchildren or a relative’s children will remain intact by moving to the Family Recovery Center in Lisbon.
Kin & Kids program director Mary Caye Bixler will remain in her position, but as an employee of FRC. The program’s grant from the Brookdale Foundation which continues through April 2011 will follow the program. The YWCA will assist with funding through 2010, and funds from the United Way will continue in 2010 and be used for Kin & Kids.
“Families aren’t going to see a real change,” Hays said, noting the board was committed to keeping the program in the county. “We want the transition all the way around to be smooth.”
The office to be closed is located in the Kent State City Center on North Lincoln Avenue in Salem. Furniture and program supplies will be sold or transferred to other agencies. Part of the collection of stuff includes artwork done by Salem area artists, including a piece reminiscent of the beginnings of the YWCA, whose chapter was founded in Salem in 1957.
In letters to members of the YWCA of Salem, Kin & Kids friends and friends of the YWCA, Hays and board president Amanda Jackson explained how the organization had been running in the red for many years and using investment funds to cover operational costs.
The direction of the local YWCA began changing two years ago from physical and leisure activities, where attendance had been waning, to a more mission-driven presence, such as focusing on women’s issues, including domestic violence.
At the same time, the YWCA of Salem board members decided to invest more of the reserve funds for what they were calling the “transformation” process. Then came the fall of 2008 and the fall of the market.
“We lost significant investment funds,” Hays said, adding the loss totaled $75,000 to $90,000.
The reserve fund, which represents many years of investments of donations from individuals and estates and other funds, has a balance now of about $100,000. The organization’s operating budget for this year was $126,000 with funding from the United Way, grants, memberships, fund raising, fees for services and the reserve fund.
Hays said the board discussed the following options: spending down the remaining reserve funds to continue services, merging with another YWCA in the area, affiliating with another non-profit group in the county or dissolving the local YWCA.
After studying the options, consulting with the Great Lakes Alliance Regional YWCA staff and considering the projected economic climate, the board voted Oct. 20 to begin the dissolution process. They notified the United Way board Thursday night.
The process will take nearly two years to complete because the by-laws of the local and the national YWCA require the intent to dissolve to be presented at two consecutive annual meetings of the local YWCA and the National YWCA Conference. During that time, the board will continue to serve to work on the dissolution.
Hays, the only full-time paid member of the staff, will lose her position, as will two paid part-time staff members and two senior aides from the county’s senior aides program. They’ll be done Dec. 31. Programs for children will end, such as the preschool program and play groups. Gymnastics was discontinued in December 2008 and remaining exercise classes ended in the summer.
Hays said the board felt it was more responsible to dissolve so the money left could remain in the community. The decision on where the money will go has not been determined, but plans call for distribution to another non-profit or multiple non-profits.
In the press release, Jackson said the board acted in the best interest of the organization and the community. The organization has less than 50 members, a far cry from the more than 600 members when the local YWCA was founded.
Hays said it saddens her to think of the YWCA not being in the community. She first joined a YWCA when she was 5 years old in Alliance and signed up for the Saturday morning Merry-Go-Round program featuring arts and crafts, dance and other opportunities for children. She credited the YWCA with shaping some of her leadership skills over the years. This was her second directorship. She said she’ll remain a member of a YWCA.
“I really feel had the economy not done the turn it did, the YWCA would have been able to continue,” she said.
mgreier@salemnews.net
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