Pittsfield YMCA Celebrates Completion of $12.4M Renovation
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Planners say "child care is the engine" of the Berkshire Family YMCA's $12.4 million overhaul.
The expanded facility includes a new infant room, an additional toddler room, an expanded preschool area, a science, technology, arts and math (STEAM) space, and a gross motor skills space.
This has opened over two dozen enrollment slots and increased child-care services by 40 percent.
"I stand in front of all of you today with a humble heart because I know it took the community, the state, and even the country to make this project happen," CEO and Executive Director Jessica Rumlow said during an unveiling ceremony on Monday at the North Street facility.
"I stand before you today with so much gratitude because every person in this room recognizes the importance of the YMCA in this community, the value of investing in this historic facility to ensure the Y has the ability to continue putting our mission into practice through caring, honesty, respect, responsibility through programs that build a healthy spirit, mind, and body for all."
State Rep. Tricia Farley Bouvier pointed out that there is $2.3 million in state funding invested in between tax credits, earmarks, and American Rescue Plan Act funds because people believed in this project.
While she was impressed with the reimagining of the basketball court with an elevated running track, the fitness center, and other improvements that the project encompasses, it was the transformation in early education that sparked her interest.
"We have to keep saying that early education is at the very center of addressing poverty, early education is at the very center of our economy, early education as the very center of family stability, early education is the secret sauce," she said.
"And we are making great strides right here in the city of Pittsfield, right here at the YMCA, to start that process."
She said the next step is addressing the pay of early educators, which received a round of applause from attendees. The salary of an early educator should be equivalent, if not more, than a person teaching fourth grade, Farley Bouvier asserted.
"They were pretty clever here when they said, 'Well Patricia, we know you're going talk about early ed because that's pretty much all you ever do," she joked.
Upon entering the facility, Commissioner of the Department of Early Education and Care Amy Kershaw was told that child care was the engine of the project. One of its early funding sources included a $1 million child-care facility state grant from the Early Education and Out of School Time (EEOST) Capital Fund.
"And I couldn't agree more. This child care is the engine for our economy and the engine for the preparation of the next generation for school and life success," she said.
"So we are so thrilled through the department that we had the opportunity to make a contribution from our own capital grant program. It sounds like it was a little bit of a wild ride and you're still on it but I want to say it was 100 percent worth it."
U.S. Sen. Edward Markey attended the ceremony in one of three appearances across the state this week. It was a great day for Berkshire County, he said, adding that the state's delegation could not say "no" to supporting such a good effort.
The renovation includes a new Feigenbaum Foundation Child Care Center, Jane and Jack Fitzpatrick Track, McGraw Family Sport Court, Scarafoni Family Welcome Center, and the Greylock Federal Credit Union Pool area.
The YMCA received $600,000 in state historic tax credits and a state earmark. Markey and U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren had announced a $1 million federal grant award for the project through the Department of Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development.
Markey said the 1909 building is an "integral part of Pittsfield's past, present, and future." With the historical tax credits, many original features were preserved in the final design.
"This is absolutely almost the dawn of a new era and we can see it with the natural light coming into the building," Markey said. "How 21st century all of the children, all of the families, all the seniors who will have access to this incredible facility."
The state dollars went toward "greening" the YMCA and addressing structural and facade improvements including new energy-efficient windows, LED lighting, and a heating and cooling system. The monies also helped to expand child care, create construction jobs for 136 workers, and add 10 new full-time employees.
"Even at 114 years old, this magnificent building is built to last and now it will be more resilient and sustainable for the next 114 years," Markey said.
"These dollars are also bringing the community together through recreation and play with a beautiful brand-new indoor track and basketball court, offering opportunities for people of all ages to engage in healthy activities no matter how hard winter wallops the Berkshires."
The city contributed $250,000 in ARPA funds, $165,000 in Community Preservation Act funds, and $30,000 from Community Development Block Grant funding.
"The facility is now a place for everyone," Mayor Linda Tyer said. "A place for people of all ages and all abilities whether you're an infant in the daycare program or someone who is in their fitness routine or somebody in their 80s who needs a place to walk in the winter now on this beautiful indoor track. This place is a place for everyone and it is right here in the heart of our downtown."
She added that the YMCA is an "anchor" of the downtown, providing programs focused on health and recreation for over a century.
"I know that the YMCA is a staple in this community and it will be for another century," she concluded.
U.S. Rep. Richard Neal said the celebration also makes the "enduring legacy" of Pittsfield and what it means to the commonwealth.
He said when this initiative was put in front of him, he knew it would manifest into federal New Markets Tax Credits.
"We don't wake up in the morning thinking about how to spend money," he said about Congress. "The requests that we have come from nonprofits, colleges and universities, and local government. That's overwhelmingly where the requests come from and then we have to weigh the merits of whether or not those initiatives are going to make it over the goal line."
More than $11 million of the project's total cost has been raised and planners are confident in the organization's ability to fill the remaining gap.
Full of Possibilities Capital Campaign Chair Matthew Scarafoni said the YMCA struggled with a lack of big donors at the beginning and eventually, the pandemic.
Planning began in 2017 and construction broke ground in the fall 2021 with Allegrone Companies as the general contractor.
"We had a lot of self-doubt. We had the fear of failure and I guess all the major usual ones that people have, can we finish the project that we committed?" Scarafoni said.
"So just when we thought the sun was about to break, and things were sort of calming down a little bit, we started to get some money rolling in and the project had great vision and we had good leadership here at the wine, we had a little unexpected issue pop up. I don't know if anybody here remembers the pandemic. Not great for the Y's business model. Not great at all,"
"You can imagine that a gym didn't do well during the pandemic, child care shutdown in most places except for here but we just kept our head down. We started work solving problems one after the next, trying to figure out how to get our membership to stop leaving in droves and ultimately, we just worked through. We endured a lot of meetings, a lot of guessing, and fortunately, we made some pretty good guesses as to how to move forward."
The scope of improvements began at $1 million to $2 million but the organization decided there is a "fine line between being reckless and crazy and just simply not asking anybody for permission anymore" and the $12 million project began.
"The key to the whole thing, in closing, is that we have built a sustainable business model with help from a lot of people," Scarafoni said.
"We have decided that being an athletic center, being a child care, being all the things that we do —supervised visits, you name it, there's so much goes on in this building — there's a business problem in there and one that we have figured out and we are going to raise this money and we are not going to come back and ask you for more money. We are going to have a business that runs as if we were capitalists.
"By the way, we're not really going to turn a profit because all the money we make goes back into the community. We just do more if we do well and that's exactly how we want it."
Support for the $12.4 million project includes:
- The Early Education and Out of School Time (EEOST) Capital Fund contributed a $1 million child care facility state grant
- Several local and regional which put forward significant support including Adams Community Bank, Alden Trust, Amelia Peabody Foundation, Berkshire Bank Foundation, Donald C. McGraw Foundation, The Feigenbaum Foundation, Greylock Federal Credit Union, Jane & Jack Fitzpatrick Trust, Josephine and Louise Crane Foundation, Melissa and Matthew Scarafoni, Mill Town Foundation, and Mountain One.
- The City of Pittsfield contributed American Rescue Plan Act Funds as well as Community Preservation Act funds.
- The Commonwealth provided Historic Tax Credits and an earmark. Massachusetts Senators Edward Markey and Elizabeth Warren announced a $1 million federal grant award for the project through the Department of Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development.
- Initial lending was secured from MassDevelopment and The Life Initiative to provide a leverage loan to a New Markets Tax Credit transaction with the Community Reinvestment Fund, USA (CRF) as the NMTC allocatee and US Bank as the investor.
- CRF and US Bank provided $3.2 million in equity to the project.
- Project partners include Hill Engineers, Studio MLA, Financial Development Agency, Skanska, Mike MacDonald Law, Epsilon Associates, Inc, and the Allegrone Companies.
Tags: ribbon cutting, YMCA,
