The Boothbay Region YMCA was thrilled to welcome 86 community leaders to the 2023 Community Leader Forum on Tuesday, July 11. The purpose of the Forum was to solicit input regarding the question: “What are the critical social issues or pressing problems facing our community that the YMCA can help address?”

Meagan Hamblett, the chief executive officer of the YMCA Alliance of Northern New England, facilitated the forum. Participants represented local families, youth, and seniors, as well as area non-profits, businesses, town officials, and schools. The Y held a similar forum online last year and one of the takeaways was that the Y should regularly convene community leaders for conversation, and we’re glad we did.

The feedback this year was terrific, including this note from Tricia Campbell, principal of Boothbay Region High School. She wrote, “as a school and community leader I was incredibly inspired by the creative thinking and collaborative approach to problem solving that was taking place. I am grateful to the YMCA for bringing us all together! It is exciting to see so many folks working together, discussing potential solutions to concerns and focused on community needs.“

Leadership staff at the Y gave an update to the group about a recently adopted a strategic plan identifying four key strategies: (1) address critical community needs; (2) provide access for all; (3) remain financially sustainable; and (4) promote better awareness of the Y’s work. The Community Leader Forum focused on the first strategy, and the group briefly heard from YMCA staff members regarding the rest of the strategies.

Lisa McIntosh, chief operating officer addressed “Access for All” noting, “the Y provides scholarships to those who need it in the community and that is very important to us. But 100% of all memberships are subsidized. The Y does this in order to make it affordable, but the Y relies on philanthropy to fund it.” The generous support to the Y’s Annual Fund covers about 30% of our operating costs enabling the Y to keep membership accessible to everyone. This year’s forum was generously sponsored by J. Edward Knight, another great example of how community support makes it possible for the Y to achieve its mission.

“Access for All” also includes meeting the needs of our area youth. To that end, the Y hired Rudi Bottse, as the youth and teen coordinator. Rudi is a friend, mentor, and resource to our youth by organizing youth sports, reviving middle school dances, and leading other activities such as the new video gaming club. Rudi is working with Y youth board members Hannah Hills and Colby Allen, both BRHS students, to bring back the Youth Leadership Summit this fall. The summit will provide a voice for our teens to identify and address the issues that directly impact them.

Allyson Goodwin, the director of development, addressed “Awareness of the Y’s work.” She recalled, “When my husband and I first joined the Y in March of 2020, we were excited to seek a healthy lifestyle, meet new people, and learn to play pickleball. After I started working at the Y in September of that year, it became immediately clear that the Y is more than a place to ‘gym and swim’ like I originally thought. It is a place that also distributed food in the parking lot and served as a site for a vaccine clinic during COVID, organizes the Tree of Giving program every December to serve families in need, has a “Grab and Go” food cooler for anyone to access a healthy snack, and has the best youth performing arts program in the region. Most recently, the Y hosted the BRES third graders for several months in multiple spaces at the main campus and at Camp K to support in-person learning after the February school flood.” Allyson then called on all of us to serve as Y ambassadors and share the Y’s story within the community.

Elizabeth Bishop, the Y’s CFO, shared the importance of community support in order for the Y to remain financially sustainable. After completing work at the main campus, Camp Knickerbocker, and the fieldhouse, the Y is in the final phase of it’s A Greater Impact capital campaign, which will focus on the McEvoy Lodge at Camp K and renovation of the Child Enrichment Center.

Senior Program Director Erin Gray explained how the Y’s programs are designed to meet critical community needs such as mental health, substance abuse, and diversity and equity issues which led us to break into small group discussions. After about 20 minutes of brainstorming, the groups shared their findings.

The participants came up with similar themes for community needs including regional housing issues and work force development, childcare for working families, programming for middle-school-aged students, addressing substance abuse, working with the elderly, mentoring teens to provide “life skills”, and educational programs. The specific ideas of how the Y can help address those needs were invigorating. “That session went by so quickly; it was the fastest 20 minutes I have ever spent in a meeting,” said Barbara Burgess. “I was aware of these issues in the community, but it was energizing to think about how the Y could help address them.”

Shawna Kurr, Principal of Boothbay Region Elementary School, shared, “To sit alongside other community constituents and to hear similar concerns that we see from a school's perspective was certainly unifying.  We already have an established, effective relationship between the school and YMCA and by having other community members at the table to brainstorm "how the Y can help" was inspiring.  This simple question opened up some new paths and creative thinking at our table on how the Y and schools can further partner. We are not in silos, we are here to serve the community together, and being involved in forward thinking sessions like this one has me excited for the next steps in planning!”

The next steps for the Y are to collate the data to create an executive summary to share with the board and staff. Staff will then consider specific tactics in their 2024 operational plans, and will circle back to the participants and the rest of the community.

The forum may be best summed up by Tim and Anne Wissler, who wrote, “What a stimulating and informative Forum today at the Y. We were honored to be invited to consider the questions along with resourceful and insightful professionals of the region. The discussions brought forward so much to ponder, and even ways to work with some of the key needs.”

As Andy Hamblett, the Y’s CEO remarked, “the Y is focused on continuing to be a catalyst for transformative good in our community by connecting people to their potential and purpose.” We look forward to digging in at the Y with other regional partners to continue to find ways to be responsive to the needs of our vibrant and special community.”

If you would like to be part of the conversation and help, please reach out to Andy or me. We value your input and will do our best to assist the Y to meet our community’s most pressing needs.