Jamestown YMCA VP of Operations John Barber presents to Jamestown Local Development Corporation (May 17, 2023)

The Jamestown YMCA is requesting $1 million in American Rescue Plan funds to construct a new facility on Harrison Street.

YMCA Vice President of Operations John Barber and Tom Benson presented to the Jamestown Local Development Corporation on their request of funding from the Non-Profit Business Grant Program.

Benson said the total project cost for the nearly 68,000 square foot facility is $30 million. He said there is currently $4 million committed from local foundations, “But we have three or four other sources of funding lined up, but we have to be able to go back to them and say, ‘Now we’ve got the city commitment, not just with a letter but with skin in the game.’ Go back to the state and try to get the state to commit. Then we have New Market Tax Credits, then we have tax rebond reissuance, then we have the (Ralph C.) Wilson Foundation who told us to come back when we had more commitment.”

Benson said there will come a time when the current East Fourth Street location will not be sustainable.

The new facility will include a childcare center, two pools, group exercise areas, a track for running and walking; gymnasium, and other exercise areas.

The Jamestown YWCA also presented a request of $145,714 for a three-year “Young Women Choosing Action” Program.

The program was developed by the national YWCA and is an “intersectional, culturally responsive, trauma-informed leadership program designed with the unique challenges and opportunities of low-income young women and young women of color, ages 13 to 19.”

Collaborative Children’s Solutions also presented on a request for $96,850 toward a peer-run mental health and substance use group that would be mainly operated at the Northwest Arena.

Wednesday’s presentations were the first three of eight that will come before the JLDC board before they are expected to vote in June on which non-profits will receive funding. The grant program was funded with $1.5 million.

John Barber

Barber said he’s taking over most of the responsibilities of former longtime Executive Director Mark Eckendorf, who retired after 44 years in June 2022.

He said the Jamestown Y entered into a one-year management agreement with the Buffalo Niagara YMCA in May 2022, “And so our CEO, that actual title, is John Erhbar of the Buffalo Niagara Y. But they named someone local to be able to manage all of our operations. So, I’m managing all of our operations for the Jamestown, Lakewood Y, our Heritage Child Care Center, Camp Onyahsa, and, of course, the meal programs flowing out of the Eastside Y.”

Barber started with the Jamestown YMCA 15 years ago as its Teen Center Director, “So, during that time I also added on responsibilities overseeing after school and summer programming for kids at Eastside Y, including expansion of summer and after school meal programs. And then I also am property manager for Fourth Street Housing, which is 19 HUD accessible units for the physically disabled, located on the third and fourth floors of the Y.”

Barber said when it comes to the management agreement, there are no changes to local operations at this point. He said there is a possibility of a merger of the Jamestown YMCA with the Buffalo Niagara YMCA at the end of the agreement in May 2023. He said the local board of directors will decide whether to continue the management agreement for another year, and merge with the Buffalo Niagara YMCA, or end the agreement.

Barber estimates the Jamestown YMCA will serve 1,000 meals a day across the City.

He said the meals are prepared at the Eastside YMCA with most of the funding coming from the USDA, “Which can help with the food costs and some of the staffing expenses that go into it. And that covers a large degree of the expenses but we’re also benefited by some funding that’s come from some grant partners, so Y-USA has helped support us each year, this year we have $25,000 in Y-USA supporting. We also have a grant from No Kid Hungry which is a New York-based grant.”

Barber said the Jamestown Y is also serving meals for the summer literacy programs in the Jamestown Schools as wells as meals for local day camps.

The Eastside Family YMCA

JAMESTOWN – The Jamestown YMCA held a community meeting Thursday night at the Eastside Family YMCA. The meeting was reportedly conducted by YMCA executive director Mark Eckendorf and was held in response to the firing of former Eastside Y manager Max Martin.

According to the Post-Journal, dozens of city residents attended the meeting to learn more about the future of the Y. The article stated that John Barber, who runs the Eastside YMCA’s middle school academy, will become the facility’s new operations manager.

Eckendorf did not go into details about why Martin was fired. However, Eastside Y advisory board member Dan Soderberg was in attendance and reportedly said some of the local foundations that provide funding for Y programming were not happy with some of the decisions Martin was making while running the Eastside Y and, as a result, had said they would pull funding in 2017.

Advisory board chair Alfonso Pagan was also in attendance to defend Martin and said that a petition is being circulated in the community, stating how the Hispanic community is displeased with the decision to terminate Martin.

The Eastside Y is a branch of the Jamestown area YMCA and has an annual operating budget of $150,000. It’s been learned that a local foundation, which has not been identified publicly, had told the Y it would pull $75,000 in funding for next year, which is half the Eastside Y’s annual budget. Eckendorf said the cut would have made it difficult to continue funding Martin’s manager salary. He also said that the Y will be working to find new funding in 2017 for the Eastside Y.