Kingston, Brockville YMCAs merge into regional hub

The Kingston and Brockville YMCAs have merged to become the YMCA of Eastern Ontario.

This announcement, which the organization first made at the end of November, comes on the heels of another announcement made in September that the boards of the two YMCAs were hiring a new CEO. Rob Adams then took over the reins as CEO of the two YMCAs on Oct. 22.

Adams told Global News that the recently announced merger is about extending the YMCA’s reach.

He cited communities like Gananoque and Kemptville as areas that could benefit from the merger, as the populations of those communities are too small to support their own individual YMCAs.

Adams says the YMCA’s new configuration will be able to leverage the expertise of staff from the two existing YMCA branches to reach those smaller towns.

The CEO added that the YMCA is looking into signing third-party agreements with municipalities and local school boards to offer programming such as after-school programs and summer camps.

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In such agreements, the boards and municipalities would provide the physical space, while the YMCA would provide the staff to run the programs.

The new YMCA of Eastern Ontario is now reviewing its operations, which Adams says will take six months to a year to complete.

He says there will also be some cost savings as a result of unifying software for human resources and accounting across the two YMCAs.

Fees will remain the same for now and Adams says users won’t see any increases while the review is underway, though fees will be considered as part of the review.

Adams expects that as the organization moves forward and increases its service in surrounding communities, these new changes will lead to job creation at the YMCA of Eastern Ontario, however exactly how many jobs might be created and when they would be created isn’t known at this time.