YWCA to close its building

By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- The YWCA Warren's core mission of empowering women will continue after it relocates to new quarters in the city's downtown.
"The move is a strategic one," said Liz Wozniak, YWCA executive director. "Bricks and mortar are very expensive. By moving into a tighter, smaller, more professional office, we'll free those funds to put toward the programs and the support of other organizations that we feel are important," she added.
The YWCA will soon move out of its 76-year-old, 65,000-square-foot building at 375 N. Park Ave. and rent downtown administrative office space, which will occupy 1,200 to 1,400 square feet. Two potential office locations are now under consideration, Wozniak said.
What is anticipated
After the two-story Park Avenue building closes, YWCA-sponsored programming will occur at a variety of locations, such as schools, churches and community agencies, explained Bette Allen-Nisbett, board president.
"We have to co-locate our programs to other places where they are needed," Nisbett said. The closing is "a sad occasion," she added. The YWCA is trying to "find other locations where we can take our physical fitness facility" and find alternative aquatic program locations, she said.
"A Y without walls goes to neighborhoods. It goes to places where people are, and it makes it a lot easier for them to participate," Wozniak said. "The YWCA is not a building. The YWCA is the heart and soul and the mentality of this outreach -- these mission-based programs," she said.
"It isn't this brick building. It isn't this edifice. It is what we stand for. We stand for helping women and children and eliminating racism," Nisbett concurred.
All current classes will continue in the Park Avenue building until their completion Jan. 21, and the Howland and Warren JFK swim teams will continue to have practices and meets in that building for the duration of their season, which will end in February or March, Wozniak said.
The YWCA plans to continue sponsoring its Race Against Racism foot race in April, Children's Olympics in June and several Packard Music Hall lectures each year in the Trumbull Town Hall lecture series.
Rising costs
The 93-year-old YWCA is moving because it can no longer afford escalating utility and building maintenance costs and because of declining membership, Wozniak said. The board of trustees voted unanimously Thursday to make the move.
The Park Avenue building, which the YWCA will try to sell, has a large gymnasium, two indoor pools, two fully equipped fitness rooms, three kitchens, a computer learning center, a chandeliered board room and large club and community rooms.
The gas-heated YWCA spent $40,000 on natural gas last year and will spend at least $60,000 on it this year, Wozniak said. "It's really the wake-up call," she said of the gas bills.
This year's electric bill is about $50,000, and Wozniak projected it would rise to $65,000 to $70,000 next year if the YWCA were to remain in the building.
Membership has dropped 50 percent within the past year and stands at just under 1,000, Wozniak said, attributing the decline in part to the depressed local economy. Nisbett said the aging of the local population is another factor.
"Almost every YWCA that is still in existence has had to redefine who they are," Nisbett said. Some have focused on child care or on offering shelter to women, she said.
She added: "It's a tough world out there, and you have to be wise enough to read the signs and do what's best for your organization to capitalize on your own resources so that you can continue to live."