Rescue Mission plans to move to former South Side Park

YOUNGSTOWN

Rescue Mission of Mahoning Valley will make an announcement Thursday about its plan to move to a new location.

Jim Echement, executive director, said they are using its current building, located at 962 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., “way beyond what it was designed for.”

The building, on the city’s North Side, once housed the West Federal Street YMCA branch, which opened in 1931 for blacks who were not allowed to use the downtown YMCA’s facilities.

The building’s deteriorating infrastructure is the biggest obstacle to continuing the mission’s operation, Echement said. The mission needs more space for its growing annual population, he added.

“Its unwise to sink a bunch of money into this building,” Echement said.

Echement said the mission already has the location for its new facility.

The city gave a 17.5-acre plot it has been maintaining since 2010 on property in the former South Side Park off Bellview Avenue to the mission for the building. The construction cost is an estimated $9.5 million.

Read more about the plans in Thursday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.