September 23, 2020
YMCA OF CENTRAL NEW MEXICO ANNOUNCES RESTRUCTURING OF MCLEOD FAMILY YMCA
After serving New Mexico for 105 years, the YMCA of Central New Mexico entered into 2020 with an exciting and bold strategic plan. The main goal was to strengthen the organization by implementing a new membership strategy to engage more families and individuals within the community; the greater the number of individuals YMCA serves, the greater the impact within central New Mexico. This new strategy, spearheaded by Roberto Aguirre—CEO of the YMCA of New Mexico—follows five successful years for the YMCA of Central New Mexico led by Cézanne (Zizi) Fritz, the previous CEO, who retired in late 2019. Unfortunately, like so many other New Mexico non-profit organizations, COVID-19 has forced YMCA to revise plans.
In late March 2020, the YMCA of Central New Mexico closed all of its facilities as per Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s orders. As the year moved forward and COVID-19 cases increased, the organization was forced to cancel youth sports and teen programs, along with YMCA’s Camp Shaver summer program in the Jemez Mountains, and ultimately, has seen membership drop over 30 percent to-date.
One all-important program that has remained open to fulfill a gap within the community has been the YMCA’s exceptional childcare services. These programs continued to provide help to family members of first responders in Albuquerque and Santa Fe, at a time when many other child care centers were closing.
“2020 has been a difficult year,” said Roberto Aguirre, President and CEO of YMCA of Central New Mexico. “We’ve been able to endure the pandemic, thanks to the generous support of community partners like New Mexico Bank and Trust and the Wells Fargo Foundation. Furthermore, the YMCA has received numerous donations from YMCA members and YMCA friends for whom we are incredibly grateful. We are also thankful for Federal and State crisis relief programs like the PPP and EIDL, and the Board of Directors has taken this opportunity to develop a new strategic plan that will enable us to continue to serve our community for another 105 years.”
“As the YMCA strives to offer programs that build a healthy spirit, mind and body for everyone in the greater Albuquerque and Santa Fe area, we are forced to make the difficult decision to restructure our McLeod Family YMCA at Tramway and Comanche, NE in Albuquerque,” added Aguirre.
In an effort to achieve a more effective and efficient way of operation, the YMCA has developed a plan to relocate the McLeod YMCA within the NE quadrant of Albuquerque. With the purpose to restructure the YMCA in a way that it may serve a larger segment of the population, the plan includes the sale of the building at its current location. The building is anticipated to be on the market by mid-October 2020.
The Horn Family YMCA location on Indian School Road in Albuquerque is unaffected by this decision and will remain in operation. Although the current plan is to have uninterrupted services during the restructuring process of the McLeod YMCA, current members who utilize the McLeod Family YMCA will, as always, be able to work out at the Horn Family YMCA.
“Our heartfelt thanks goes out to all of our supporters, and especially to our gracious and steadfast benefactor Don McLeod for whom the McLeod Family YMCA is named,” added Aguirre. “In addition, we want to express our appreciation to Clay Gooden who provided us with the Gooden Family Wellness Center building, also located at the McLeod Family YMCA.We are very proud of our leadership and staff who have continued working through these challenging times, as well as the loyalty of our YMCA members and multiple supporters. The YMCA looks forward to many more years serving central New Mexico and working to strengthen the foundations of our wonderful community through youth development, healthy living and social responsibility.”
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About the Y
The YMCA of Central New Mexico was founded in 1915 and has been one of Central New Mexico’s leading nonprofits strengthening communities through youth development, healthy living and social responsibility.
