The YMCA of Southwest Michigan is getting larger with the approval of its board of directors and the board of the YMCA of Michiana to merge into one organization. It will be effective at the start of 2020, and the YMCAs will collectively serve more than 20,000 members and employ over 500 people. YMCA of Southwest Michigan board member Tom Grant says in the spring of 2018, the association began helping on the management side with the Michiana chapter after that organization lost its CEO.
“We started seeing so many different things that, from a collaboration standpoint, might make sense,” explains Grant about what prompted the merger. “So, the two boards formed a task force about six months ago and really started talking through this to see what that future might look like. It kind of stemmed from that original management agreement.”
Grant says members likely won’t see any significant changes initially, and final details will be worked out in the next few months. The newly merged organization will serve the area with 4 locations: Benton Harbor-St. Joseph YMCA in St. Joseph, Niles-Buchanan YMCA in Niles, Camp Eberhart in Three Rivers, and the Riverview Family YMCA in South Bend.
