Supporters of the YMCA of Greater Cincinnati are seeking answers after it closed a location on the east side of the city and announced plans to close another location in June 2012, citing financial issues.
According to local media reports, a group of several concerned citizens and at least one local official requested to see the nonprofit’s financials prior to the closing of the Williams YMCA in East Walnut Hills, OH, on Monday. The members say they are concerned that the YMCA of Greater Cincinnati has neglected its mission to serve the area’s residents by allowing the deterioration of the Williams branch and the Melrose YMCA (the branch it plans to close next summer).
The local YMCA’s president, Sandy Berlin Walker, says that the nonprofit’s leadership has made diligent efforts to find a solution to the branches’ financial issues and that the Williams and Melrose Ys have lost more than a quarter of their members during the last several years.
The Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority reversed its commitment to provide the chapter with $6 million in funds after the chapter’s decision to close the two branches.