Staff Newsletter | Tuesday, March 22, 2022
“Iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.” – Proverbs 27:17
Late last Friday afternoon, I received the daily membership report, a report that holds even more significance to our Y these days than probably ever before. All of us have been anticipating (hoping to see) a positive impact from the removal of the mask mandate.
Over the past year and a half, our marketing team has been closely monitoring member feedback on social media, which has overwhelmingly indicated the strong sentiment against the mask mandate, identifying it as the biggest barrier to activating membership. Listening to Emily Morisawa, Kyle Eggenberger, and Toby Roberts share during the Staying Connected call last Friday affirmed that sentiment. Since March 12, when wearing a mask became optional, our community centers have seen a significant “uptick” in use, and a huge sigh of relief has been heard from members and staff. Enforcing the mask mandate was a heavy burden for our staff team, and no longer having to deal with it is a huge relief. Thank you all for enforcing the mandate. Because of you, our Y was able to stay open and keep our members safer and healthier.
Not only has the removal of the mask mandate made everyone’s life better in the Y, but also membership is definitely increasing. Since March 1, we have seen an increase of 1,331 units, and since January 1, our membership has grown by 3,062 units. The current number represents 61.97% of where our membership stood prior to COVID, up 9% since January. As Toko Thompson shared on Friday’s call, the membership rate of growth is slightly above our forecast. I did appreciate Toko joining the spirit of the “uptick” report from our operations team with a positive report of her own, but the projections moving forward are set to climb at a much faster rate beginning in March. Our current plan projects membership to reach 80% pre-COVID numbers by year-end. This is an ambitious plan, but in my opinion, it is an achievable goal, one that I take full responsibility for insisting upon. I fully recognize I have put added pressure on our organization, but I feel this is critical for us. I also trust the strength of our team.
One of the steps Toko initiated early on in the pandemic was to have us assess and adjust our budget on a quarterly basis. This was a brilliant move. As we have clearly seen throughout the past two years, the world we live in is in complete upheaval and in constant flux. Reviewing and adjusting on a quarterly basis allows us to adapt our plan accordingly, both positively and negatively. In just a couple of weeks, we will reach the end of the first quarter, at which time we will assess and determine if we need to alter the plan we established for the year.
In an email exchange with Tiffany Stewart-Harris, she reminded me that we should see an “uptick” in membership with spring registration, which kicks off March 28, and the reopening of Child Watch, which is rolling into action as we speak. An enormous amount of work has occurred between operations, human resources, and marketing to prepare for an increase in member participation. The collaboration has been incredible, with everyone working hard to advance our Y. It is truly inspiring to watch our team work as one to ensure we are successful. It is our greatest strength, a testament to your devotion and commitment.
Though we recognize membership is still the largest component of our total revenue (comprising close to 90% of total budget), as we have seen throughout the past 24 months, facing restrictions such as the mask mandate clearly disrupted our financial model. Out of necessity, we had to adapt and challenge ourselves to create – or expand – other areas of our business model. When our centers closed for six months in 2020, our Child Care program was the sole driver of revenue for our organization. We owe a great deal of gratitude to our Child Care team, as they courageously served our communities. Child Care is still a significant portion of our revenue picture, but the challenges to recruiting staff have disrupted our delivery mechanism and have restricted how many youth we can enroll. As you heard from Nicole Brickman on last Friday’s call, she and Noor Bergman – and soon to be added to the team, Natalie Nabass – have been doing great things to attract new employees, positioning us to reopen more sites and expand our enrollment. Again, the collaboration between human resources and the Child Care team is elevating our Y to achieve new heights. It is truly remarkable.
In addition to before and after school services for school-aged youth, the Child Care team has been expanding their service model to include a greater degree of early learning education. In January 2021, we opened the University Place Early Learning Center, increasing the number of enrollees in our program by 140 youth. In addition to this ELC, we hope to add a new, similar ELC on our Mel Korum Y campus, replacing the two mobile units. We will receive word shortly whether or not we are awarded a $2 million grant from the federal government. Jessie Palmer, who submitted the grant, is cautiously optimistic about our chances, but it would greatly expand our delivery model, adding an additional 115 youth to the program, to a total of 145 youth.
The work Jessie and the financial development team are doing to help strengthen and expand what we are able to do in early learning education is vital to our organization, and a further indication of how the collaboration within our Y is such a critical factor to our future success. Recently, Scott Smith shared with me the results of a market study conducted at the end of 2021, which assessed our partnerships with school districts. The study was conducted by an outside marketing firm and produced some powerful information to help us strengthen our delivery model. Scott and his team are processing the results and preparing a report to share with our team, but one key point identified from the report is the need for our Y to emphasize our communication efforts – to and from all stakeholders – including the schools, the families, and our staff. It is critical for us to stay close with all parties, to know their concerns, and to report on our progress. Scott has posted for such a position, and we will soon be able to put greater attention to connecting with all of the stakeholders.
Over the past few years, competitive childcare providers have stepped into our service area, taking the Puyallup, Bethel, and most recently, Franklin Pierce school districts away from us. It is always disheartening when this occurs because our team is deeply devoted to the youth and families we serve. It is also a shame because our team was the only provider operating during the closure period. Nevertheless, we will learn from this and it will make us stronger. We were very strategic when we moved Stephanie Roberts into her new role to coordinate all of our work with the schools. We have a very strong presence in elementary schools, middle schools, as well as many high schools. We offer a variety of services, but until now, it has been more disparate. Stephanie has already begun to bring our efforts into a more cohesive program model. Undoubtedly, this will strengthen the impact we will have in the schools.
Working together has clearly made us a more effective organization, but it is something we need to work at continuously. As we have seen more recently, the information at hand is constantly changing and we have to make sure everyone is operating with the same assumptions. We have made a strong effort to be transparent, but slight shifts can result in significant division. We are working furiously to advance our Y. We are needing to adapt under extreme conditions. It is not easy, but we have shown tremendous resilience to date, always finding a way. When the end of this story is written, it will say this: the YMCA of Pierce and Kitsap Counties overcame enormous odds, finding a greater strength by drawing closer together and truly becoming One Y. Thank you all for your continued selflessness and commitment. You are heroes for this community.
#OneY #StayStrong #StayWithUs