The two boards approved the partnership on Thursday night.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The boards of the county's two YMCAs approved joining forces with one another Thursday night.

 

The Northern Berkshire YMCA and the Pittsfield Family YMCA will become the Berkshire Family YMCA, bringing the operations of the two disparate organizations together under one leadership.

 

"We're not looking at it as a takeover or merger. It is more of a partnership because with both organizations one of the key elements of each strategic plans was partnerships and collaborations. So who better to partner with than your sister or brother YMCA down the road?" Executive Director Randy Kinnas said. 

 

The Pittsfield Family YMCA has been managing the Northern Berkshire operations for nearly a year under a management agreement. Northern Berkshire Executive Director Justine Ihne left for another job and a resource director from the national organization suggested a temporary management agreement. 

 

"It was the recommendation from the resource director to ask Pittsfield, myself, to enter into a management agreement until they decided what they wanted to do," Kinnas said. 

 

Soon enough, "the board started seeing the benefit of working together." Pittsfield's staff took over the accounting.

 

"As a like organization, it is easier to write a budget and work the budget because you have somebody who understands how the business of the YMCA works as opposed to an accountant who is really just looking at numbers. We saw a lot of benefit to that," Kinnas said. 

 

"One example would be that we saw some invoices that were paying taxes and we are a non-profit organization. Our accounting person picked that up right away and we got a reimbursement for paying taxes we shouldn't have."

 

Kinnas, a previous executive director of the Northern Berkshire location, aligned youth memberships to match Pittsfield's rates of $36 when North Adams was charging $88. That translated to a membership growth from 54 youth members to 350, Kinnas said. 

 

By taking the partnership to the next step, Kinnas sees the possibility of significant efficiency gains on the accounting end. 

 

"We are not paying two liability insurances. We are not paying two membership software. We're not paying two accounting softwares. Everything is going to be one so we are cutting a lot of our expenses in half or a third," Kinnas said, later adding that the child-care program can operate under one license. 

 

The move will also eliminate duplicity in marketing for some areas, such as Lanesborough and Cheshire, where the membership was split. Kinnas said one marketing effort for something like a soccer program can serve both locations. 

 

Additionally, Kinnas said staff could be shared between the two so if someone calls in sick at one location, the other location can send a replacement down. This gives opportunity for some of the part-time workers to pick up extra hours, Kinnas said.

 

For members, the changes will be subtle. The main benefit would be that a member at either organization will have full privileges at other locations. That'll give flexibility to those who travel in both areas or trying to find certain classes to fit their schedule. Or, simply when the pool is closed at one, members can go use the other one.

 

"It is a 30-minute ride between the two Ys but there is zero traffic. It is a nice ride," Kinnas said.

 

The move is perfectly aligned with the organization's efforts to find and partner with other organizations. With a declining population, many organizations fighting to serve the same declining population of youth with only hurt the children, Kinnas said. 

 

"We can't have people going on duplicating services. We are going to make every effort to work with other organizations and make sure we are servicing this population," Kinnas said.

 

Together, both organizations will be serving some 4,500 members, 2,000 of which are youth or teens, through an array of programming. The Y's mission focuses on wellness, social responsibility, and healthy living. The organizations have fitness classes like Zumba or kick boxing, runs health screenings and child-care programs, and in Pittsfield, the organization has a court-order supervised visitation program for parents to interact with their children in a safe environment, and a residential program.

 

Kinnas said as one, both organizations will continue to seek out partners to better serve the people of the Berkshires.

 

"We see ourselves continuing to grow both organizations. This is a change not to sit back on our hands but to grow," Kinnas said.