After serving the community for more than a century, YWCA Oahu has made the difficult decision to close its Health & Wellness (H&W) program. We understand this move has saddened and disappointed program participants, but after a lengthy review, our board of directors and executive team believe this is a necessary step to protect the present and future operations of the entire organization.
Many YWCA associations across the country have a proud history of providing fitness and swim instruction to their communities. At YWCA Oahu, we started such programs more than 100 years ago, when women and girls of Oahu did not have any place to exercise or swim. We filled a critical community need.
More than a century later, fitness choices have changed and evolved and so has our role and our economic realities. Today, among the nearly 200 YWCA associations in the country, fewer than 10% of them offer fitness and aquatics programs. Although COVID-19 greatly impacted our H&W operations, we had been seeing a trend of declining use long before the pandemic.
Operating H&W classes requires significant brick-and-mortar physical space. Setting aside that space in a historic building adds more challenges, including much higher-than- average facility maintenance and renovation costs.
Julia Morgan, the architect of our headquarters building Laniakea, designed 17 YWCA sites across the country during her career. Today, only three buildings are still owned and operated by YWCA associations. Our Laniakea is one of them. The rest simply could not bear the cost of upkeep for those special structures.
Our decision does not come from a position of weakness. It is part of our commitment to serving our community for another century and more. We continue to realign ourselves periodically as we look at what we have done in the past, what we do today and what we should do tomorrow.
At times, that has meant the introduction of a new class. Other times, it meant the closure of a class. Making business decisions like these is the natural cycle of any organization, including a nonprofit. We cannot be bound to who we used to be.
It is our responsibility to keep our offerings and operations strong across our three properties. All other programming including the Patsy T. Mink Center for Business and Leadership, Dress for Success Honolulu and the Bella Project keep opening doors to those who can benefit from our services at our historic headquarters building Laniakea. Our transitional housing Fernhurst remains a rare resource to women impacted by the criminal justice system. The Aquatics Program at our Windward site Kokokahi continues to provide swim instruction, including adaptive swim classes where we train children to participate in competitions such as the Special Olympics.
During the pandemic, we opened the Enterprising Women of Color Business Center with support from the Minority Business Development Agency at the U.S. Department of Commerce. The center’s services have expanded to assist Hawaii’s entrepreneurs at various stages of their business cycles.
Our work is not slowing down. Newly available spaces through this transition will help support growing operations. We are also working out a plan to make the pool available in a way that will allow us to manage the rising costs of maintenance.
Our decision at this juncture in our history helps us fulfill our responsibility to protect the organization and those we serve. As the proud steward of three beautiful properties on the island, we are here to serve our beloved Hawaii community not only for this moment in time but also for an extended and financially healthy future.
Noriko Namiki is CEO of YWCA Oahu.
