Community Outreach Director Jose Diaz said he was nervous that he hadn’t done enough to get the word out that the Homewood-Brushton branch of the YMCA was celebrating its reopening with a Halloween party. He needn’t have been. More than 200 people attended.
“I was worried no one would come. So I was taken aback—pleasantly—to see the nice steady stream of folks come through for two hours,” he said. “And I was also pleased to see that they were excited to be back in the Y. So it was a fantastic way to celebrate, to have everyone join, it and let people know we we’re back.”
The branch had been closed since a June 16 electrical fire caused excessive smoke damage throughout the facility. The entire building has been cleaned and the electrical system replaced and as of Nov. 3, the branch is back to normal operating hours.
In the intervening five months, the Y continued operations thanks to help from nearby Homewood agencies. Its workforce development program operated from the Homewood branch of the Carnegie Library and Shiloh Baptist Church temporarily housed its Family Support Center services.
“The Lighthouse media arts program was already run out of Westinghouse High School, so that wasn’t a problem. We had to move the food bank to the parking lot, but it worked out,” said Diaz. “What we really lost was the Wellness Center (gym). So it was nice when I was leaving yesterday to see people in there working out at 7 p.m.”
Diaz agreed that as great as the physical reopening is, given the violence that occurs in the neighborhood, its symbolic nature might be equally important.
“Oh it’s a huge deal. When you talk about the violence in the community, I don’t know if its one group’s role. It requires multiple stake holders, government, schools, etc.,” he said.
“I think the Y has a vested interest because we serve in a community where crime happens. So we have an obligation to be at the table. There has been a YMCA in Homewood for 100 years, and when you think about the Y, people sometimes forget it has an onus to address social responsibility. Our facility is more than a gym.”
As such, Diaz said the Halloween celebration afforded the opportunity for more collaboration along those lines.
“We used our opening to reengage with people who are, essentially, right across the street,” he said. “We hope to build and rebuild relationships with Community Empowerment Association and Operation Better Block and others, and I think that was a good way to bring people back to the table. So, we are interested in reaching out.”
(Send comments to cmorrow@newpittsburghcourier.com.)
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