A SPECIAL MEETING WAS HELD, MONDAY, JUNE 2. THAT’S WHEN THE SENIOR CITIZENS IN ATTENDANCE LEARNED OF THE KINGSLEY’S DIRE FINANCIAL SITUATION FROM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR DEXTER HAIRSTON, FAR LEFT, AND BOARD MEMBERS BOB LAWSON, MIDDLE, AND TED MELNYK, FAR RIGHT. (PHOTOS BY J.L. MARTELLO)
The New Pittsburgh Courier has learned exclusively that the historic Kingsley Association, located at 6435 Frankstown Ave. in the East End, is in a dire financial situation and, last month, was a Board of Directors’ collective vote away from closing its doors, “maybe for the summer, maybe for longer,” according to a board member.
Most of the programs that the Kingsley Association, also known as the Kingsley Center, offer are free to the public. Some of those programs’ costs are offset by contracts that the Kingsley has with outside organizations/entities, but overall, the Kingsley’s mission of providing community services and programs for free or at a generously discounted rate to those who may not have the wealthiest incomes is a model that increasingly is becoming hard to sustain, not just at the Kingsley, but at other community centers across the country.
Senior citizens are a frequent visitor to the Kingsley Center. From “Senior Fun Days” to Yoga classes, from Motion Line Dancing to Rhythmic Movement, it’s hard to visit the Kingsley on any given day and not see seniors having fun, exercising, learning and fellowshipping.
Many of them are on fixed incomes. Most times, their health insurance covers the costs of programs at the Kingsley. However, earlier this year, the Kingsley announced that it would have no choice but to no longer accept insurance-based memberships. The actual date that it went into effect was June 1, 2025.
Seniors weren’t happy about learning that they would have to pay out of pocket, some $30 per month to have a membership at the Kingsley Association (ages 55 and up). Some “scholarships” are being made available to some seniors, but still, it would make the monthly cost no lower than $21 per month.
Seniors wanted to have a meeting with Kingsley staff and some board members, and on Monday, June 2, the meeting occurred on the third floor of the Kingsley Center. The Courier was the only media at the meeting. But during the meeting, it was eventually revealed that the Kingsley Association almost had to make the tough decision to close its doors completely.
“We do not operate positively (financially),” said Bob Lawson, the Kingsley Association’s Board Chair, to a group of about 40 seniors. “If we do not change the model…the hardcore fact is the Kingsley might not be here. That is the reason why we are here. We are telling you all that, as plain as day.”
94-YEAR-OLD GERRI WRIGHT OF WILKINSBURG COULDN’T BELIEVE WHAT SHE WAS HEARING FROM KINGSLEY OFFICIALS. (PHOTO BY J.L. MARTELLO)
Dexter Hairston, the Kingsley’s Executive Director, said that “accepting insurance-based memberships” is a “losing proposition for us and it has been for several years.”
Hairston added: “For years—not one, not two —the present model loses us money. We can’t afford to go to foundations and other folks and ask them to support something that we know is losing money without making an attempt to change the model. We were told that directly by foundations, ‘What are you going to do differently so you don’t continue to lose X amount of dollars a year?'”
Hairston took over the reigns as executive director of the Kingsley in 2019. “When I walked through the door, I couldn’t believe we were taking on this much debt in one department,” he said at the June 2 meeting. “We continued to take the loss for as long as we could. We can’t anymore.”
In addition to Hairston and Lawson, among others at the meeting representing the Kingsley were Kristin O’Connor, who serves as Director of Finance for the Kingsley, and board members Ted Melnyk and Laverne Baker Hotep.
“This building is huge,” said Melnyk, who stood up to make his remarks about the 47,000-square-foot Kingsley Association building. “The electric bill is $40,000 a month. The pool remodeling was $1.7 million. The county (Allegheny) has cut (some of) our funding, etc. Three or four weeks ago, we (the board) met for three and a half hours, and at the end of the board meeting, I looked at Kristin and I said, ‘How many more payrolls can we afford for the staff to keep the place open?’ She said, ‘We have money for one more payroll.'”
SAVED BY THE LOAN
Melnyk said what came next was the choice for the board to either close the Kingsley, “maybe for the summer, maybe for longer,” or borrow $500,000 in a loan form, to be paid back over 15 years at $4,000 per month. Melnyk said the board chose to take the loan. Neither Melnyk nor Hairston disclosed the exact bank the loan came from. Melnyk said that O’Connor said it would feel “irresponsible” to take out the loan, and Melnyk did say that borrowing money is “just more debt.” But in the end, the board chose to take out the loan “because we love this place.”
The $500,000 loan is enough for the Kingsley Association to cover its expenses and costs until about October or November. Melnyk said it costs roughly $2 million per year to run the Kingsley Center, and with most people not paying or paying very little to use the center (which is part of the Kingsley’s original mission), “we are teetering on insolvency,” Melnyk said.
Between now and the end of the summer, the Kingsley Association hopes to find more funding to keep the doors open into 2026 and beyond. “We are hoping that in that time, that our councilperson, our mayor, foundation community, corporate partners, will look at the Kingsley and with all of the passion that everybody has here,” decides to put their money where their mouth is.
“We are not monsters up here trying to get your money,” Melnyk told the seniors. “We are trying to figure out literally how to keep the doors open right now.”
An individual monthly membership to the Kingsley Center is now $50. But O’Connor said that even at $50 per month, the Kingsley “still loses money on that. The true cost of a membership is north of $80 a month, and we are not charging that to anybody.”
While the news of the near-closure of the Kingsley came as a shock to the seniors, the reality is that while it remains open, the seniors will have to pay for their memberships.
Seniors like 94-year-old Gerri Wright, Lorena Amos and Ellen Estomin were among those who reacted negatively to the Kingsley leadership’s decision to discontinue insurance-based memberships.
The Kingsley’s board members in attendance said that meetings have been scheduled with Councilman Khari Mosley, the Hillman Foundation, The Heinz Endowments, and other foundations and entities. Lawson even asked the seniors in attendance that if they knew anyone or organizations that could help, to get them in touch with the Kingsley brass.
On Monday, June 2, the Kingsley Center was packed. Kids and teens were playing, a peace summit was occurring, and from the outside, you couldn’t find a parking space. But no one there knew that on the third floor, Kingsley officials had finally let the cat out the bag about how dire the Kingsley’s financial situation had turned.
“The reality is, that’s not something (the financial situation) that we shared openly because we’ve been working behind the scenes,” Hairston told the Courier after the meeting. “The objective was obviously to have those meetings (with entities that could provide funding), get the support and maybe this would be a non-issue. But now it’s an issue.”