Indiana YWCA Closes Sports Club

FORT WAYNE, IN — The YWCA of Fort Wayne, IN, recently closed the sports club portion of its center due to declining usage and increased costs for maintenance staffing.

Closing the sports club will save the facility about $1.3 million of its annual $3.5 million budget. The YWCA closed its pool last June after which membership plunged from 2,500 to 1,500.

After that, the Y opted to reduce the space for its sports club from 93,000 square feet to 84,700 square feet, eliminate about 20 aquatic staff jobs and put the 23-acre campus up for sale. Becky Hill, executive director of the YWCA, said the changes were made to not only cut costs at the location but also to focus more on the YWCA's national branding campaign of “Eliminating Racism and Empowering Women.”