Ridgewood Family YMCA Is Closing, YMCA To Maintain Non-Facility Presence In Parma
YMCA will provide complimentary tours of the North Royalton Family YMCA for all Ridgewood members to introduce them to the facility and what it has to offer.
If you have a membership at the Ridgewood Family YMCA in Parma, get ready for some big upcoming changes. YMCA of Greater Cleveland has entered into a purchase agreement for the Ridgewood Family YMCA building, located at 6840 Ridge Road, effective July 16, 2015. The facility is expected to transition to the new owners before the end of 2015.
What does this mean to existing Ridgewood Family YMCA members? Your membership will remain active and there will be no interruption of service to you in regard to your membership. Members will be grandfathered in at the current Ridgewood branch membership rates, but will officially become members of the North Royalton Family YMCA, effective immediately, unless they make a change to their membership status. According to Google Maps, the North Royalton Family YMCA is located just over four miles away from the existing Ridgewood branch – about a ten-minute drive, 1 hour bus ride, or 1 hour 20 minute walk – at 11409 State Road, North Royalton. Members will also continue to have access to all YMCA of Greater Cleveland branches as a part of their membership, with the exception of the Downtown branch.
After the closing of the Y-Express location inside the Shoppes at Parma (formerly Parmatown Mall) last year, YMCA started merging many of the programs offered at the Ridgewood branch into the North Royalton facility. As they continue their transition, YMCA will provide complimentary tours of the North Royalton Family YMCA for all Ridgewood members to introduce them to the facility and what it has to offer. Three member sessions were held on Monday, July 20 and Wednesday, July 22 at the Ridgewood branch, which provided an opportunity for members to ask any questions of YMCA of Greater Cleveland Senior Leadership.
YMCA is redefining how they serve the community - matching their resources and services with the resources and assets of the community. The Ridgewood Family YMCA and the YMCA of Greater Cleveland - part of the community since 1971 - has emphasized that they are not leaving Parma and they will continue to maintain a non-facility YMCA presence in the city.
The majority of Ridgewood's senior-related programming will move to the nearby Donna Smallwood Activities Center, located at 7001 West Ridgewood Drive, right next to the Cuyahoga County Public Library Parma branch and Parma City Hall. These senior-related programs are tentatively slated to launch in August. Also, Child Care and Summer Day Camp programs will continue to be offered at the North Royalton Family YMCA, 11409 State Road, and at Divinity Lutheran Church, 11877 Blossom Avenue in Parma Heights. YMCA is currently exploring several options with various community partners, including City of Parma officials, to ensure adequate space availability to provide additional programs and services.
To learn more, be sure to watch our exclusive video featuring Glenn Haley, President and CEO of the YMCA of Greater Cleveland, answering questions at one of the member sessions. The video can be viewed at Facebook.com/ParmaObserver and Twitter.com/ParmaObserver.
Stefan P. Stefaniuk
Stefan P. Stefaniuk has been a Parma, Ohio resident since 1982 and enjoyed growing up in Parma's incredible historic downtown neighborhood. After serving five years in the U.S. Navy, he was honorably discharged in 2009 and returned to Parma, where he now resides with his wife and three children. Today, he works as a licensed Realtor at Howard Hanna Real Estate, is a graduate student at the Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs, and is also actively involved with various neighborhood revitalization initiatives in the Parma area.