There’s a Y in Community Collaborations
Interview with Zach Pruitt, director of Healthy Community Initiative:
In what ways does your organization partner with the Northfield Y?
The Northfield Y has been a long-time partner in the Northfield Youth Sports Collaborative that HCI helps convene. The Collaborative strives to ensure that all young people — regardless of their family’s economic status — can take part in local youth sports and recreation opportunities. From the start, the Northfield Y has been committed to making sure that its programs are open and accessible and that young people and families are never turned away because of an inability to pay.
How does your partnership with the Northfield Y impact the community? Who does it impact most?
I strongly believe that a community’s #1 focus must be on its young people.
How are we as a community supporting our youth? Empowering them? Encouraging their success?
Whether it is through sponsoring the Youth in Government program or supporting a boxing club for teenagers, the Northfield Y is a valuable resource in helping young people grow and succeed.
What new opportunities will the new Y community center bring to Northfield?
I am excited about the challenge that the Y community center poses for our community. The challenge is on all of us to think collectively about how to ensure that the center is an open and welcoming place to ALL Northfield children, youth, and families. The membership and participation should reflect the diversity that makes Northfield such an amazing community. The Y has a strong commitment to ensuring access, and I have been excited about the creativity of the Northfield Y to think of ways to bring this commitment to life.
Why is it important for people in our community to support the Y Capital Campaign?
The Y community center is important for reasons far more significant than the laps kids will swim, the classes people will take, or the treadmill miles that members will be run. The Y community center will provide a place for youth and families to spend time together — to gather, to connect, to build community through positive, enriching opportunities.