“Unity is strength… where there is teamwork and collaboration, wonderful things can be achieved,” said Mattie Stepanek, best-selling author, poet and peace advocate. A group of organizations committed to this idea are the 23 YMCAs across Texas that have come together to restructure the Texas State Alliance of YMCAs (Texas YMCA). Its current form includes every CEO of the 23 Ys in the state.
“The new structure gives every single CEO a seat on the board,” said Stephen Ives, the president and CEO of the YMCA of Greater Houston. “As a result, we’ve made some decisions on behalf of the overall state. Being together in this group is going to help us in crisis but more importantly help us raise the bar in terms of our services.”
A New Leader
Another recent change that will have a great impact is the hiring of Greg Hartman as the first CEO of the Texas YMCA, who comes from being the COO of Texas A&M University.
“Greg’s a high-level leader in the state,” remarked Ives. “He has deep roots in what I would say is the political network sphere. He has high aspirations as to how he can leverage all of our individual capacities into collective impact.”
Benefits for All
With this new system, the seeds of collaboration have already been planted. Now, YMCA leaders can share strategies and problem solve common issues with each other more easily. An example Ives gave was concerns about childcare. Together, the Texas YMCA can work to bring in increased revenue for this area.
“We’re the largest providers of childcare in the state,” said Ives. “It’s a huge issue. We come in collectively with a response based around how much we’re already doing at a statewide level and how much we could do with a significant infusion of cash. I expect we’ll see significant additional resources coming from not just the government, but also large corporate individuals and players.”
Unification has also helped the Texas YMCA secure more healthcare partnerships. With increased effectiveness negotiating with healthcare providers as a collective of 23 independent organizations with 19 million members, YMCA memberships are more accessible to the community.
Along with how the Texas YMCA benefits local communities, Ives emphasized the importance of creating a network of like-minded CEOs. Because every organization is different (in size, setting, etc.), every leader will bring a different perspective to the table.
From personal experience, Ives explained how formative connecting with YMCA leaders from different organizations throughout his career. When he ran a smaller YMCA in the northeast, connecting with CEOs in New York City greatly impacted his leadership growth. He anticipates experiencing similar development within the Alliance.
“I spent 11 years running a very small YMCA with a budget under $2 million,” said Ives. “I spent another 10 years running a major size YMCA. The work is different. The challenges are different in a big urban center. At the end of the day, we’re still all CEOs trying to do the best job we can and running our Ys to have a deep impact in our community.”
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