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 Mt. Vernon, NY - Karen Watts, a Mount Vernon resident since she was 10 years old and a former city councilwoman and recreation commissioner, has been named executive director of the Mount Vernon Family YMCA.
Watts will supervise all of the Mount Vernon Family YMCA’s programs, which include day care, preschool and after-school activities and sports for children and teenagers, as well as swimming, exercise classes, clubs and support services for adults. The YMCA also provides residences for 38 single men, making it an important source of safe, affordable housing that is badly needed in Westchester County. The Mount Vernon Family YMCA’s programs serve more than 4,000 people every year and are supported by a mix of program fees, government grants and charitable donations.
“Few people know the city of Mount Vernon and the needs of its citizens as well as Karen, who will help us better serve the people who live there,” said Robert W. Lapp, president and CEO of the YMCA of Central & Northern Westchester, the umbrella organization with which the Mount Vernon Family YMCA is affiliated. “She also has deep experience managing recreation organizations that are similar to the YMCA. We’re pleased to have Karen join us because she has great ideas for new programs and ways to improve the YMCA’s facilities.”
Watts takes her position at a critical time for the Mount Vernon family YMCA because pressures on local public school budgets will create new demands to provide pre-school programs and after-school activities this upcoming academic year, she explained. “Parents and their children have always turned to the YMCA to participate in sports and other activities. This is a time when we must now step up to serve the community need as never before.”
“The tight school budgets are creating enormous pressures on families right now,” said Watts, who for decades has been a member of the Mount Vernon Family YMCA. “There will be a tremendous need for after-school activities and athletics that we hope to meet by starting new sports leagues, clubs and other programs. We feel it is important that the YMCA is there to take care of Mount Vernon’s children. There are very challenging times ahead for the Mount Vernon community.”
Watts also will guide a wide-ranging series of renovations and facility improvements at the YMCA. These include adding and renovating bathrooms, modernizing fire-alarm systems, refinishing the gymnasium’s floor and improving locker-room equipment. Looking ahead, Watts said she hopes to replace the YMCA’s roof, boiler and pool-filtration system, all of which are decades old and not efficient from an energy standpoint.
A long-range goal, Watts said, is to create a new day-care center, which would provide better facilities for the children and make the space currently used for day care available for other programs such as senior-citizen exercise classes.
“There are so many new services that we’d like to provide, but we simply don’t have the space,” said Watts. “We’re bursting at the seams and having a new day-care center will free up space for other badly needed programs we currently can’t offer during the day.”
Watts brings 30 years of experience in recreation administration and budgeting to her new position with the YMCA. She most recently was the commissioner of Mount Vernon’s Recreation Department and before that was the town of Greenburgh’s recreation supervisor, a position she held for 19 years. Her first position in the field was as Mount Vernon’s director of youth activities, a post she held from 1978 until 1987.
Watts has been very active in Mount Vernon’s community, serving two terms on the City Council, the five-person body that sets policy along with the mayor. She currently is a district leader for the Mount Vernon Democratic Committee. Watts attends Grace Baptist Church, which has one of the largest congregations in Mount Vernon.
Watts also is a member of the New York State Parks and Recreation Conservation Society, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Westchester Black Women’s Political Caucus and the National Council of Negro Women.
The Mount Vernon Family YMCA, which is located a short walk from the Mount Vernon Metro-North station at 20 South Second Avenue, has a 20-yard indoor pool, a gymnasium with indoor track and locker rooms for men and women. Programs for adults include: swimming and basketball; exercise classes such as Zumba, which is a vigorous workout set to lively music such as Gospel and Caribbean; and “Hinges and Twinges,” exercises that are custom-tailored for senior citizens and includes aerobic and swimming-pool sessions.
Programs for children include early-morning breakfast and supervision before school, day care for pre-schoolers and after-school activities for kids of all ages. Roughly 140 children benefit from the YMCA’s pre-school and day care programs. Vacation camps and summer camps serving more than 100 children are offered when school is not in session. Athletic programs for children include basketball leagues, martial-arts classes and soccer teams.
About The YMCA of Central & Northern Westchester
Headquartered in White Plains, N.Y., the YMCA of Central & Northern Westchester has a long history of being an important community resource. The YMCA is dedicated to improving the quality of life for everyone through programs and services that stress personal growth, self-improvement, self-reliance and service to others through mental, physical and spiritual development. The YMCA is one of Westchester’s largest childcare providers, serving 1,200 children who are able to build skills, values, self-esteem and a lifelong love of learning in a safe, nurturing, developmentally oriented environment. A similar number of children attend the YMCA’s summer camps. Health and wellness programs and well-equipped fitness centers and pools serve people of all ages.
The YMCA also provides safe, clean workforce housing for 200 men who otherwise might not be able to live and work in Westchester County. The YMCA has received the top charitable organizational standards rating from the New York State Better Business Bureau for meeting the BBB’s extremely rigorous Standards for Charitable Accountability. The YMCA provides $300,000 in annual financial subsidies to ensure that all people can benefit from its services. In addition to its flagship center in White Plains and the Mount Vernon facilities, the YMCA of CNW operates a Northern Westchester Community program, based in Somers, N.Y., as well as Camp Combe, a summer camp for children in Putnam Valley, N.Y.
More information about the YMCA of Central & Northern Westchester, including addresses, hours and activities listings, is available at its website www.ymca-cnw.org or by calling (914) 287-2021.
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