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YMCA may jump into E. Point Monday Jan 22, 2018 at 12:01 AM Buffy Pollock for the Mail Tribune The Rogue Valley YMCAA already provides after-school and youth recreational programs in Eagle Point. Now it's considering the idea of siting a new facility there. With community members signing on for every new program added in the community, Rogue Valley YMCA director Brad Russell said ongoing discussions between the YMCA, Eagle Point School District and the city of Eagle Point have raised the possibility of building a community center not unlike facilities in Ashland and Medford. Russell confirmed last week that his organization would begin discussing funding for a feasibility study to determine demand for a YMCA location and additional programs in Eagle Point. With a presence in the Rogue Valley for the past century — in Ashland since 1899 and Medford since 1944 — the YMCA provides a range of sports, camping and other activities for residents of all ages. In community surveys, Eagle Point residents have regularly requested more recreational opportunities for kids and adults alike. Russell said enrollment for after-school programs and sports leagues have been on a steady increase. Currently, the program's facilities consist of an old gymnasium, a pair of classrooms and some outdoor space at a site dubbed the “outback” near the covered bridge downtown. Executive director of the Medford YMCA since 2006, Russell said the three-way partnership had enabled more and more programs to be offered to residents, despite the limited facilities. Russell said the partnership has led to school-district-provided transportation and extended after-school program hours for families in which the parents may work in nearby Medford. “We have families who live in Eagle Point but there are parents working in Medford. We made our after-school program end at 6:30 when most others end at 6 p.m.,” Russell said. “We really try to be in tune with the families we serve. We don’t want to promise and not deliver.” Russell said the facility would not be an “if we build it, will they come?” scenario and that designing the right type of facility is crucial. “We’ve done some surveys to start getting a feel from residents and to find out what they would wish for in their town,” he said. "We’ve started to gather that information and then we started to do a bit of a road show, if you will, to Rotary and chamber groups and so forth. “We’ve gathered a lot of input and now we’re at a point we’d like to do a market analysis and make things a little more official and a little more serious.” Mayor Bob Russell said he was excited by talks about increasing programs for residents. “We are very interested in pursuing and seeing if it makes sense in Eagle Point. Part of that will involve surveying folks and trying to figure out how we would finance it,” said the mayor. “Would we float a bond? Does the city need it? We’ve had about 10 meetings over two years to talk about what the concept might look like. Now we’re getting down to the nuts and bolts of how we would make it happen,” he said. “When you're building something like a YMCA, you work backwards and find out what people want first. You don’t build it and hope they come. You get lots of input and then get ready to spend some money to have survey work done. These guys have already have partnered with Eagle Point to run most of our recreational programs and we have waiting lists all the time. There is demand for what they’re providing.” Brad Russell said he hoped the three entities would share in planning and funding. “A good collaboration means everyone chips in a little bit and you get a big result. It feels exciting to be talking about, but we also want to be realistic,” he said. “You don’t want to create something people won’t be willing to support, but you also don’t want to create something too small. Regardless of what the outcome is, we already have a track record of working together and we already have a history of growing our programs for this community.” He added, “Our focus is to continue spending more time in Eagle Point, learning about the families who live there and how we can better serve those families.” For more on the YMCA and its programs, see rvymca.org. — Buffy Pollock is a freelance writer living in Medford. Email her at [email protected].