After 25 years, Delaware’s YMCA is under new management and looking to expand. Debra Baggata-Bowles took the helm this summer, becoming become the organization’s first female CEO. She succeeds Michael Graves, who left last March.
[audio:http://www.wdde.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/bowlesshort.mp3|titles=Excerpt of WDDE All Things Considered host Joseph Leahy's interview with YMCA of Delaware CEO Debra Baggata-Bowles.]
She says wants the YMCA to serve Delawareans in more ways.
“One of my hopes is to touch every Delawarean in some way," said Baggata-Bowles. "Whether it’s your grandmother taking aquatic exercise in the morning or a little one that’s dropped off at one of our pre-schools or maybe a troubled young person who’s involved in one of our leaders clubs or teen programs.”
Baggata-Bowles sees expansion in Southern Delaware as likely for the Delaware “Y.” Currently, four of its eight local branches are in New Castle County, and Kent and Sussex County membership accounts for less than a quarter of the its 72,000 members.
She says exactly where a new "Y" could be built starts determining where there is a need.
"Is there a community that is growing, where people are moving or relocating or working where a YMCA could help support family life in that community and help that community to thrive?" said Beggata-Bowles. "From there [we] work with the community to determine the site, the size and what the YMCA will look like, [and] what services are critical to the community. Then the fundraising begins,"
[audio:http://www.wdde.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/BOWLES-FULL.mp3|titles=WDDE All Things Considered host Joseph Leahy's full interview with YMCA of Delaware CEO Debra Baggata-Bowles.]
Beggata-Bowles also predicts her organization will expand further into healthcare services over the next decade. She says the breadth of services already offered by YMCA chapters across the country positions them to meaningfully address American epidemics like obesity and diabetes.
“I think that what we’ll probably see over the next 10 to 15 years is much more of a partnership with the medical community to address the health concerns of our generation," said Beggata-Bowles."In many ways the Y has that captive audience: the children are there; the adults are there; and we have a way to engage them that goes beyond just exercise, but really to their long-term health.”
She points, for instance, to the Y’s national Diabetes Prevention Program, which partners with healthcare facilities and doctors to identify and help people who are pre-diabetic.
Delaware’s “Y currently provides services to more than 120,000 thousand Delawareans through its eight branches and a summer camp on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.
