When Kim Johnson walked into the YMCA in the spring of 1983, all she wanted was a temporary job.
Then an elementary school teacher, she hoped to earn a little extra cash working as director of the Y’s summer day camp before school resumed that fall. Her part-time stint led to a 39-year career with the nonprofit, which helps people of all ages build healthy minds, bodies and spirits.
“I just wanted a summer job,” Johnson said, “and look what happened.”
President and CEO of the YMCA of Reading and Berks County since 2011, Johnson recently announced her plan to retire in November.
The 65-year-old Muhlenberg Township resident said she has seen a lot of changes and growth in the YMCA since she started her career with the institution almost four decades ago. The five-branch association had only two branches then.
“Reading was our flagship branch,” she said, “and we had our Tri-Valley branch, which started in Kutztown.”
The county YMCA now includes the Adamstown, Sinking Spring, Mifflin in Shillington and Tri-Valley in Fleetwood branches.
Finding a permanent home for the Tri-Valley Y was one of Johnson’s first projects as CEO.
“Because the Tri-Valley branch didn’t have a building up until 2011, we worked at it anywhere that someone would give us keys and turn on the lights,” she said.
A collaboration with the Fleetwood School District, the branch found a permanent home at 607 Crisscross Road next to Willow Creek Elementary School.
Programs focusing on physical fitness and sports for all ages are offered by the various branches.
The Reading branch features one of the largest pools in the county, Johnson said.
“One of the things we are trying to ramp up is the swim lessons,” she said. “Safety around water for children is so important.”
Wide range of services
The association is often thought of as a gym and swim, Johnson said, but it is that and much more.
“The YMCA is a sort of underappreciated organization that really provides programming that almost nobody else wants to,” said Kevin Murphy, president and CEO of the Berks County Community Foundation, which helps fund some of the programs. “Its services are a collection of things, all of which typically lose money, but it somehow manages to make it all work.”
In addition to sports and play activities for all ages, a number of social services are provided. Their expansion in the last four decades earned the YMCA increased exposure and respect, Johnson said.
“I think we are much more known in the community,” she said. “And I think we are more respected in the community. At least, I want to believe our social-services programs are.”
Much of that respect is credited to Johnson’s leadership, said Tammy White, CEO and president of the United Way of Berks County, which helps fund the YMCA.
“Kim is passionate about making our community the best it can be,” White said. “She has provided leadership at the YMCA for nearly 40 years by focusing on life-improving programs.”
Under Johnson, the YMCA has become one the largest providers of child care in Berks, White said.
It offers two full-day sites and 10 school-age sites and recently was awarded the state’s highest rating for quality, Star 4.
The rating qualifies the YMCA for the state’s Pre-K Counts program, which offers grants for providing high-quality pre-kindergarten services to at-risk 3- and 4-year-old children at no cost to families.
“It’s a pretty big deal to be a Star 4,” Johnson said. “We actually did it during the pandemic of all times.”
Johnson said she is especially pleased that the Y was able to get a state waiver to continue its child care program throughout the coronavirus pandemic.
“We took the children of first responders,” she said, “people who really needed childcare because they had to work during the pandemic.”
The transitional housing program also continued through the pandemic, she said.
Those services, too, have expanded, growing from the single-room occupancy units available only for men when Johnson started to a range of specialized accommodations for men, women and children.
Housing programs also include those focused on veterans and others struggling with mental health and substance abuse issues.
One floor of the Reading facility is designated for women and children with separate sections for women reentering society after incarceration or substance-abuse rehabilitation and single mothers with up to two children.
“Kim and her team deliver programs to develop self-sufficiency by providing transitional housing,” White said.
The United Way is grateful for Johnson’s services, White said, and the impact she has made for the greater good of the county.
“Kim’s retirement will leave big shoes to fill,” Murphy said, “because, somehow, year in and year out, she figured out how to make it work.”
Phillip Borup, CEO of the Butte Family YMCA, Butte, Mont., has been selected to succeed Johnson.
Borup will start Nov. 1. Johnson said she will continue working until Nov. 23 to ensure a smooth transition.
Source: Berkshire mont
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