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Welcome to Constructing the Carolinas, a show where we explore the growth of our communities, cities, and counties across North Carolina and figure out what's on the horizon. This podcast is brought to you by Barnhill, which has been Constructing the Carolinas since 1949.
Valerie Bono, Barnhill - 00:00:04:
Welcome to Constructing the Carolinas, a show where we explore the growth of our communities, cities, and counties across North Carolina and figure out what's on the horizon. We are brought to you by Barnhill, which has been constructing the Carolinas since 1949. I'm your host, Valerie Bono, Director of Business Development. Today, Tim Carr from the YMCA of the Triangle joins us to talk about the evolution of Y, some of the facilities that his team is building or transforming, and how the community can get involved. Tim grew up in Philadelphia and has an architectural engineering degree from Penn State and spent his career in facilities management in various industries, HVAC, mortgages, healthcare. And that's how he came to the Triangle, working for GSK.
Tim Carr, YMCA of the Triangle - 00:00:53:
Transferred here to the Triangle area, all of my son's soccer families were saying, you've got to join Y, you've got to join Y. And of course, growing up in Philadelphia, I knew Y in a very different way than Y is here, we did. Fortunately, we did. And so in early 2000, my son started after school programs at the YMCA in Cary. And shortly after that, I was invited on to the advisory board. So prior to joining the Y in 2015, I was a volunteer.
Valerie Bono, Barnhill - 00:01:21:
Tim now leads the real estate development and facility management department, where his team has designed and built six new locations and renovated two. And there's a lot more in the works. You may have seen some of these facilities. They're absolutely beautiful. But the buildings themselves aren't the only things changing about the Y.
Tim Carr, YMCA of the Triangle - 00:01:39:
The Y has been around here in this area for about 166 years. And we have really been a vital support system over that time for children, for families, and for adults in our communities. I think the evolution has gone from being more of a singular focus amends organization 166 years ago to being for all. And our mission, put Christian principles into practice through programs to build healthy spirit, mind, and body for all. And so that's really what we like to say has been this transformation, shall we say, of what the YMCA was and what it is. And so a lot of that is driven by the specifics of a community. When you look at where a YMCA should be It should be a response to the community. And we're fortunate as an association, we're able to have facilities that are located in multiple communities, some that have greater means than others. And so by assuring that we're locating in the places where we're needed, we have a good balance. You know, it can kind of help to meet the business plan, shall we say. Even though we're a nonprofit, there's a business plan. So I'd say the programs have evolved into our three primary purpose points, youth development, healthy living, and social responsibility. And I think there's questions you're going to offer that I will get into those in a little bit more detail. But that's really what we do is we look at how the community needs that support in those. Primary areas and then just build upon that.
Valerie Bono, Barnhill - 00:03:20:
Sure. No, I mean, the Y really is a place for all. And to that point, there's a really powerful statement that was on your website that really hit home for me. And I think it would hit home for many people, especially as we're coming out of COVID, right? But it said-
Tim Carr, YMCA of the Triangle - 00:03:36:
Are we out? Aren't we out already?
Valerie Bono, Barnhill - 00:03:38:
I know. So the statement reads, I'm just going to read it from the website. In a world of cutting edge technology, more and more of us are more isolated than ever. And I feel like so many people are experiencing that and they feel that that's true from all sorts of facets, right? On the mental health front, everything. So what is the Y doing and how is the Y adapting and servicing those spaces where all people could connect and they bring that connectivity to people and helps others not feel isolated?
Tim Carr, YMCA of the Triangle - 00:04:13:
I think I would focus on two things. The first is we have created a very specific emphasis on diversity, equity, inclusion. We created a DEI department in 2020, in the height of the pandemic. We've now expanded that to be DEIB to include the belonging piece, and many organizations are really considering it from that perspective as well. And so. The idea there and the challenge for all of us, especially from a mental health perspective, our overnight camps, for example, have to deal with things very differently. The children have different expectations. Parents have different expectations. There need to be. Accommodations made for that cooling off or that settling down that in the past you sort of brush it off or not necessarily pay attention to. So we're definitely equipping our staff. And responding with our facilities to be much more attentive to the needs of our patrons, whether they're children or families or everybody, you know, in between at both ends of the spectrum. A couple of good examples, my second response is that our CEO just recently outlined some of the important areas of connecting with our communities. And one of those is we have been providing free camp. For about 100 refugee children over the past two years, giving them a place to make friends. They can learn English, and they can thrive in a safe and happy and fun setting. And some of our camps are summer day camp. Is where we accommodate that. We also have a camp for children with autism. We have Camp Excel, which is really where a lot of our scholarships are put in, and Camp Outer Limits, which is more of a sports focus. These children and the families as well, they become members. We interact with them and pull them into our activities. We're creating programs that are designed to teach life-saving skills, like being safe around water. That's something that the Y has been known with. But we're doing it within communities that have not historically had access to water safety and aquatics programmings. A good example is Southeast Raleigh. We spent 50 years in churches and schools and eventually determined we needed to build a facility. We actually partnered, it's a purpose-built community. And so it's a 30-acre site that has a YMCA and an elementary school that are one building. So each of us built less than we needed to. We have 120 affordable housing units that were built by DHIC. And we're now just finishing, Self-Help is finishing a commercial component of that. I mean, what that has done is that has... Interestingly, provided for Wake County Public Schools, a principal who can look out of... His window and see a swimming pool. He's the only principal in an elementary school in the public school system in Wake County that can say that. And we have a program where all of the children that go to that school have the opportunity to learn how to swim. And their parents do as well. Sort of one of those fundamental things that have always been in place, but now we're able to focus it on the communities that have the greatest need and essentially save lives. We're bringing together groups of people who might not otherwise connect with each other. You know, folks who maybe aren't comfortable in a group, are beginning to understand what group exercise is, like a spin class or pickleball, which we're converting tennis courts to pickleball in a lot of different places. There's lobby chess matches that we've set up in some of our lobbies if you go to some of our bigger facilities. And we basically try to have our staff equipped to share, to spend time with coffee, with members, with folks who maybe just need to, you need to listen to them for a little bit. We also recognize the inequities and we're committing to build an organization and community. That is filled with diversity. Built with equity and driven with purpose. Now, that's really one of our taglines, but we're actively pursuing and implementing that in every location.
Valerie Bono, Barnhill - 00:08:31:
Yeah, so you mentioned communities of need, right? And certain locations, right, you're investing in and paying close attention to. How are you finding these areas of opportunity? Is this through a study? Any partnerships across the state? How are you identifying communities of need?
Tim Carr, YMCA of the Triangle - 00:08:50:
Well, with a county that's growing at 62 or 68 people per day, the need is evident usually through... Local economic development organizations. We are active in chambers of commerce, but more importantly, We do have a really good network. An amazing network of volunteers. Now, having been a volunteer and moved into staff role, I see now the benefit that volunteers bring. They drive our organization. And so they're helping us to be fully aware of. What's happening? And they're representing all communities, very diverse. And they can tell us, did you know that there are office buildings being converted to affordable housing? And we would go, oh, okay, that's something that we can be involved in, something that we maybe need to respond to. The other resources that we have are through YUSA that enable us to really complete like a demographic study with what's it called, geocoding. It's sort of like school systems do for assignment changes for schools. We do the same. We do geocode. We can determine. Where members live, within an area around, I call it a blob, the blob around our branches, our membership centers. And we can then determine how those look across the entire triangle area. And see where the gaps are. And so if we have a gap in one or two locations, we begin to focus on, okay, What's going on in those communities? Apex is a good example. You know, there's a lot of growth. Brier Creek is another example. You know, if you live in Brier Creek, you have to go to our Northwest Cary Y or downtown to the Alexander Y. There's nothing really in Brier Creek. And those are two very different communities. And so we lean on our volunteers to first help us identify where those needs might be, they point us to resources like real estate, commercial real estate brokers, or... Landowners or others. And then through the process with YUSA, it's an... Asset optimization study. To determine where are we in all the right locations. How is our membership? Overlapping. We need to reduce our number of locations and maybe point them into other places? And so that combination, volunteers, input from the communities. So eventually there's a feasibility study that's done, and that's where we get. That's really where we have the town hall meetings that we go into the community. When we did Southeast Raleigh, we went to the CAC or CAC. I can't remember what they were. They don't exist anymore. Community meetings. And we would explain this is what we're planning to do. And honestly, in that community, there was a lot of skepticism. The Ys come into the community before. It's never really worked. And so we made a promise, and that's the Southeast Raleigh Promise is the quarterback agency that helps us with that. So we went into all these community meetings. And we did a very structured feasibility study survey. What is it you need? What is it you really want? And the needs are very diverse, and they're not always things that a YMCA can do. So the last piece of our process is to find partners. There is just no way that we can do everything for the community without partners. We partner with school systems. We partner with other nonprofits. In the case of Southeast Raleigh, we created a nonprofit that then becomes the quarterback to see what else needs to be done other than what we're doing at the Beacon site. And so we know going forward, that it has to be, that our growth and our success and our ability to provide transformation in communities is through partnerships.
Valerie Bono, Barnhill - 00:12:43:
Partnerships is key, right? I mean, that's the secret sauce. So the YMCA of the Triangle area has over 100 community program sites. You talked about the communities. Can you talk a little bit more about the people that it's impacted? Do you have any stories you could share with us about some of the people that are using your community centers?
Tim Carr, YMCA of the Triangle - 00:13:06:
Well, let me address first the 100 community centers. So it's 166 locations, really. And most of those are before and after school programs. In fact, the after school programs, I think, are the strongest throughout the community. And those off-site programs, when I say off-site, I mean they're not located at a membership center. A good example is outside of Wake County in Chatham in Pittsboro. We have a small facility there, but we have been in Chatham County for over 10 years, probably 15 or 20 years, and we have been providing after-school care in the 9 or 10 elementary schools all throughout Chatham County. And so many times we are operating effectively right on the ground within the communities that are in our reach. Not necessarily bringing them into our facilities. And so some of those programs that we. That we continue at a school site, for example, Y Learning is an after-school tutorial program, and it helps kids to sort of bridge that academic gap that they might have. The Leaders Club, which is a middle school and high school leadership training program, that occurs usually at our membership centers, but it brings... Youth in who are looking for leadership opportunities. Like Achievers, of course, is the program that is focused on African-American children and bringing them into leadership roles within their communities. Y-Guides, we talked about Y-Guides earlier for dads and daughters and sons. Youth in Government, YAG, we call it, Youth in Government, which is a big activity that occurs throughout actually the Y movement, but in North Carolina, the North Carolina Alliance of Ys helps with that. So a lot of YMCAs are involved. And then our camps, we have summer day camp. Summer day camp, I don't even want to begin to tell you how many, hundreds of thousands of children are impacted by summer day camp. We have our overnight camps, the three that I mentioned, one in Wake Forest and two in Pamlico County. We have Camp Grace, which is the autistic children's focus. Camp Excel, which is a focus on a lot of those children who wouldn't otherwise have access to a day camp. And who also need that academic support. So, Camp Excel is really focused on math and reading skills and bridging that gap, that three-month gap, when traditional schools are closed. And Camp Outer Limits, which is sort of an athletics or sports-focused... Activity. So I'd say... That's really the heart of what the Y is all about, is bringing activities to the community. And when we find that we're doing that, but there's a greater need, there's more to it than just simply... Having these activities about, that's when the facility need comes in. And we begin to focus. It was probably 15 years ago that we made the decision, we need to build a Y in Southeast Raleigh. And we knew quickly that the Y couldn't do that on its own, and so we went from there. So that's pretty normal. It could be like... Right now we're considering where should there be a Y in Apex. And what about Knightdale and that area? We already have an aquatic center. There's a lot of growth there. We are building a new facility in Chatham Park, thanks to the folks at Preston Development. And it's an exciting thing, but it's very different for us because we're building a Y to bring people to it versus... Finding a place for a why after the people are there and the needs are identified. So we have to be diverse and flexible in that sense.
Valerie Bono, Barnhill - 00:16:43:
Are the majority of these Ys that you're having conversations about, are they standalone facilities or are they going to be within office spaces? I've seen even that in downtown Raleigh.
Tim Carr, YMCA of the Triangle - 00:16:58:
The Poyner Y? Yep. The Poyner Y is a conversion of an old bank floor, which is a really creative space. We will probably continue to have a balance. The American Tobacco Historic District, there's also a wellness center there. And it's a complement in Durham. It's a complement to four locations. So there's a main downtown Durham Y. There's the Lakewood YMCA, which is also a wellness center. And then Hope Valley Farms, which is mostly an outdoor pool and some tennis. And so that fleet of facilities provides everything that you would want if you were a member of Hawaii. Because of economics, because it's $550 or $600 a square foot to build a building, We know that we want to build larger. Because typically when we don't build large enough, we... We either didn't read the community's needs or there's just pent up demand. It's true in Garner, the Poole family, Y? We opened that and within eight or nine months, we needed more space. The Foundation Y in Wilson, it's not directly affiliated with the Y of the Triangle, but through our service delivery partner program, we helped to build a middle school program and actually manage the construction. They opened and... Exceeded their membership goals within eight or nine months. So this pent-up demand. So we know going forward that we need to build larger facilities. We need to build them to last for a longer period of time. I consider a Y as like a middle school. It has to be very robust. It has to be... Inviting, but low cost of ownership. Low maintenance. And sustainability. So it needs to be a 50, 60, 70 year building. So I think we're focused more on... Finding the right community, building something that has permanence and can become sort of a beacon for whatever that community's needs are. We also know that there are existing locations that we've got to address. Downtown Durham is a good example. It's a suburban building now surrounded by the Innovation District and all the growth that's occurring. So we're in the process of early design of a redevelopment of that particular facility, either at that site or potentially somewhere else in downtown. But the idea is that we can put our property to better use and create more community and sort of be in there as the nucleus. Chapel Hill is an older building. It was built in the 70s. It can't be reconfigured for modern fitness and wellness requirements. And so our master plan suggests that we would replace that on that site and that we would just try to make it more usable into the future. And then. There's Apex and Knightdale and who knows what else within the triangle. And so we want to continue to be the provider of the broad family-based services that we have. But we know we have to balance that with other organizations, whether they're for-profit or nonprofit.
Valerie Bono, Barnhill - 00:19:57:
Sure. And with these larger facilities comes the larger need for more land, which land is very hard to come by these days. What's some of the challenges that you're seeing with site selection specifically and land acquisition?
Tim Carr, YMCA of the Triangle - 00:20:13:
A lot of it is first built on where the need is. So in talking about that demographics, the asset optimization, when we can figure out where membership is currently. And then if we can get the right projections to look out 25 years, which, of course, in the triangle is a moving target, mostly because of. The rate of growth. Then we begin to see where those needs are and we... A good example is Apex. So we own a piece of land. It was a gift of a very generous family. But it's located in a location that if we build a full membership center, we would take away from two other membership centers. And so the optimization study really showed us we need to be further southwest, you know, closer, still in Apex, but closer to Holly Springs and that part. So we are partnered with an organization that owns some land and that does land development. And really, it's just doing a test fit to see how would a Y fit on this as part of the rezoning and annexation process. It all comes down, Valerie, to partnerships again. It's just a matter of... Of we can't do this on our own. Though we have some expertise in-house, we really have to depend on our volunteers and our other partners to say, here's the right thing to do. Go this way. We prefer land ownership. We prefer, you know, because these are assets that we need to give to future generations. We have a couple of leases. We need to balance that, obviously. We do ground leases, as we've done in Southeast Raleigh. So we own the land, and then the buildings are built and operated by others. We potentially would enter into a ground lease on some or do a build-a-suit, any types of different mechanisms. For Downtown Durham, we're actually looking at integrated project delivery to try to balance out the owner and the contractor, the construction manager, and the design team. I'm thinking the CM should be on board first. To help balance that appropriately. So we're looking at different procurement approaches. We're probably going to be finding smaller land parcels. 20 acres is ideal for a Y, just like an elementary school. But that's going to be hard to come by. So many property owners have more and they want to sell it all and not really. Parcel it off to smaller areas. So that's where we would probably partner more with local school systems, whether they're private or public schools, to say, let's do a school and a Y together, or let's do two different types of operations that would make sense, a community center. So it could be a town community center like in Briarcliff, Brier Creek. There is a city of Raleigh community center that's partnered with an elementary school. That's a great model, and that's the best way to get better use of land, especially in a... What a quasi-urban environment that we're creating.
Valerie Bono, Barnhill - 00:23:12:
Yeah, absolutely. So I've heard you talk about partnerships, specifically for the listeners representing the business community. How can the business community support the YMCA?
Tim Carr, YMCA of the Triangle - 00:23:23:
In many different ways. Obviously there's the annual campaign, which supports all of the programs that I outlined. And many, many, many people do. I think more importantly, it's that partnership and the guidance and the advice. I would recommend that that business persons look carefully at how they that their organizations can become involved in what the Y is doing, either partnering side by side or coming on board. For example, my role in property and facilities, I sat at a table with a lot of business leaders. That's a great opportunity. What I recommend, and I think what our executive leadership team leans on, is... If you're interested in getting involved in the Y and feel that your business might have a role in supporting it, go to your local membership center, your local branch, and become active there. Potentially be invited onto the advisory board. Every membership center has an advisory board, guides in questions of operations and programs and community need and facilities. And then that sort of gives you a sense of what the why is all about on the ground. And then there are corporate board committees and then the corporate board itself. So there are a ton of opportunities beyond just volunteering, like this weekend with MLK activities. We've got the Day of Healing activities that we're helping to sponsor in downtown. Plus MLK activities on Monday that follow. Those are great opportunities to sort of come in and see what the Y is all about and how the Y is partnering with other organizations as well.
Valerie Bono, Barnhill - 00:25:02:
Sure. No, that's wonderful.
Tim Carr, YMCA of the Triangle - 00:25:03:
I may have left out a couple of things. So YUSA, the YMCA of the USA, does provide tools. Of course, there's the branding. You know, there's that piece. But they also, in the healthy living side of the world, they provide a diabetes prevention program, a childhood obesity program, the Livestrong Cancer Survivors Program. They have those as... National models that then individual Ys or YMCA associations can begin to implement within their areas. So we look to volunteers to help with that. Staff, of course, or part-time employees will help with that. But one of the more important things that has come out of YUSA is Many years ago, they felt like They needed to scale down because there was too much of a corporate overhead, corporate burden. I don't mean it in a negative sense, but a lot of independent YMCAs felt like being part of YUSA was somewhat burdensome, and they weren't getting that full benefit. So they scaled down and they created what's called Service Delivery PartnerWise. And the Y of the Triangle is fortunate to be a hub of Service Delivery PartnerWise. So there are certain subject matter areas, youth development, healthy living, facilities, financial development, philanthropy. That these hubs across the United States, now, if you're an independent Y, you can I've got this question about how to create a capital plan for an overnight camp. Pose that question, the hubs talk to each other, and they find out, oh, here's an area of expertise. And then as a service delivery partner, you're actually given the opportunity to help through a consult and maybe even develop a project, like we did in Wilson, to help facilitate and meet their needs. And so, The service delivery partner, Y, has been, and actually through the pandemic, was probably one of the best things that the Y movement could do to support each other, to provide expertise and experience, experiential direction, I guess, in so many different ways in a lot of areas. And then we lean on a lot of other nonprofits. We have partnerships. There's one in Cary, for example. It's a... An organization that provides housing for working homeless families with children, gives them a life skills training, while their children also have after school and their families are members of the Y while they're in that particular program. And so we like to partner with nonprofits and other faith-based organizations. So I think the community benefits from both the national expertise and collaboration, but also the local, the translation.
Valerie Bono, Barnhill - 00:27:50:
Sure. And I've heard you talk about working with local schools, whether it's public or private. What about are there any partnerships at the community college level?
Tim Carr, YMCA of the Triangle - 00:27:59:
Not yet, but the community colleges are certainly an important part of our volunteer base. Several folks from Wake Technical Community College and Durham Tech are part of our advisory boards or some of our committees. There are programs that we do, and this, again, is going to be a little bit outside of my realm of departmental understanding. We are 1Y, and we all know what we all do, but I believe that there are some partnerships there already. I think we're beginning to focus more sort of on the academic support. And how our focus has been mostly on the K-12. Uh, where now? With this skills gap that's coming and the missing middle, you know, as far as people in. Income levels. I think that we're going to begin to focus a little bit more on how we can assist with helping folks gain those skills. And whether it's in partnership with community college or not, but the real direction toward. Creating basic skills instead of always pointing youth to college, you know, why not go into a skills base and take that route? Any construction skill, you can name it, masonry, carpentry, all of those, HVAC, electrical, you know, those are where the gaps are going to be.
Valerie Bono, Barnhill - 00:29:23:
Absolutely. We're seeing that across the construction industry too, right? And the need to support workforce development and some of those skills that you just mentioned. So certainly an exciting opportunity to see that collaboration.
Tim Carr, YMCA of the Triangle - 00:29:35:
Indeed. Indeed.
Valerie Bono, Barnhill - 00:29:36:
So, Tim, we've talked a lot about, you know, site selection and we've talked about identifying communities. But I'm curious, there are a lot of offerings, right, as far as community centers and everything's very competitive. What are some of the differentiators of the YMCA that you all offer and some from amenities to resources? I know you've hit on a lot of them already.
Tim Carr, YMCA of the Triangle - 00:30:00:
As far as amenities, if you go into a membership center, we do our best to be competitive when it comes to wellness. Whether it's individual wellness or group exercise. We feel like we offer a broader array. Now, we have what we call a refresh. So all of our wellness equipment, is refreshed every four years. So one year it'll be cardio, the next year it'll be bikes, the next year it might be treadmills, bikes, and then selectorized equipment that you change to different selections to what we call strength equipment. So for us, that's a way to stay sharp and to attract folks to use our facilities for that purpose like they could at any other for-profit location. What's distinct, I think, is the healthy living piece, is the fact that We engage youth through all those youth development activities that I mentioned, including the summer day camp, overnight camps and things. But the healthy living, the diabetes prevention, the group exercise. My Health, which is the program that helps to support recovery of whatever procedure someone might have gone through, they can now come to the Y through a doctor's direction to get that physical therapy and more, much, much more. Again, this is probably an area that... It's not my focus. I can tell you how the facility can respond. And so our facilities are very diverse. We're looking to really move, diverse is not the right term, flexible. We're looking to move to more flexible facilities so that as things change, As people decide they don't want to play volleyball, they want to play pickleball. We can adapt our gymnasiums appropriately, or we can convert our tennis courts appropriately, or... If folks are more interested in hot yoga instead of just mind-body, then we can look at ways we can take and convert our spaces to support that. So we have a broader array, but more focus on the youth development, healthy living. That's what's distinct about a Y when you compare it with other fitness organizations.
Valerie Bono, Barnhill - 00:32:12:
Sure. And something that you and I talked about off air that was really intriguing to me was the partnership that you have with healthcare facilities now. Right. And so members are able to go to their providers and they're actually prescribed wellness. Right. If you are-
Tim Carr, YMCA of the Triangle - 00:32:28:
Yes. Yes. It's it's almost like, you know, where you have a diet, like a nutritionist will create a diet. Our staff, we'll create a wellness program for you. And it. It's built first on what the prescribed need is, and then it grows into something much more. The benefit for the patient is that they can become a member of the Y, but they have that interaction. They have that personal, customized training interaction. And then they can begin to recognize the broader opportunities through that program. And our hope is that they become longtime members and then continue to be active. And again, engage in some of the community activities, group exercise, all the volunteer activities that we have that come with that. Again, strengthening the mental health and just the community focus.
Valerie Bono, Barnhill - 00:33:18:
Yeah, I love that. I just want to say thank you so much for embedding the YMCA in the triangle and in the fabric of our communities, because I know it's making such a positive impact on lives.
Tim Carr, YMCA of the Triangle - 00:33:31:
Absolutely. Like I said at the beginning, when my family first moved here, We were advised to join the Y and I know now why. And that's because it is such a community influence. It's threaded so well into the Triangle community.
Valerie Bono, Barnhill - 00:33:46:
So the YMCA, you've got a strategic plan focused on three objectives. So speaking to the first one around the legislative priorities that the Y has, what are those priorities and how does the Y support and structure advocacy work?
Tim Carr, YMCA of the Triangle - 00:34:01:
I'll answer the second part first. So we structure advocacy work through the North Carolina Alliance of YMCAs. And that is just what it says it is. It's an Alliance of independent Ys and YMCA associations across North Carolina. That establish legislative objectives. And I think in general terms, Mental health is a very high um, objective that is integrated into youth development and healthy living both. And so what the Alliance does, and I'm just going to hit it on the surface because there's a lot more that they do, but they are lobbying for YMCAs in the statehouse. They are bringing to legislators the attention of or the needs, attending to the needs of individual communities, recognizing that. North Carolina is a combination of urban and a lot of rural. Recognizing that there are changing needs, for example, Over the last couple of years, the Alliance has been able to succeed in getting grant funds for YMCAs to address deferred maintenance. One of the things that happened because of the pandemic, when Ys had to close, many Ys took advantage of the time to do maintenance, but without revenue. There was just really no way to get. Really ahead and so you figure that was almost a three-year period of lower activity. And now YMCAs have these capital needs, whether it's building growth, mechanical systems that need to be replaced, or other deferred maintenance needs, or things that WISE had set to do. Like we were going to build an outdoor pool because of this need. Well, we can't do it now because we've had to refocus. So the Alliance is really advocating for that level of facility improvement or facility deferred maintenance, which would basically be reinvestment, reinvestment and replacement. And so from my perspective, from my team's perspective, that's been extremely beneficial. I've spent the last couple of days actually updating reports. On quarterly reports that we put out about the progress against the grant projects. So that's really helpful. I think. The youth in government is another opportunity where we're beginning to show youth what it means to understand the bureaucracy, understand the inner workings of government. And so a combination of teaching youth that are going to become citizens and full-fledged adults to understand how that system works and how the why can fit into that.
Valerie Bono, Barnhill - 00:36:53:
Well, Tim, I know we're coming up on time, and I have a few speed round questions that I'd love to ask you. But before we do that, this is your opportunity, right, to spotlight the Y. Is there anything that I should have asked that I didn't that you'd like to cover today?
Tim Carr, YMCA of the Triangle - 00:37:09:
I don't think there is, to be honest with you, Valerie. I can say that... The why is very forward-thinking. We are volunteer-led, which is great because that helps us to not overlook things that are necessary and needed. We have a strong capital plan, so we have a fiduciary role to honor. The grants and the philanthropy and all the other funding that we get, membership funding and overnight camp funding. And we are reinvesting. We have a 10-year plan now for our overnight camps to help. Really bring them up to a level that's competitive with other overnight camp programs, but still focused on what is special about those. I just like the fact that we, you know, again, going back to me being the technical architectural engineer going in, creating a capital plan. Creating a real estate development plan. And then softening the edges to understand how it fits into the communities and how the Y operations can really make it happen. We are the transactional that makes the transformational possible.
Valerie Bono, Barnhill - 00:38:18:
Yes. I love that. Okay, so speed round questions. I'd love our listeners to get to know you just a little bit on the personal side, right? Silly question, but do you have any hidden talents?
Tim Carr, YMCA of the Triangle - 00:38:30:
I have thought hard. I have no hidden talents. I'm a volunteer junkie. I love to volunteer. Um, And the only other thing I could think about is my grandfathers on my father's side were bricklayers. And I have an idea that somehow, I never knew them. But they built a lot of the row houses in Philadelphia. And so I think that somehow I have that influence because I just love design, planning, construction, facility management.
Valerie Bono, Barnhill - 00:38:57:
We'll have to test that out someday, do a bricklaying contest.
Tim Carr, YMCA of the Triangle - 00:38:59:
Yeah, see how well I did, right? I can name all the brick courses.
Valerie Bono, Barnhill - 00:39:02:
Yeah, and I'd be remiss if I didn't ask this question, but this podcast is constructing the Carolinas. So if there was one project that you would love to see be built in North Carolina specifically, it could be anything, what would that be?
Tim Carr, YMCA of the Triangle - 00:39:17:
I'm going to be really broad and say I think we need to focus on affordable housing, and I think we need to focus on it in a multifamily mode. Talking with a couple of developers over the last couple of weeks, as a matter of fact, looking at how office buildings can be modified to become. Housing, especially affordable housing. And of course, it's the older buildings that are narrow that are the ones that have the best opportunity to do that. I personally think that's what North Carolina needs to address in the way of building its multifamily. Better use of land, and then really focus on that missing middle to get that affordability, the workforce housing, essentially.
Valerie Bono, Barnhill - 00:39:57:
Absolutely. Well, Tim, this has been a lot of fun. I really appreciate your time today. And I know our listeners are thankful as well.
Tim Carr, YMCA of the Triangle - 00:40:04:
I appreciate the opportunity. Thank you very much. Thank you. All right.
Valerie Bono, Barnhill - 00:40:13:
Thank you so much, Tim Carr and the YMCA of the Triangle. To learn more about the Y and to get involved, visit ymcatriangle.org. Thank you for listening or watching Constructing the Carolinas. We'll be back again soon with a new episode. So be sure to press the follow button on your favorite podcast app or on YouTube and check out what Barnhill is doing to construct the Carolinas. You can find us at barnhillcontracting.com and you can follow us on LinkedIn as well. This podcast is edited and produced by Earfluence. I'm Valerie Bono. And as we construct the Carolinas and as we build this podcast, I encourage you to keep building and growing as well. See you next time.