$1.1 Million Grant Officially Bestowed On Northern Middlesex YMCA
MIDDLETOWN, CT — U.S. Rep. Rosa LeLauro and officials from the YMCA of Northern Middlesex County Monday officially unveiled a $1.1 million federal grant for the South End Expansion and Renovation project.
Michele Rulnick, the president and CEO of the YMCA of Northern Middlesex County, said the grant will be the impetus to kick start the find raising campaign to renovate and upgrade the historic building.
The downtown YMCA facility on Union Street was built in 1928 and expanded in 1972. The project is designed to help the YMCA undergo “modernization” efforts to improve accessibility and “adaptability” of the Y, supporting the Y’s “strategic vision” to expand youth development programs, childcare, and community wellness services and provide “equitable access to programs and services that improve individual and family life.”
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Added Rulnik, “My passion is to assure that this will be here for the next generation.”
The Middletown grant is once of several that DeLauro, ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee, secured for Connecticut communities to the tune of more than $16 million in the 2024.
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She said the source is the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development’s economic development initiative.
The goal, DeLauro said, is to “upgrade and modernize” the building while “preserving this indispensable community center.”
She added, “1886 … is really pretty extraordinary,” and hailed. “the longevity of the program and of the vision of what a Y could do and be transformative in people’s lives.”
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