Staff photo / David Skolnick Eugenia Atkinson, retired executive director of the Youngstown Metropolitan Housing Authority, speaks Wednesday outside the Rescue Mission of Mahoning Valley, the former West Federal Branch YMCA building, about preserving the building. Looking on, from left, are Jason Whitehead, the current YMHA executive director, and Jerome Parm, head of the Youngstown Alumni Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity. A local coalition hopes the building can be added to the national historic register.

YOUNGSTOWN — A local coalition of organizations and community leaders want to save the former West Federal Street Branch YMCA building after the Rescue Mission of the Mahoning Valley moves out next year.

Known as the “black Y” because African Americans used it after being denied access to the downtown YMCA for years, the building was a key facility for blacks, said Ben McGee, a coalition member as a member of the Youngstown Alumni Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity and former Youngstown schools superintendent.

The coalition’s goals, McGee said, are to increase community awareness of the building, work to get it listed on state and national historic registers, and seek funding to secure its legacy.

“We’re trying to do what we can to save the building because of its importance to the African-American community,” Eugenia Atkinson, the retired executive director of the Youngstown Metropolitan Housing Authority, said. “Many social events and cultural events happened in this building. Let’s do what we can to preserve the history of the building.”

In 1929, the YMCA of Youngstown purchased the property at what is now 962 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. and with the help of Simeon S. Booker Sr., the first executive secretary of the West Federal branch, it received a $25,000 grant from the Julius Rosenwald Fund with $75,000 raised locally to build the Y in 1931.

“For 43 years, the West Federal Y was the central location for African-American activities,” Tom Gacse, the YMCA of Youngstown’s current president and CEO, said.

In 1974, the YMCA closed the West Federal Y and merged its programs with the downtown location at 17 N. Champion St.

There isn’t a plan in place yet as to what will be done with the 89-year-old building, said Penny Wells, a coalition member and director of Mahoning Valley Sojourn to the Past.

Some possibilities include having the YMHA, a coalition member, take control as its Arlington Heights housing complex is nearby, or have Youngstown State University use it as an African-American cultural center, Wells said.

“We’re trying to find someone to take over the building,” she said. “We’re a small group that is looking for an interested party. There’s no deadline, but we don’t have a lot of time as the rescue mission is leaving next year. We want to raise awareness of our efforts.”

Those interested in the building and sharing memories of it can contact Wells at penny wwells@sbcglobal.net.

The YMCA sold the West Federal Y property in 1974 for $1 to the rescue mission. The mission broke ground in October 2019 on a new location on Oakland Avenue, a short distance from the current building.

dskolnick@tribtoday.com