Smith deciphers complexities of poverty

Date: 9/12/2011

Sept. 12, 2012

By G. Michael Dobbs

Managing Editor

SPRINGFIELD • Although the YMCA of Greater Springfield operates facilities in the two major • and different — locations of the urban core of downtown Springfield and the suburban setting of Wilbraham, the new president and CEO, Kirk Smith, sees many similarities.

Smith, who came to the Springfield YMCA from Florida seven months ago, said people in both areas suffer from poverty of different kinds and the programs at the YMCA address these needs.

“We’re really more alike than you realize,” he said in an interview with Reminder Publications. “Sometimes we use our differences as excuses not to work together.”

A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Smith came from a large family with a single parent. He knows the stresses families are under today.

He said to understand poverty, something that affects communities such as Springfield, one has to understand priorities and the choices people make.

In the suburbs, poverty can be in time as parents are “so busy sustaining their lifestyle, they don’t have time to enjoy their families,” he explained.

Both kinds of poverty are equally challenging for organizations such as the YMCA and one solution has been to present programs at different times, Smith added.

The YMCA is the largest early childcare provider in the region, he said, with 22 after school programs. Smith said the YMCA of Greater Springfield has 10 locations throughout the area.

Currently, one issue the YMCA is facing is reducing the rate of childhood obesity. He said the challenge is to get adults involved to change home environments and eating habits.

In communities such as East Longmeadow, he said, the problem comes from not just eating the wrong kind of food, but from having too many options.

He said another issue that unites the two YMCA locations is teens and how to help guide them to positive behaviors and activities.

The father of teenage boys himself, Smith said with a laugh, “Teenagers — they’re knuckleheads wherever they live.”

He believes all families need to spend more time together.

Although funding issues are always concerns for many non-profit groups, Smith said there are several differences with the YMCA. He explained the YMCA actively seeks to create programs that donors want to fund and promises to keep the programs going even after the initial funding.

Because the YMCA charges memberships, there is a revenue flow, which many non-profits do not have, he added. Because there are people who want to be members, but cannot pay, there are subsidies for them to be come part of the YMCA.

Smith said he is still getting use to the difference in governmental structure between Massachusetts and Florida – the Bay State has no county government. He is also getting used to hills, he noted with a smile – another difference between here and his last assignment.