The YMCA of Middle Tennessee and Nashville’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities formed an alliance in 2019 for the purpose of working toward a financially sustainable future for the Northwest Family YMCA.

Since its inception in 2019 as a result of community dialogue and feedback, the YMCA of Middle Tennessee HBCU Alliance (YMCA-HBCU Alliance) has shared a commitment to the physical, social, and spiritual health of residents, students, and employees centered in the North Nashville and Bordeaux communities. While the parties may be centered in the North Nashville and Bordeaux communities, the intent of the Alliance is also to positively impact the social determinants of health across the broad scope of geographic and human communities our organizations serve.

Formally, the partners that comprise the YMCA-HBCU Alliance are the three private HBCU’s: American Baptist College, Fisk University, Meharry Medical College, and the YMCA of Middle Tennessee. Tennessee State University is also involved at the project level, primarily because of their status as a public institution.

Learn more about American Baptist College

Learn more about Fisk University

Learn more about Meharry Medical College

Learn more about Tennessee State University

The Steering Committee is comprised of YMCA representatives, HBCU representatives, and community members. This includes three representatives of the YMCA, three representatives from the HBCUs, and three community members.

• In 2017, as part of association-wide sustainability efforts, the YMCA of Middle Tennessee proposed a partnership with Metro Parks and Recreation that would have transferred ownership of the facility to the City. In the proposed arrangement, the YMCA would have maintained a program presence at the facility, but the annual operating losses or surpluses would have become the sole responsibility of Metro Government. After significant community backlash, the YMCA abandoned the plan and began immediate relationship rebuilding and conflict resolution efforts in the community through a series of dialog sessions co-facilitated with Dr. Phyllis Hildreth, an Associate Professor in the Lipscomb Institute for Conflict Management at the time.
• As a result of these sessions, the YMCA ultimately issued a public RFP for potential partners, to which a consortium of Nashville’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) responded. The HBCU Consortium (that included Meharry Medical College, Fisk University and American Baptist College) was selected to partner with the YMCA in its efforts to achieve sustainable operations at the Northwest YMCA. The YMCA and HBCUs entered into a three-year agreement in summer of 2019, formally establishing the YMCA-HBCU Alliance at the Northwest Family YMCA. The Alliance had just begun to build momentum as the Covid-19 pandemic took hold.
• All parties mutually agreed to pause much of the community work during the pandemic, but the Alliance did maintain its relationship despite the COVID suspension of Alliance activities through YMCA memberships for all Meharry Medical College students and the continued work on collaborative grant proposals as specified in the Alliance Agreement. During this time, the YMCA was also awarded a $6.4M Blue Cross Healthy Place, the largest single award in YMCA of Middle Tennessee history and the largest single award made by BlueCross BlueShield of TN for a Healthy Place park. This award would not have been made had it not been for the collaborative and community engagement work that was necessary to establish the Alliance. The public recreation space on the NWY property opened in January 2022, and is already seeing incredible use and adoption by the Bordeaux – North Nashville community and beyond.