YMCA Vision 2030 Unveiled

July 30, 2025

Original coverage in Village Voices.

For two years, board members and staff leaders at the YMCA of Northwest Illinois have been dreaming and those dreams have been BIG. Recently, they shared those dreams with community leaders for a project that could transform Freeport dramatically in many ways.

"It's a story of change, renewal and opportunity," said Scott Stykel, YMCA Board president, at an open house at Stewart Centre West, which is the future home of the new YMCA healthy living campus as they refer to it. "This is an opportunity to come together and transform the future."

The plan is called Vision 2030 and the YMCA board and staff said the campus will include an aquatic center, fieldhouse, intergenerational room, gaming and Wi-Fi area, fitness areas, and an expanded child care area which the region desperately needs, Stykel said.

"We need to find a way to address the growing need for child care. What we have is crowded and chaotic now," he told the crowd. "We are in the business of child care. We started thinking how can we bring about true and lasting change."

Stephanie Diehl, director of child care at the YMCA, has said the new YMCA will have space for about 200 kids which doubles what currently is available. There also will be an outside playground area and a Child Watch room where patrons can drop their kids off while using the YMCA services.

Expanding child care options is a critical need for the Northwest Illinois area, as is evidenced by the work of agencies such as Birth to Five Illinois, Regional Office of Education No. 8, and the All Our Kids Health Network.

The designs for the new YMCA are impressive and exciting, but that was the easy part said those involved with the project. Now comes the fundraising portion and convincing community leaders of the need for this healthy living campus. Most at the open house seemed convinced the project was worth the effort.

With the YMCA now on the move, it will mark the first time in 45 years the agency will not call the Highland Community College campus home. In 1977, HCC leaders, YMCA board members and a few other community members developed a joint partnership agreement to house the sports facility where it is currently located.

As the years passed and the needs of both the college and the YMCA changed, officials from both sides decided it was time to talk about what the future might look like. Those talks started in 2023 and that process led the YMCA to conduct a study to see what changes needed to be made in the facility's operations and what were the populations using the YMCA and what was the market going forward.

So, an online survey was sent to community leaders, and several focus groups were held that gathered opinions from local residents. All of that input then was poured into what eventually would become the Vision 2030 document.

While the YMCA will be located down the road in the future, it still will be close to the HCC campus and officials from both of them will be within shouting distance. YMCA Executive Director Rich Haight said the collaborative relationship with the college will continue to pursue how the organizations still can better serve the community.