When you enter the Northeast Community YMCA in Roebuck you may be surprised by what you find.  

“When you walk in, you don’t have rows and rows of cardio equipment or weight machines or group exercise rooms,” said Clark Virden, chief development officer for YMCA of Greater Birmingham. 

While the Northeast Community YMCA does offer exercise programs, it strives to provide so much more. The Northeast Community YMCA is a community hub that offers early learning programs, mental health care, affordable pediatric care and even a pathway to home ownership.  

In 2024, the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham awarded YMCA of Greater Birmingham a $75,000 grant to support the building of the YMCA Leadership and Learning Center, which was part of the revitalization project for the Northeast Community YMCA in Roebuck. 

In its new home, the Northeast Community YMCA will continue to offer youth and teen programs and mentorship opportunities. They’ll soon add more workforce development and senior programming too. 

“What this does is gives us a dedicated space to be able to host these programs,” Virden said of the new center. Those programs include Y Leaders, which teaches leadership and character development skills; Y Achievers, a program that helps teens figure out next steps after high school; and Youth in Government, which allows teens to learn about the judicial and legislative systems. 

“The grant that we received from the Community Foundation allows us to equip these rooms with all the technology that we need,” Virden said. “We are in the process of outfitting the room with several large monitors that have full video and audio capabilities. It gives us the ability to go out and purchase tablets that we need for these teens to be able to follow up on a lot the homework they’re being assigned through these development programs. It helps us boost up the Wi-Fi signal in there, and it’s all because of the generosity of the Community Foundation.” 

The new Northeast Community YMCA also houses a clinic run by Christ Health Center that offers affordable pediatric care. Impact Family Counseling is on site to provide mental health services. The center is also partnering with Habitat for Humanity to build more affordable housing options in the area. 

“We had eight acres of land that was undeveloped and wasn’t going to be utilized, and we knew that attainable housing was in great demand in that area,” Virden said.  

The goal is to build 22 single family homes in the area. Three homes have already been completed.  

Revitalizing Roebuck 

There was a time when Roebuck was a destination spot for Birmingham’s suburbia, Virden said.  

“YMCA was built in 1965 and, back in 1965, Roebuck was a place where you could go out to eat, where your family would go bowling, and go to the drive-in movies,” he said. “There were several auto dealerships out there. There was a shopping center. It was a big deal to go to Roebuck.” 

Today the area is grappling with poverty, crime, and struggling schools.   

“We started taking a look at what does this community really need,” Virden said. Initially, plans were to renovate other Y locations in areas like Greystone, Shades Valley, and Mountain Brook. But former YMCA of Greater Birmingham CEO Dan Pile felt Roebuck had the greatest need. 

“He said the residents of this community deserve a YMCA experience just as much as the residents of the Mountain Brook community,” Virden recalled, “even if the Y model may look a little bit different in Roebuck than it does in the other locations.” 

Grant Report: Boosting Summer Safety

In 2023, the Community Foundation awarded the organization a $30,000 grant to support the training and certification of up to 1,500 lifeguards for free, regardless of their place of employment. 

“The summer of 2022, it was in the news, almost on a weekly basis, that all of these public swimming pools and private pools were getting closed down because of the lack of lifeguards,” Virden recalled.  

So, the YMCA of Greater Birmingham stepped up. The organization partnered with the American Red Cross to certify 1,600 lifeguards, exceeding the initial goal. Not only did this help address the city-wide lifeguard shortage, ensuring safe swimming environments in pools, fitness centers, campgrounds, and country clubs, but participants also gained valuable skills that would help them land jobs.  

Learn more at ymcabham.org.  

Learn more about Community Foundation grants.