Our View -- YWCA needs a place that works for it

The Free Press

March 06, 2006 12:28 am

— The Victorian Cray Mansion is the elegant lady of the downtown district, and the YWCA has been privileged to be associated with her for nearly 80 years.
Today, however, the YWCA has outgrown the relationship. The YWCA board has decided it’s time to move on, and the building on South Second Street is for sale.
The community, especially longtime members of the nonprofit agency, may be upset about the YWCA’s plans to sell the Cray Mansion. The mansion was given to the nonprofit agency by Judge Loren and Lulu Cray in 1927. The YWCA has been in the historic building for so long it may be difficult to imagine anywhere else being home.
The house just doesn’t fit the agency’s needs anymore. Part of the day care is a block away in Bethlehem Lutheran Church. A movie screening the YWCA co-sponsored last week had to be moved to the Midwest Wireless Civic Center because the Cray Mansion is not accessible to those who have physical disabilities.
Besides obvious drawbacks to running an organization and child-care center and preschool in a multi-story house and annex, pouring its fund-raising money into building renovation and maintenance doesn’t help the agency focus on its mission of eliminating racism and empowering women.
The YWCA’s wish list is to some day have a space where large groups can gather for seminars, discussions, or film screenings, and where children can play in an indoor play area while parents sit down with a cup of coffee. It may be a space shared with another nonprofit, or something that evolves from the area-wide Envision 2020 process.
The group has big dreams. The reality of selling a historic building appraised at more than $1 million that demands precise maintenance may be harsh. The building is on the National Register of Historic Places, but that doesn’t mean the federal government is throwing money at it so it can be maintained.
The YWCA is giving the community an opportunity to brainstorm ways of keeping the historic Cray Mansion in Mankato’s future. A meeting to discuss preservation of the building will be 2 p.m. Tuesday at the YWCA. Those interested in attending are asked to call 345-4629, Ext. 21.