YMCA campaign seeks to bring renewed sense of community downtown

The Don Wheaton YMCA launched a year-long campaign to make downtown Edmonton more vibrant.

The downtown YMCA is launching a year-long awareness campaign to reaffirm its value as a gathering space among the new influx of people headed back to their offices in the area.

The Don Wheaton YMCA on 102 Avenue has been in the inner-city area since 1907. Katherine O’Neill, the president and CEO, calls the charity an “OG tenant of the downtown.”

“This is where we got our start. So we want to step up and have a leadership role here to help with this effort,” she said on Wednesday.

The Downtown Y (DTY) campaign launched on Wednesday to coincide with the return of provincial employees to offices nearby in an effort to reinforce a “community hub” feeling, O’Neill added.

A release from the YMCA said the DTY campaign partnered with other organizations in the area, like the Edmonton Public Library and Downtown Business Association, to spotlight how everyone will have to come together to help build a “new downtown” after the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Having folks return to the office is good for everyone downtown. It’s good for the Y. It’s good for the restaurants. It’s good for the retailers that are downtown,” O’Neill said.

“There’s a perception that because (downtown is) not as busy as it used to be, that it might not always be the most hospitable place, and that’s not true.”

A private event on Friday evening will kickstart the campaign and expects to see around 300 people in the area.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Galen McDougall