AREA EXPANSIONS

DOWAGIAC – A building project at Southwestern Michigan College in Dowagiac will expand the college’s nursing school with help from state funds. Meanwhile, Niles-Buchanan YMCA officials have announced a fundraising drive to expand the facilities in Niles.
As SMC and state officials noted earlier this month at ceremony to mark the start of construction on a $9.6 million building expansion, Southwestern Michigan College will soon have a nursing building that matches the college’s already exceptional nursing program.
Michigan Budget Director Al Pscholka spoke at the celebration. It was his leadership as chairman of the house appropriations committee when he was in the legislature that resulted in the state’s $4 million grant to the college.
“When I went to Lansing, I discovered that some in Lansing think the state line stops at Kalamazoo,” he said. “We who represent Southwest Michigan made sure that they knew it wasn’t true.”
Pscholka said getting funding for capital projects at both SMC and Lake Michigan College was one of his goals in last term in the legislature.
“People in Lansing had to realize the importance of this area to the state,” he said. “I told state leaders that SMC has one of the highest rated nursing schools and that this was an investment not only in the region but in one of the best professions where people can find a job.”
“A building does not make a program, the people teaching makes the program,” SMC President David Mathews said. “Now we’re going to have a facility that matches the program.”
Mathews noted that the nursing program’s faculty are among the best and nursing school graduates routinely pass registered nursing examinations at rates higher than the state and the nation.
“We do this most importantly for the students to provide them an exceptional opportunity at an affordable cost,” Mathews said. “We have had over 3,000 people graduate from the nursing program over the years and they continue to meet the needs of the medical care community.”
Mathews credited the commitment of the college’s board of trustees as well as that of Pscholka and other area legislators in securing funding for the project. The college is chipping in $3 million to the project and the state has contributed $4 million. The remaining $2.6 million will come from private donations.
The expansion is expected to be done by January, 2019, will double the size of the nursing building to over 29,000 square feet and add four state of the art simulation labs and a 16-bed skills lab. It will allow the program to accept up to 120 students each year which in turn will lead to the hiring of five new faculty members.
At the YMCA, the goal is to offer expanded facilities for youth and the greater community. Y officials have started fundraising efforts on the $6 million expansion and hope to break ground next summer on the first part of the project.
The Y moved into its current 55,000 square foot facility on North Front Street in 2006 and is now at capacity, according to YMCA fund development and marketing vice-president Jill Haboush. “We have no extra space right now,” she said. “The space is already maximized.”
The expansion plans call for a 32,150 square foot addition on the east side of the building near Second Street. The first two phases will include building a second gymnasium and a two-story space for a youth center, teen center and office space. The third phase will also be a two-story structure for fitness studios and community, health and arts rooms.
As she noted, an expansion has been in the plans since the start. Skyrocketing steel and concrete costs in 2006 forced the Y to scale back the size of the faclity and put some items like a second gym and extra space for children and youth off until the future. A needs assessment done a few years ago confirmed the need for more youth programming.
Haboush said the quiet phase of the Y’s “Building the Foundation of Community” fundraising campaign began in 2016 and has already collected $1.4 million. “Public” fundraising is set to start this fall with the goal of having $2 million on hand by the end of the year.
      The Niles Y has over 8,000 members not only from Niles and Buchanan but also northern Indiana, Cass County and other Berrien County communities, she said..
Haboush said this expansion comes at a good time when the Niles-Buchanan Y has merged with the St. Joseph YMCA earlier this year. “We are now one association with two branches,” Haboush said. “We’re each independent but we’re sharing best practices and aligning our operations and programming.”