Planning Ongoing For Early Childhood Development And Recreation Facility
The Mahaska County YMCA
Oskaloosa, Iowa – Individuals from the City of Oskaloosa, Oskaloosa Community School District, Mahaska County YMCA and Mahaska Community Development Group, gathered together on October 26th to continue the discussion about the proposed center.
The purpose is to continue moving forward with the project plans and the meeting was designed to refine the facility design and program needs.
The object of the meeting focused around gaining insight about how to best address community facility and programming needs for recreation and wellness, with a focus on emerging or unmet needs.
Also explored was what new or improved programs should be offered, and what space is needed to deliver programming, either at the new facility or other locations within the community.
A second meeting was then held on October 27th to focus on the discussion of early childhood education and featured input from individuals that already deliver the same or similar services within the area.
Discussion included how to best address community facility and programming needs for early childhood education, and what new or improved programs should be offered.
Tori Schrock, board member from the Mahaska County YMCA, said that the data gathered during the two nights of discussion will be delivered to the architectural service provided to YMCA facilities for designing new or updated facilities.
A high and low scope budget will be initially developed, and plans will start to be developed to enable partners in the project to better understand where financial involvement will be.
Another piece of the process will be the development of a proforma. A proforma is an accounting adjective that indicates hypothetical financial figures based on previous business operations for estimate purposes.
Those will be developed with the aid of the recent market research findings generated during a recent survey within the community.
The quest for the group is to find the best way to fit as many needs as possible with the funds available for the project.
A timeframe for construction will become clearer after some initial drawings are created, and the city and school district are able to understand where and how much funding each entity will be able to use for the project.
The key for the next step really is dependent upon what the initial drawings of the facility look like, and that is developed from the focus group meetings and input that has already been shared. This will then enable a better understanding for the next phase of the project.
Schrock said that the group expects to have a clearer picture of the project by the end of the year, “to start putting the different pieces together.”
