{"id":1861,"date":"2026-09-03T22:45:43","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T03:45:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.justintimejackie.com\/?p=1861"},"modified":"2026-10-21T22:57:29","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T03:57:29","slug":"partners-cut-ribbon-on-tolleston-opportunity-campus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.justintimejackie.com\/?p=1861","title":{"rendered":"Partners cut ribbon on Tolleston Opportunity Campus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Investing in the future of Gary’s kids, families, and communities<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Nearly 4 years after the vision was planted to have The Methodists Hospitals, Crossroads YMCA and the John Will Anderson Boys & Girls Club share space at the former Tolleston School, the ribbon was cut on the Tolleston Opportunity Campus, Wednesday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although funding was secured early in 2023, the partners took the long road to turn the campus into a community center for all ages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTwo saunas; I\u2019m coming,\u201d Tiara Williams said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Tolleston Opportunity Campus partners cut the ribbon on Gary\u2019s state-of-the-art facility housing the John Will Anderson Boys & Girls Club, Methodist Hospitals, and Crossroads YMCA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou can see my house from here,\u201d said Marcus Steele, who joined the Anderson Club when it moved to Tolleston in 2013. In 2021, Steele, then 18, was a finalist for the Boys & Girls Club National Youth of the Year Award. He is now Gary\u2019s Family & Youth Services Coordinator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI love it. To see how it was when I started here as a kid and to see all the opportunities the kids will get now, from the Teen Tech Center to the extra space; this is amazing for the youth. They will get to use the Boys & Girls Club and the Y,\u201d Steele said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think the city needed this; it\u2019s going to break ground for what\u2019s coming next to the city,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Marcus Steele, left, City of Gary Family & Youth Services Coordinator and Antonio Dominguez, who operates Juice Jung at the YMCA. Dominguez also has the Juice Jung Caf\u00e9 at 1010 W. 5th Avenue in Gary. Dominguez said he started pitching his juice bar to the YMCA when the project was first announced.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Thirty million dollars, $10 million each from the Dean & Barbara White Foundation, the City of Gary, and the State of Indiana Economic Development’s READI Program was the projected cost to demolish unused portions of the former school, modernize the Anderson Club space, and add new construction for the Crossroads Y and Methodist Hospitals sections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Needs assessments\u2019 were the watchwords after the Gary city council approved the use of $10 million of its ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) monies to match the funds from the White Foundation and READI Program. The partners had to find out what programs and services the people in Gary wanted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Phone calls and online surveys led to community engagement sessions held at the Tolleston Park Pavilion, Methodist Hospitals Northlake Campus, and with high school students at 21st Century Charter School.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The partners came up with four areas to focus on \u2013 youth development, healthy families, healthy communities, and economic and workforce development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still more was needed, said Jay Buckmaster, President and CEO at Crossroads YMCA at Wednesday\u2019s ceremonies. The cost now approaches $50 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The YMCA includes a childcare center, 2 pools and saunas, family locker rooms, fitness center, multi-purpose rooms, gym, indoor track, and a juice bar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDidn\u2019t I tell you it was going to turn out great; I told you that,\u201d an excited Matt Doyle, Methodist Hospital\u2019s chief executive officer exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gary Mayor Eddie Melton thanked the partners and donors for investing in Gary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAlmost 13 years ago we were helping to clean out Tolleston Middle School to make way for the Anderson Club. Never in a million years did I envision being here in this state-of-the-art facility on the same campus,\u201d the mayor said. \u201cYour investments are not just in bricks and mortar. You\u2019re investing in our future, in our children, our families, our workforce, and our community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Anderson Club held its ribbon cutting and grand re-opening in June, in time for its summer camp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The YMCA and Methodist Hospitals sections will open on September 28.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Tolleston Opportunity Campus construction teams Berglund Construction and Powers & Sons Construction<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Investing in the future of Gary’s kids, families, and communities Nearly 4 years after the vision was planted to have The Methodists Hospitals, Crossroads YMCA and the John Will Anderson Boys & Girls Club share space at the former Tolleston School, the ribbon was cut on the Tolleston Opportunity Campus, Wednesday afternoon. Although funding was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1864,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.justintimejackie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.justintimejackie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.justintimejackie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.justintimejackie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.justintimejackie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1861"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.justintimejackie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1861\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1865,"href":"http:\/\/www.justintimejackie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1861\/revisions\/1865"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.justintimejackie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.justintimejackie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.justintimejackie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.justintimejackie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}