Dublin City Council recently approved a $400K grant to the Tri-Valley YMCA as part of an agreement to bring the storied recreational non-profit to Dublin’s Sierra Court area. Tri-Valley YMCA’s executive director Kelly Dulka noted that she would not have opened Tri-Valley YMCA’s newest facility in Dublin had it not been for the generosity of the City. Dublin is able to provide the $400K grant thanks to the additional $1M community benefit payment pledged by Mission Valley Properties, if the City approves the recently submitted plan changes at Jordan Ranch. Coupled with the $5M payment for the elimination of the affordable housing requirement, Mission Valley Properties has now promised to give the City of Dublin $6M in total of community benefit payments for the elimination of affordable housing and semi-public land use requirements at Jordan Ranch. The City of Dublin is now flush with cash.

The $400K grant for the Tri-Valley YMCA could not have been possible without the persistence of executive director Kelly Dulka. Dulka has become a presence at service club and municipal meetings throughout the Tri-Valley. Dublin Councilmember Don Biddle helped to hire Dulka during his previous stint as a board member for the Tri-Valley YMCA. Dulka recalled that Biddle insisted that she “should really consider opening a location in Dublin.” Councilmember Kasie Hildenbrand also shared her excitement for the new Dublin YMCA location and shared stories of events that she and her daughter participated in at another YMCA location.

Tri-Valley YMCA’s goal is to complement the services currently offered by Dublin’s Parks and Recreation department. Some of the programs that Dublin’s YMCA could offer include:

• Holiday and Summer Camps
• Y Princesses and Trailblazers Leadership
• Mommy & Me, Parent-Child Classes
• Fitness and Health & Wellness Classes

The $400K YMCA grant, which will be paid out over a five-year period, is not the first instance of Dublin’s parlaying gifts from developers to help local non-profits. Other notable examples include encouraging the transfer of a land parcel from the Lin Family to Hope Hospice and the designation of a new site for School of Imagination at Schaefer Ranch. The parcel donated to Hope Hospice has since been sold.

Dulka would eventually like to open facilities in Livermore and Sunol to complement the current Tri-Valley YMCA locations in Dublin and Pleasanton.