News

Community packs house for Snowfest
By Michael J. Foster

Kimberly Mach, 4, scales one of the climbing walls with some… (Kezia Chee/North Adams Transcript)
Monday February 6, 2012
North Adams Transcript
WILLIAMSTOWN — An estimated 250 people came out Sunday to enjoy an afternoon of family-friendly activities at the Williamstown Youth Center’s ninth annual Snowfest fundraiser.
“In my mind, [...]

This is a fly through of the Williamstown Youth Center courtesy of Black River Design. Construction on this 12,000 square foot building will begin in March 2012.

By Andy McKeever
iBerkshires Staff
10:01AM / Wednesday, July 13, 2011
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Engineers planning the new Youth Center revised the site plans to send more runoff toward School Street.
The center, planned to be built on elementary school land, faced drainage concerns from both the Planning Board and the Zoning Board of Appeals but the engineers have [...]

IBerkshires.com
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The board of directors and Building Committee of the Williamstown Youth Center have decided to wait until spring 2012, rather than this fall, to begin construction of the new youth center facility on the grounds of the Williamstown Elementary School.
The timing of this ground-breaking will allow the Youth [...]

Friday May 27, 2011
North Adams Transcript
WILLIAMSTOWN — The Williamstown Youth Center project has cleared three more hurdles, as officials of the organization push to have everything ready in time for an early October groundbreaking.
The Williamstown School Committee unanimously approved the project plan, maintenance reserve endowment fund, and facade elements — which [...]

Click on the images below to see the new renderings from Black River Design.

To the editor of The Advocate:
On Saturday, April 3, the Williamstown Youth Center facilitated a car wash to raise money for its “Together We Can” campaign to build a new youth center on the grounds of the Williamstown Elementary School.
The youth center would like to thank Michael’s Restaurant and Cumberland Farms on Main Street for [...]

04:36PM / Friday, May 20, 2011 – IBerkshires.com

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Williamstown Youth Center announced that its “Together We Can” capital campaign to build a new center on the grounds of the Williamstown Elementary School has raised $3.8 million in cash and pledges. Officials thank everyone for their support.
Center staff and [...]

By Andy McKeever iBerkshires Staff Friday, May 20, 2011
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Building a new Youth Center hit its first stumbling block Thursday when the Zoning Board of Appeals continued the special permit hearing for another month.
The hearing was suspended because the board had concerns over water drainage, construction worker parking [...]

North Adams Transcript
By Meghan Foley
Saturday April 23, 2011
WILLIAMSTOWN — The Williamstown Youth Center has submitted its construction plans to the town for a new facility on the grounds of the elementary school.
The plans, which were submitted on Thursday to the Zoning Board of Appeals for a development plan review and modification of a special permit, [...]

The WYC will host a spring-clean car wash on Saturday, April 30, from 10-2, at Michael’s Restaurant on Main St. in Williamstown.  Cost is $5 per car, with all proceeds benefiting the WYC’s “Together We Can” capital campaign. Be sure to get your car washed by the local middle school and high school students [...]

Williamstown Youth Center To Break Ground This Fall
By: Andy McKeever
iBerkshires Staff
12:03PM / Wednesday, April 06, 2011
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The new Youth Center is staying on pace for an October groundbreaking.
The contentious debate held the project up from its original June groundbreaking date but planners are now on pace to being construction in the fall.
“Now that [...]

Friday February 11, 2011
North Adams Transcript
WILLIAMSTOWN — The scope and design of the new Williamstown Youth Center is becoming clearer.
Youth Center officials have presented the Williamstown School Committee with a new schematic drawing of the proposed building on the grounds of the elementary school, and an analysis done by Town Manager Peter [...]

Attached, please note the location for the new youth center facility. The Youth Center’s Building Committee is working hard on the design of the building.

On Thursday, February 17th, between 4:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m., Papa Gino’s Restaurant will hold a fundraiser for the Williamstown Youth Center’s campaign to build a new facility on the grounds of the Williamstown Elementary School. Papa Gino’s will donate 20% of the total pre-tax sales from all guests that come in with flyer announcing [...]

Thursday January 20, 2011
North Adams Transcript

WILLIAMSTOWN — Applause, cheers and sighs of relief erupted from the auditorium of the elementary school Wednesday night after the Williamstown School Committee unanimously approved the approximate location and orientation of a new youth center on school grounds.
Also included in the vote was a stipulation that the [...]

Friday January 7, 2011
North Adams Transcript
WILLIAMSTOWN — The Williamstown Youth Center is closing in on its goal to raise $3.5 million for a new facility following a $100,000 donation from Greylock Federal Credit Union and Greylock Insurance Agency on Thursday.
The credit union has pledged $75,000 to the project, and the insurance [...]

Jan 07, 2011 – South Weymouth, MA – FUN Enterprises, Inc. will be joining the Williamstown Youth Center for their annual SNOWFEST event at the Williams College field house on Sunday, January 9th.
SNOWFEST, now in its eighth year, is a fundraiser created to support the Williamstown Youth Center in their efforts to provide [...]

Friday December 17, 2010
North Adams Transcript
WILLIAMSTOWN — Town officials have volunteered to develop a project schedule to help the Williamstown School Committee as it moves forward with reviewing the Williamstown Youth Center’s proposal for a new facility on the grounds of the elementary school.
Town Manager Peter L. Fohlin suggested during a meeting between town officials [...]

Invitations to the 8th Annual Snowfest should be arriving in your mailboxes any day now. The event will be held on Sunday, January 9th from 1-5 at the Williams field house and rink. This year, along with all the fun activities, we will also be celebrating the end of an extremely [...]

The Williamstown Youth Center Building Committee and Board of Directors have considered over twenty variations on building plans and narrowed the possibilities to set of six options.  These options are explained in the following documents (link to one pdf for your review).
…executive summary
…rationale of space needs
…program of space needs
…matrix of 6 options and key criteria
…site [...]

By Meghan Foley
Thursday December 9, 2010North Adams Transcript
WILLIAMSTOWN — Williamstown Youth Center officials plan to present the Williamstown School Committee with six options involving three locations for a new Youth Center on the grounds of the elementary school next week.
Paul Jennings, president of the Youth Center board of directors, said Wednesday [...]

Iberkshires (Nov. 30)
By Andy McKeever

John Rahill of Black River Design shows a new plan to put the Youth Center in the northeastern corner of the elementary school’s property.

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — A School Committee vote on a new Youth Center scheduled for Tuesday night is postponed as the building committee attempts [...]

Process, Programs, Possibilities:
Where We Are (And How We Got Here)

For decades our community has recognized the need to create a decent home for the Williamstown Youth Center. This recognition spurred a conversation among Youth Center staff and its Board of Directors, parents, town officials, and other stakeholders, as to how [...]

The New Williamstown Youth Center, Frequently Asked Questions
(updated November 23, 2010)
Q. WHY DO WE NEED A NEW YOUTH CENTER?
A. The current Cole Avenue facility was built over a century ago, and has housed the WYC since 1934. Its aging and inadequate facility is no longer able to support the growth in demand for its services. [...]

The Williamstown Youth Center Board of Directors has been listening intently to public comments regarding our current plans for the new building on the Williamstown Elementary School grounds. In recent meetings people have reiterated their strong support for the project but have also voiced concerns and raised some important questions about the plans. In response, [...]

The planning for a new Williamstown Youth Center continues to move
along in an exciting manner. We have posted schematic drawings of the
Youth Center’s Building Committee’s plans on our website; please take
a look. These drawings have been shared with the Williamstown
Elementary School Committee and, to this point, been very favorably
received.
So that everyone has an opportunity to [...]

INFORMATION ABOUT THE NEW WILLIAMSTOWN YOUTH CENTER
Below, please note important information concerning the planning and process behind the new Williamstown Youth Center.  Information is presented in sequential order.
…The Williamstown Youth Center facilitated a strategic planning process which gathered information from many community members.  This process resulted in a strategic plan which was adopted by the [...]

Williamstown Youth Center Benefit • The Cottage • October 22, 2010
Mark your calendars! On one day only, Friday, October 22, The Cottage in Williamstown will generously donate 10% of all proceeds to the Williamstown Youth Center’s Together We Can fundraising campaign to build a new Youth Center adjacent to the Williamstown Elementary School. Stop in [...]

Wednesday October 6, 2010
North Adams Transcript
WILLIAMSTOWN — When the new Williamstown Youth Center is built, its library will be named after a former program director instrumental in stocking the center with books in the mid-1970s.
Caroline Burch, who has been a production director at Storey Publishing in North Adams for 24 years, was the program director [...]

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Williamstown Youth Center Building Campaign came within $500,000 of its fundraising goal with a $10,000 donation from Berkshire Bank this week.
The bank’s donation to the “Together We Can” campaign to construct a new building on the grounds of the Williamstown Elementary School helped push the fundraising’s collection to the $3 million [...]

Thursday September 9, 2010
By Meghan Foley
North Adams Transcript
WILLIAMSTOWN — The Williamstown Youth Center is now within half a million dollars of reaching its fundraising goal for a new building on the grounds of the elementary school.
Executive Director David A. Rempell said Wednesday the Youth Center’s capital campaign to raise $3.5 million for the project just [...]

Purchase a raffle ticket for your chance to win a special quilt made by artist and quilter, Judith Smith, of Pownal, Vermont.
Having painted in watercolors and oils, Judith started quilting in 1996 after moving to Vermont and now “paints with fabric.” She is a member of the Quiet Valley Quilters Guild where she has co-chaired [...]

June 15, 2010 (www.williams.edu/messages/show.php?id=13897)
The Board has approved a College gift to the construction of a new Williamstown Youth Center building of $500,000, paid over 13 years. This enables us to participate, in a way that’s sensitive to the College’s financial situation, in an important project for the community, including many students, faculty, and staff.
The [...]

The Williamstown Boys’ Club: A Brief History
Charles R. Keller, Brown Professor of History, Emeritus, Williams College
CLUBS IN THE EARLY YEARS, 1901-1928
What is now the Williamstown Boys’ Club had its origins in the Progressive movement in the early years of the twentieth century. It was part of the reawakening of the spirit that led people [...]

Campaign For New Youth Center Marches On
By Patrick Ronan
iBerkshires Staff
09:33PM / Tuesday, May 04, 2010
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Kids at the Williamstown Youth Center are walking the plank, and it has nothing to do with make-believe games involving pirates.
Because of frequent flooding in the facility’s basement, kids are forced to [...]

Tuesday May 4, 2010
North Adams Transcript

WILLIAMSTOWN — Although it’s the middle of spring, the Williamstown Youth Center is reviving the Snowball — an annual dance for adults that had been on hiatus — in an effort to raise funds to build a new facility on the elementary school’s grounds.
In order to fit [...]

Please join us at the Williamstown Youth Center for two Informational Open House events on Sunday May 23 from 4:00 – 5:00 pm and Thursday, May 27 from 7:00 – 8:00 pm. Come find out about our Together We Can capital campaign to build a new Youth Center. Take a tour, find the answers to [...]

The Williamstown Youth Center will sponsor a “Spring Fling” (formerly known as The Snowball) on May 8, 2010 at The Orchards. Don’t miss out on the fun!  Entertainment provided by “Trophy Husbands & Weapons of Mass Seduction” and will be Emceed by Comedian Eric Auld.  Tickets can purchased at the Youth Center, Wild Oats or [...]

Wednesday April 7, 2010
North Adams Transcript
WILLIAMSTOWN — Three months after the Williamstown Youth Center began its capital campaign to raise money for a new facility, it’s halfway to its goal.
Executive Director David A. Rempell said Tuesday, the private, nonprofit organization has raised $1.75 million toward its $3.5 million project to build [...]

By Meghan Foley, North Adams Transcript
October 1, 2009
WILLIAMSTOWN — While the concept of a youth center was unanimously supported by the about 45 people attending a public hearing Wednesday night, locating it on the elementary school grounds wasn’t.
Some residents living in the area of the elementary school at 115 Church St. questioned the effect adding [...]