Willow Glen Resident

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Santa Clara Valley and Mid-Peninsula YMCA groups set to merge in January

By Mary Gottschalk

The YMCA of Santa Clara Valley and the YMCA of the Mid-Peninsula have formally announced that they will merge into the YMCA of Silicon Valley on Jan. 1.

The merger possibility has been an open secret since Kathy Riggins moved from president and CEO of the Mid-Peninsula Y to take the same position at the Santa Clara Valley Y in May of this year.

Now Riggins will head both organizations as president and CEO of the new Silicon Valley Y, which will be one of the 15th largest in the United States.

It will cover the area from Gilroy to Redwood City and serve nearly 190,000 members through 11 Y facilities and Camp Campbell in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

In announcing the merger, the Y said there would be no layoffs of any of the current 1,800 employees, and existing fees will stay in place for now.

What is likely to change is the location of the administrative offices. Currently, the Santa Clara Valley Y leases offices at 1922 The Alameda and the Mid-Peninsula Y offices are in Palo Alto. Riggins lives in Menlo Park.

In a May interview with Silicon Valley Community Newspapers right after she took over the helm in San Jose, Riggins said, "Both the Mid-Peninsula, and the Santa Clara Valley YMCAs are dynamic organizations. Both are mission-driven and tremendous community assets in their respective service areas."