Board members of the Christian Street Y continue their struggle for independence.

Last year we brought you the story of South Philadelphia's Christian Street YMCA and its board of managers' ongoing struggle for independence from its corporate head, the Young Men's Christian Association of Philadelphia and Vicinity. Now, after months of continued unrest, the battle may be heating up again -- at the same time that a similar controversy in Miami is demonstrating how intransigent such disputes can be.

The Christian Street Y has served the social and recreational needs of its predominantly black neighborhood since its founding by a group of prominent black Philadelphians a century ago. In the past few years, however, the CSY board of managers has felt that the executives at Corporate have been at best insensitive, and at worst, deliberately hostile to the economic and social realities of the community. For instance, the membership fees, set by Corporate, are between $400 and $700 per year, too high to be taken advantage of by most people in this depressed neighborhood, say CSY branch managers -- and higher than the annual dues at such Center City health clubs as 12th Street Gym and World Gym.

Like most YMCAs across the country, the Christian Street branch is owned by its corporate entity. The board believes that by gaining its independence from Corporate, CSY could easily raise its own operating expenses and deliver cheaper, more relevant services to its clientele. But by granting a branch its independence, Corporate would relinquish the right to raise contributions on behalf of the branch, a revenue loss that could reach into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Attempts to reach Corporate Chairman William Stallkamp and Chief Operating Officer Dave Simpson were unsuccessful; in our previous reporting of the story, Corporate officials refused comment. But State Representative Harold James, the neighborhood's elected official in Harrisburg and a CSY board member, is more than willing to speak out.

'Corporate is using underhanded tactics to discourage us from seeking independence,¨ James says, 'by dangling funds in front of the board, but only on the condition that we give up this fight for self-sufficiency, and by playing games with the personnel at the Y.¨

The funding to which James refers is a $500,000 matching grant for a CSY project. The board of managers would like to see CSY develop a family resource center, while Corporate prefers the money be used to expand the Y's existing programs. Whichever project gets the final nod, Corporate made it plain that they won't come across with the matching funds as long as CSY fights for independence.

'The Association match of $500,000 will be available for a project which is approved by the association,¨ Stallkamp writes in a letter to CSY Board of Managers chair Alex Talmadge, dated Dec. 16. 'At this time, a Family Center has not received that approval. The match will not be available until the question of branch independence' is resolved. The Association has no intention of providing the match if the Board of Managers continues its current position on independence.¨

'Corporate is arrogant and narrow in their vision,¨ Talmadge says. 'It's clear they won't make any attempt to work with us as long as the issue of independence is on the table. It's not possible to talk about an issue that's dismissed out of hand.¨

CSY's longtime executive director, Blondell Parsons, was fired by Corporate last April for supporting the board on the issue of branch independence. According to James, the outcry over Parsons' firing has sparked another questionable Corporate strategy.

Corporate has gone so far as actually proposing to change the organization's by-laws, James fumes, so that they can remove board members either individually or collectively for failing to act in what they loosely describe as the association's best interests. I call it the Christian Street Y by-law. It's obvious that they're going to make sure that no Philadelphia Y mounts this kind of effort again. Any branch manager or director who talks about independence will be removed immediately. They can do what they want. We're not going away, and the issue of self-determination for the Christian Street YMCA is not going away.

James and Talmadge have met with Corporate to discuss the question of independence, but with no success, says James. The last thing Stallkamp wants is to be the guy who unwittingly started a revolution for independence that spreads like wildfire.

While the revolutionary mood is not exactly spreading like wildfire, some branches nationally have petitioned for independence from their corporate heads, and apparently are using CSY as a model. The George Washington Carver branch of the YMCA of Greater Miami is one of them, and submitted a position paper to Corporate Dec. 3, outlining why they say the needs of their mostly minority membership aren't being met, and how gaining their independence would solve the problem. The corporate board of the YMCA of Greater Miami responded by disbanding Carver's board of managers Dec. 11.

'At no point did Corporate try to contact either the board or myself,¨ says former Carver Y Executive Director Nino Tillman, who, like CSY's Parsons, was ousted. 'They got our petition, and fired us all by fax without another word. But the issue isn't dead. We're committed to serving the people here, and we'll continue to fight on their behalf. Corporate interests cannot be allowed to supercede the interests of the community.¨

For her part, fired CSY director Blondell Parsons continues to be intimately involved with the branch's struggle, while her lawyers proceed with a lawsuit against Corporate for wrongful termination, among other things, and seek unspecified monetary damages.

It's not about me, Parsons says. I honestly don't think it ever was about me. This issue is so much larger than any one person. The Christian Street YMCA has a primary duty to the members and the community, and that's what's important.

CSY board members are hopeful that the current power struggle will result in a stronger organization, and a model to a community desperate for signs of self-determination. The next meeting to discuss the matter between Corporate and board members is scheduled for Jan. 10, with fireworks almost surely to follow.