North Central Florida YMCA has cut ties with the national organization and is rebranding itself as the North Central Florida Community Center.

The decision to disaffiliate with the YMCA was finalized on Wednesday and the organization announced the split in a Facebook post on Thursday.

“To everyone in our Gainesville community. It is with mixed emotions we announce that as of 4/30/25 we will no longer operate as a YMCA. After thorough deliberation and consideration, we decided it is in our best interest to disaffiliate from the YMCA Movement and continue operations as a separate, local, nonprofit organization,” the Facebook post said. “Our Y has had the privilege of serving the children, families and Gainesville area for more than 58 years.”

Ashten Gholson, the board chair for North Central Florida Community Center, said the disaffiliation from the YMCA allows the center to better help the community it serves.

“The transition will free us up as an organization and the requirements for a national governing body, and so it just allows us to operate more autonomously and independently to best meet the needs of the community.” Gholson said. “The YMCA definitely allowed us to serve the community by providing a lot of resources. This just allows us to be able to seek out more localized resources.”

Operations, programming and open hours are staying the same, but members will no longer have access to other YMCA locations.

Under the organization’s Facebook announcement, patrons of the YMCA were concerned about whether their insurance would still cover programs offered by the organization. Gholson said the community center is working towards providing alternative options with third-party memberships.

Since the decision was announced and members were contacted about the change, the center hasn’t suffered from any membership cancellations, Gholson said.

The organization could decide in the future to affiliate with YMCA again if it serves the community.

“I think the biggest thing to note, as far as our involvement with the YMCA, is that through this disaffiliation, it in no means is a negative shine on the YMCA,” Gholson said. “Us doing this actually gives us the opportunity to potentially become a YMCA again in the future, if that is what the Gainesville community desires.”

North Central Florida Community Center is located at 5201 NW 34th Blvd.