YMCA’s Lucria Ortiz: Service is the cure for what ails us

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From her third-floor corner office in the DeMello Building on lower Union Street, Lucria Ortiz has a great ocean view.

But she’s much more interested in the unassuming brick building directly below — the New Bedford branch of YMCA, the heart of her domain as the new CEO of YMCA Southcoast.

Since taking over in June, she’s immersed herself in the inner workings of an organization with six locations, hundreds of employees and thousands of members.

“I think it’s really important to meet people where they are, and really listen so that you understand how to meet them, right?” she says. “It has taken me years and years of perfecting, leading various teams. The message I’m trying to send is that I believe in what we can do.”

While Ortiz is learning the who, what, where and how of YMCA Southcoast, the why is simple: to make a difference in the community with an open mind and welcoming heart.

“I think it’s the incredible power of human connection that’s so needed right now, and that’s why the YMCA is so important in people’s lives,” she said. “We get to serve people every single day, and I think that’s what makes it a special place to be.”

Starting as a public defender in the Bronx, she transitioned to nonprofit work as she raised her two children, and found a home at the YMCA. After a decade there in various management roles, she took a break from the organization to lead a company focused on helping students transition to college. 

She enjoyed the work — but wasn’t counting on how much the YMCA had become an unshakable part of her.

“I missed community leadership,” she said. “I missed the complexity of the Y, and being able to work with business leaders, government officials, other nonprofit leaders who do problem-solving. 

“I realized that this is where I belong.”

Having grown up in Connecticut and earned a law degree in Massachusetts, she knows New England is a special place.

“As I was venturing back into the Y, a few roles were put in front of me and I saw this one and thought — wow, it’s so unique, geographically and with the different communities being served. And just coming back to New England, it’s really nice.”

With branches in New Bedford, Dartmouth, Fall River, Mattapoisett, Swansea and Wareham, along with a community farm in Dartmouth that addresses food insecurity, there’s a lot of ground to cover and people to meet.

Which is just how she likes it. Like everyone, she says she tries to achieve work/life balance, but admits her nature is to work and then to work some more.

“I’m a strong believer that service is such an antidote for what ails us in communities,” she said. “And the Y is such a special bridge. We could have someone who’s super wealthy who lives in Dartmouth come work out, and they’re right next to someone who walked here from the projects. 

“And to me, that’s the real beauty of the YMCA — in today’s America, we need that, right?”

New Bedford Light: Did the YMCA have a place in your life growing up?

Lucria Ortiz: Actually it didn’t! 

But at the Y, we often ask people, what is your “Y story,” right? The thing about the YMCA is, people can have a story at 5, or they can have a story at 85, right? We serve all ages and stages.

But I would say, I came into my career basically as a servant leader — really just wanting to do service to community and to others.

So I started my career as a public defender in the Bronx. I loved that work. I was really rooted in that work because I was exposed to the criminal justice system as a kid. My father was incarcerated most of my childhood, so I just had this vantage point of wanting to help and fix.

So while I was lawyering in the Bronx — I did that for about five years — I had kids and wanted something that would allow me to balance family life better.

I started working for judges, in courtrooms, in the Bronx — for Supreme Court and criminal judges.

I was living in New Jersey, and started to sit on a school board, sit on a nonprofit board. And that’s when I really discovered community work.

That’s what truly attracted me to nonprofit and just leadership in a different way.

While I was thinking about leaving the practice of law — because it felt so singular to me — I wanted to do something more expansive.

And a friend of mine, she was a board chair of a YMCA, and she said, “You should check out the Y. The Y does really cool work across all kinds of communities — they look different everywhere you go.”

So I did. I made the leap away from the practice and started as a fundraiser. I basically cycled my way up through marketing roles, strategy and operations, and eventually into the C-suite — serving New Jersey and New York communities.

Wealthy communities in New Jersey, not-so-wealthy in New York — it gave me this real cross-section of service and the ability to see threads through communities.

That’s what I love about the Y — it allows us to see so much more commonality than differences.

NBL: When you were young, were you always thinking, “I want to serve people, I want to help”?

LO: I think so. My mom was a single mom, and I had to help her navigate the social service system. When you’re doing that as a young kid, you just develop that disposition to help.

And then when I went off to college, there was this exploration of, “Why does this happen? Why is my mom in this situation, why is my dad in this situation?”

So that kind of exploration and study led to, “OK, well, what can I do to help fix it?”

Going to law school was a solution. My brother and I both went to law school — we both came out doing public defense work. We were just really called to it from this childhood experience of watching the adults around us really struggle.

NBL: What drew you specifically to this opportunity and this community?

LO: You know, I’ve been telling people that when you start to aspire or get into the CEO seat in the Y, leadership will tell you, “Be prepared to move.” It’s like being in the military — there are about 700 YMCA associations around the country.

This Southcoast Association has six branches. Boston might have 18 or more. Some are just one independent branch.

So you have the opportunity to go and serve in really different communities.

As I was venturing back into the Y, a few roles were put in front of me. I saw this one and thought, wow, it’s so unique — two city branches, two suburban branches, a farm, and a branch on the ocean (Camp Massasoit in Mattapoisett).

There are tons of Ys on lakes, but not many on the ocean. Or with farms that give away all their food — that’s what we do at Dartmouth, to help with food insecurity.

That geographic diversity alone was a big attraction for me. And coming back to New England — that’s kind of nice too.

NBL: You mentioned your kids earlier. What stage are they at now?

LO: I have two kids — I say, two emerging leaders. They’re really strong human beings.

My son just graduated from college — he’s 22, working at JP Morgan in New York City. My daughter is a third-year student at Pratt in Brooklyn — she’s my creative.

They’re launching into their adult lives. So, as parents, we have an opportunity at this stage to really sink our teeth into career. My family’s been very supportive. They know how much I love the Y.

NBL: What’s the learning curve been like here in New Bedford and the South Coast?

LO: I think it’s making sure I make the time to sit down with all the people — and by that, I mean elected officials in each town, heads of police departments, school superintendents, other nonprofits, business leaders, and donors.

That’s a challenge for every CEO, but especially for the Y, because we have such complex and varied programs and services.

It’s about making sure not only that I meet with them, but that we create strong partnerships.

I’m fortunate to have a very strong team. Each branch has an executive director, so it’s really about working with them to make sure they’re doing that outreach too — that I’m complementing their work, not overstepping it.

Any branch of the Y is only as good as how fully it reflects the community and truly digs in — saying, “All right, what’s going on in this town, and how can the Y play a part?”

NBL: At what point here do you feel like, “OK, I’m here, I’ve landed — I’m not new anymore”?

LO: I actually do feel that now. I spent a good amount of the summer — that first hundred days — really digging in and meeting people.

Now, what’s crystallizing are the things the team and I can work on across the region.

One thing I definitely see is that we can do a better job of serving our teens — making sure when they come into our space, there’s programming that helps them think about their own development and their future.

It’s one thing to come to the Y and play basketball. It’s another to have an adult mentoring you, saying, “Hey, what’s next for you? Let’s think about that.”

Then the Y acts as a convener — connecting them to our programs or to others in the area.

That’s something I’m looking at across branches, because what I see with youth right now is what I see with adults — we’re all still reeling from the pandemic in terms of interpersonal and mental health, how we navigate the digital and real worlds.

Kids especially — their brains were forming, and they missed out on a lot of fundamental things we had in high school or childhood. So I’m really focused on that piece.

NBL: So — fundraising. How big a part of your job is that?

LO: It’s the No. 1 job. When you’re a nonprofit CEO, you have to think about it constantly.

For the Y, it’s about money, yes — but it’s also about friends. Making sure we have a good mix of people wrapping their arms around the YMCA.

This YMCA’s been around since 1857 — Fall River since 1867. They came here and built more over the years. Those were community efforts — not one or two people, but whole groups, with the board and staff, saying, “This community center matters. It has to live on.”

So my job, as chief fundraiser, is to connect people to our mission — so they see it’s meaningful.

And I’ll tell you what I love about that work: at the Y, you see this real cross-section of society every day. Someone who’s very wealthy might swim next to someone who walks from the projects.

That’s the beauty of the YMCA — and it’s been like that for many, many years.

In today’s America, we need that, right? We need to be a staple where we’re bridging and bringing all kinds of people together. That’s the story I tell mostly when I’m talking to donors — there’s so much power in that kind of community building. Especially here in New Bedford, I see that every day.

I see it in the YMCA spirit and energy everywhere. But it’s different here — it’s topped with that New England warmth. I do feel that when I come here.

NBL: If you have a Saturday to yourself, what are you doing?

LO: Well, I’m in the South Coast of Massachusetts now. I mean, here it’s the landscape for me — it just allows for so much incredible exploration.

I think when you live in a city like New York City you become an explorer, you know?

And so I’ve gone out to the islands here, you know, I’m checking out what life is like on our farm in Dartmouth, doing all of the community, cultural things that are here.

There’s an incredible art scene here, especially in New Bedford, you know? So there’s so much for me to see.

And what’s cool about what I do is that that’s community too — some of that. So even on my downtime, I get to engage in community in that way.

But then, you know, I’m a YMCA CEO — I work out, I have to work out, right? I do yoga, I do meditation, I do all of those things, you know — connect with my people and engage in that balance. 

NBL: Is there a common thread that you find among people who work for the Y?

LO: Oh yes. There’s this energy of service that I don’t see anywhere else. I’ve experienced other service jobs, but the energy of wanting to give to somebody else — your time, your attention — that’s special.

I’ll give you a small example. I was at an event the other night in Wareham, and a woman came over to me and said, “The YMCA saved my life.” And she told me why. Her husband of many years — they divorced, and it was very difficult. But she started naming all the staff who connected with her during that hard time. Those things happen every day in YMCAs.

People see the exterior part — but the real power is in those human connections. The people who come to work for us get to do that for others every single day.

That’s why they come back … It’s that magic of giving to someone else, because when you do that, it just makes you feel so good.

Jonathan Comey is a 13-time first-place award winner in New England for column writing and a contributor to The New Bedford Light. Please send emails to him at jcomey@newbedfordlight.org.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.