OSA at the YMCA

Overview

One Spark Academy is operating out of the Conejo Valley YMCA, located at 4031 N. Moorpark Rd. in Thousand Oaks. In November 2021, the YMCA announced the closure of this facility indefinitely for a variety of reasons, primarily that the main building became unusable when its two pools fell into disrepair during the pandemic. Deciding what is next for this property could take years. In the meantime, we are the caretakers of this beautiful 35-acre property, which has four other safe and usable buildings. Our move here happened at the end of 2021, when One Spark Academy found itself in need of a home when its former location, The Thousand Oaks Teen Center, made plans to undergo a huge renovation that would have necessitated our relocation anyway. So, this partnership is a definite win-win for all involved!

You can read more about the closure of the YMCA in the December 9th Thousand Oaks Acorn article.
You can read more about the Teen Center renovation in this November 11 Acorn article.

What We Are Using

At the YMCA, we have far more classroom and outdoor space than we have ever had access to before. This is so exciting! We have access to:

Two huge classrooms. There are two large bathrooms (locker rooms actually, but closed off from the main building) outside the bungalows;
An office space which serves as our main “hub”. It holds another classroom, two small study rooms, a foyer, bathroom and a utility area;
An activity room with hardwood floors and an incredible view! It has a full kitchen, two bathrooms, and ample area for seating and activities;
A variety of open and covered outdoor classroom spaces, including an outdoor amphitheater with views of the Santa Rosa Valley, two Gaga pits, a basketball court, and a play structure, all on 35 acres of open space that include hiking trails (!!).

Is it Safe?
YES! We would not move here if it wasn’t, and the YMCA would not allow it. We do not have access to the main building, due to it having two empty pools. But we have access to everything else. However, the buildings definitely needed some TLC! They had not been used (except for youth programming last summer) since March 2020, and before that, they were very well-used. In order to prepare the space, the YMCA and OSA made many necessary upgrades, including: carpeting in the two bungalows and new paints throughout; new screens for windows and the replacement of old flourescent bulbs with LED; electrical upgrades, a new dishwasher, and a new water heater in the Activity Room; an industrial handrail for the wooden stairs leading to the Activity Room; and a host of other upgrades and cleaning details, from new dispensers in the restrooms to campus clean up.

Is it Long Term?
We have a month-to-month lease on the space. At this time, we are planning for the year and beyond, and we feel confident that we will be provided plenty of time in the event of any necessary transitions. During our time here, we will ENJOY it, CARE for it, and “sprinkle fairy dust” on it. We also have a beautiful garden at the Las Flores Community Garden that we will continue to use off site. It is about 2.5 miles away.

The future remains to be seen, and that is OKAY. In the meantime, we are enjoying yet another huge OSA Adventure. We are good at this! We are flexible, innovative, creative, and resilient.

(Updated 9/13/22)