United Way $$$ kick-starts youth recreation programs

BOSTON -- Boxing, yoga and adaptive windsurfing for youth with disabilities – along with more traditional sports like track, baseball, football and soccer – are among the youth fitness and recreation programs that are winning support from United Way’s campaign to promote good nutrition and participation in physical activity among Boston-area youth.

United Way of Massachusetts Bay today announced it is granting over $266,000 to fitness and recreational programs in the neighborhoods of Boston. These grants mark the first investments of a partnership between UWMB, Good Sports Inc. and the Boston Youth Sports Initiative to distribute $1 million-worth of sports and fitness equipment and apparel across Massachusetts. To date, this partnership has awarded more than $320,000 statewide to 63 organizations. More than $600,000 in funding remains available and United Way is encouraging after-school organizations across Massachusetts to apply for grants by June 30, 2005.

“For many urban youth, the costs associated with participating in a recreational or organized sports program are prohibitive,” said Milton J. Little, Jr., president and chief executive officer at United Way of Massachusetts Bay. “Our work is focused on ensuring kids grow up healthy and strong. This team effort with local fitness programs aims to remove those hurdles and open the doors to a healthier lifestyle for our young people.”

Grants announced today include:

* $28,000 to provide equipment to South End Baseball;
* $25,000 to the Paisano Boxing Club in Roxbury for equipment;
* $16,000 to AccesSportAmerica to launch a Hawaiian outrigger canoeing and adaptive windsurfing program this spring for youth with disabilities in South Boston, East Boston and Dorchester;
* $10,000 to expand the South End Titans PopWarner football program;
* $9,000 to the South Boston Athletic Club for track equipment and uniforms – a lack of uniforms limited the ability of many youth to participate in city-wide meets last year;
* $3,090 to launch a boxing program at the Charlestown Community Center;
* $2,500 to the Boston Center for Youth and Families to launch a water basketball program at the City’s 22 pools;
* $1,000 to start a yoga program at the Orient Heights Community Center in East Boston.

The grants are part of a $2.5 million initiative United Way of Massachusetts Bay is leading to provide information and tools that will help young people make healthy choices that will help to reduce obesity rates and improve the physical wellbeing of children across the region. In March, 2005, United Way launched its public awareness campaign promoting nutrition and physical fitness to Boston youth and parents. The media campaign includes television spots airing on Boston cable channels Nickelodeon, ABC Family, MTV, and Cartoon Network. As part of this effort, UWMB also will be working with middle schools in Dorchester, Roxbury, East Boston and Jamaica Plain to encourage students to participate in after school activities geared towards physical activity.

Two major studies released just in the past month illuminate the rise in obesity among the nation’s youth. The New England Journal of Medicine reported that for the first time in two centuries, the current generation of children in America may have shorter life expectancies than their parents because of obesity. Last week, a report by Duke University and the Foundation for Child Development found that child obesity has more than tripled in three decades.

For the equipment distribution component of its effort, United Way of Massachusetts Bay (UWMB) has teamed up with Good Sports, a non-profit organization that strives to increase the participation of low-income youth in sports, fitness, and recreational programs. Special consideration will be given to programs that seek to enhance or increase participation of girls, and programs that seek to increase participation of youth in Boston neighborhoods.

In order to apply, an organization must meet the following criteria:

* Must be located and/or serve youth within Good Sports and/or UWMB target communities in Massachusetts.
* Must be operating an organized sport and/or recreation program (not necessarily competitive, but must have coaching, be structured, and meet multiple times).
* Must directly serve youth ages 5-18 years.
* Should demonstrate a significant dosage of sports and/or recreation time (i.e. programs that meet for a longer duration or multiple times per week will be prioritized over programs that meet minimally).
* Must be running an after-school program between the hours of 3:00-8:00 p.m. on school days.

Organizations selected to receive equipment must report on the success of the programs funded, and the impact of the donations. This will involve both follow-up questionnaires and site visits to enable UWMB and Good Sports to evaluate the programs. Grant applications are being accepted on an ongoing basis between September 2004 and June 2005. Detailed eligibility criteria and a grant application may be accessed through the Good Sports web-site at www.good-sports.org or by calling 617.426.0502.