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Philly Youth Sports Fund aims to raise  million to support nonprofits
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Philly Youth Sports Fund aims to raise $5 million to support nonprofits

Players on the Vaux Big Picture High School football team call Valencia Peterson “Coach V,” but unlike the other coaches on the team, she doesn’t draw X’s and O’s.

Peterson trains coaches in a specialized program to teach their players how to recognize domestic violence and prevent it at home and at school through his organization. Raising awareness and preventing abuse through the open door.

About 21% of men in the United States reported experiencing domestic violence before the age of 18, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. When Peterson gathers the Vaux boys to kneel, she tells them she wants to create an environment where they feel comfortable talking about the issues in their lives.

ODAAP is a small non-profit organization that has approximately $141,000 in revenue in 2023. It works with a handful of boys’ sports programs in the area and operates a separate non-athletic mentoring program for high school girls as well as an all-gender program.

“I’m more of a one-man show, but I don’t want to be,” Peterson said. “I want to be supported by organizations that believe in our cause and see our impact. »

It is a goal that Philadelphia Youth Sports Collaborative hopes to reach this year, with the creation of a $5 million fund for small youth sports nonprofits, including Peterson’s. The collaboration raises funds for the Philadelphia Youth Sports Fundwith the aim of opening applications in the spring. The mission is to provide increased funding to nonprofits as well as training to apply for grants and maintain the spaces they operate out of.

“As the leader of a nonprofit organization, I know how difficult it is to pay all your bills when you’re raising money dollar for dollar,” said Beth Devine, executive director of PYSC. “When you can apply for a grant that costs you $5,000, it changes your year in terms of the time you have to spend on the actual work.”

The youth recreation landscape has improved in recent years, with the city having completed or undergoing renovations at dozens of recreation centers. Philadelphia Youth Basketball opened a 100,000 square foot indoor basketball and community center In North Philadelphia in July.

But challenges remain as former mayor Jim KenneyThe city’s rebuilding program – initially planned as a radical renovation of the city’s recreation centers, financed by the soda tax – did not achieve its initial objective.

» LEARN MORE: North Philly’s youth baseball fields are in terrible shape. They can’t wait long for help from MLB.

Meanwhile, some parks like the Athletic Recreation Center in Brewery CityA historical estate on which the Vaux football team trains, are in poor condition due to their heavy use by the public and the lack of funding from the city to maintain them regularly. Philadelphia’s public and private investment in parks equals approximately $109 per person each year, ranking it 62nd among the 100 most populous cities in the United States, according to the Trust for Public Land.

The collaborative will award grants to benefit as many organizations as possible. Amounts ranged between $500 and $4,000 during a pilot program earlier this year. That amount of money, Devine said, can ease pressure on nonprofits to raise their own funds and not pass on the costs of expanding their programs to families.

“Ultimately, you want a child to not face any barriers when wanting to get involved in a sport,” Devine said. “Kids should be able to go to their playroom and find a program to play in, and it shouldn’t be so expensive that they can’t do it.”

Shannon Gunby, executive director of The circle on the bridgea youth baseball training organization, said the grant could help his organization no longer have to self-fund and ask for frequent donations. The organization received $4,000 from the PYSC pilot program, which it used this fall to hire staff and purchase snacks, field space and equipment, he said.

“A lot of us work other jobs,” Gunby said. “We’re working our butts off, but we’re also literally begging our family and friends to donate to make this happen or struggling to get grants.”

Founded in 2009, the PYSC began as a network of youth development sports organizations and became a nonprofit organization in 2015. In 2023, it had fewer than a dozen employees and operated with just a few more than $1.2 million in revenue, tax records show. The collaboration offers a youth development organization membership program that includes training for coaches and nonprofit managers. he also advocates for accessible and equitable sports programming.

In the PYSC pilot fund, nonprofits were required to have an annual budget of less than $150,000 and serve children ages 5 to 18. The collaborative may add more requirements in its next round of grants, but it wants to make it as easy as possible for nonprofits. receive funding, Devine said.

“As soon as we saw the number of applications we received, we said, ‘This has to happen,’” Devine said. “We need to go beyond this small initial funding round. »

» LEARN MORE: One of Philadelphia’s most historic ballparks is in disarray. Neighborhood activists are asking for help.

Open Door Abuse Awareness & Prevention received $500 through PYSC’s pilot program this year. Peterson said every bit helps and one day she hopes to secure enough funding to offer more trauma-informed coaching training and provide stipends for the coaches she works with.

“Every year there’s something new, every year we want to keep something going and we can’t continue without the funds,” Peterson said. “There is so much to do and little money going around. »

Playing fields, not killing fields is an Inquirer collaboration with the Claire Smith Center for Sports Media and the Logan Center for Urban Investigative Reporting to produce a series examining the state of Philadelphia’s infrastructure and youth recreation programs. The project will explore the challenges and solutions for sport to be a viable response to gun violence and a driver of revitalization of urban neighborhoods.