Below is the USA Track & Field news release about the grant program. Below that is information about our new partnership with the Boys & Girls Club of Green Bay. Grants were also awarded to several other clubs in Memphis, Dallas, Ann Arbor, and other cities throughout the U.S.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Youth Track Clubs receive USATF Foundation Grants
INDIANAPOLIS - The USA Track & Field Foundation awarded several Youth Club grants during its June Board meeting in Eugene, Oregon, USATF Foundation ExecutiveDirector Tom Jackovic announced Wednesday.
The USATF Foundation provides a means to attract and guide funds to new and innovative track and field programs with an emphasis on providing opportunities for youth athletes, emerging elite athletes and anti-doping education.
The USATF Foundation depends on donations from its Board of Directors and from generous fans of track & field. The Foundation assists people of all ages, all walks of life, and all ability levels in finding enjoyment and accomplishment and achieving fitness through our inclusive sport.
For more information on USA Track & Field and the USATF Foundation, visit www.usatf.org/foundation .
This is from our grant proposal (the formatting is off due to the transfer to this website):
Program Partner
The Boys & Girls Club (BGC) of Green Bay will partner with the Distance Demons to implement a program called Race Pace. The mission of the BGC, which has two club facilities in Green Bay, is to enable all young people, especially those with special needs, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens. Sports education is part of ongoing BGC activities. The BGC serves over 8,000 members annually, ages 6-18, more than 60% of them representing ethnic/racial minorities and nearly 80% from disadvantaged circumstances.
Program Summary – Race Pace
The program name, Race Pace, represents the combination of fitness and diversity outlined in this proposal. The word "race" has a double meaning here, the fun culmination of training, and human diversity. The program will involve twenty BGC kids as members of the Distance Demons.
Facts behind the Race Pace program:
•
Studies reveal that nearly 15% (1 in 7) of Green Bay’s 27,000 children are overweight.
•School district resources are increasingly limited, resulting in more focus on core content and a reduction in physical education.
•Research indicates that reduced levels of physical activity directly affect academic performance.
•The Distance Demons membership has been mainly a non-diverse (Anglo) group of young runners.
•Diversity awareness and prejudice reduction has become a major priority for school districts and communities in the area.
Race Pace is designed to bring together a diverse group of young runners in a spirit of teamwork, mutual understanding, and physical fitness. The USATF grant will enable the following components of the program:
•Transportation to DEmnos training/workout locations, three workouts per month.
•The BGC will organize additional workouts for their runners since they will not be able to participate in all Demons training due to time and distance.
•Transportation to three road races in the Green Bay area, the most fun ones for kids.
•Distance Demons membership at half the regular fee.
•“Scholarships” of about $25 each toward running shoes for six kids selected by the BGC.
Other non-grant components of the program will include the following:
•Program start and end parties for new acquaintances and info among runners and parents.
•Group discussions on issues related to diversity, fitness, peer support, and other topics.
•A running clinic by Roy Pirrung, USATF Masters ultra running champion, Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Roy has been a friend and supporter of the Demons since the club’s inception.
•Free running socks for all BGC runners, donated by Roy and his sponsor, Wigwam Mills, Inc.
Race Pace will increase all runners’ appreciation and awareness of other ethnicities and cultures. Coach Harris is a specialist in international education, with nearly twenty years of experience in outreach programming for K-12 teachers and students.
The program will be evaluated:
1) anecdotally, on the basis of observations by program leaders, board members, runners and parents, community leaders, road race directors, and so on;
2) through a series of feedback forms completed every three months by leaders, runners, and parents;
3) through media attention to the program.
