LA84 FOUNDATION AWARDS $635,000 TO 16 SPORTS PROGRAMS FOR YOUTH IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

LOS ANGELES – October 15, 2008 – The LA84 Foundation today announced $635,275 in grants to support youth sports in Southern California. The grants will give more than 18,000 young people access to sports programs that otherwise would not be available to them.  Funding is also being provided to make critical infrastructure improvements to several sports facilities.

 “Sports can have a tremendously positive impact on young people, shaping their lives both physically and emotionally,” says Thomas E. Larkin Jr., chairman of the board of directors of LA84 Foundation which was created by the surplus from the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games.  “These grants will provide thousands of youngsters in Southern California the opportunity to experience the magic of sports by increasing access to sports programs and improving the quality of the sports experience.”

The Mt. SAC Auxiliary Services Relays Youth Days will receive $155,000 for this one-of-a-kind track and field program.  The Foundation has supported the LA84 Foundation/Mt. SAC Relays Youth Days for the last 23 years, over which time 280,000 Southern California youth have been introduced to track and field.   Many of the participating schools have added track and field to their curriculum.  Mt. SAC also offers participating schools track and field instruction for their students and technical assistance in running an “all school” track meet.  More than 11,000 youth from 150 elementary and middle schools in 68 Southern California communities are expected to participate in the 2009 program.

THINK Together, a non-profit after-school provider operating at more than 200 schools in districts throughout Orange, Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside Counties, will receive $75,000.  The grant will support THINK Together programs at all nine middle schools in the Santa Ana Unified School District which had eliminated after-school sports due to budget constraints.  “Studies show that youngsters who do not perform well or feel alienated in middle school are more likely to drop out of high school.  It’s critical to provide these students with programs that make them feel more connected to their school and encourage them to perform academically.  Sports is the perfect vehicle for that,” says Anita L. DeFrantz, president of LA84 Foundation.

The Foundation awarded $86,630 to the Southern California Speed Skating Association for its short track ice speed skating program which is the only such program in Southern California.   The program offers area youth an opportunity to experience a non-traditional sport for little to no-cost and practice alongside elite speed skaters training for national and international competitions. 

A number of the grants will help improve the infrastructure of sports facilities serving youth.  This has been a top priority of LA84 Foundation, which has partnered with Nike’s Let Me Play program to renovate 84 sports facilities around Southern California.  The Boys & Girls Clubs of Tustin (BGC-Tustin) will receive $50,000 to install a new floor in its gymnasium which is one of the few play spaces in the area and is heavily used.  With a new floor, BGC-Tustin estimates it will be able to accommodate twice as many sports leagues and reach an even larger number of youth.  Located in a low-income area of South Los Angeles, Challengers Boys & Girls Club is being awarded $50,000 to help construct a state-of-the-art track and synthetic soccer field facility.  The club will now be able to offer soccer, track and field and flag football.  Lennox Educational Advancement Foundation (LEAF) will received $50,000 for renovation of the track and field facility at Lennox Middle School which is the primary facility for youth sports programming in this underserved area.  The $250,000 renovation project is also receiving funding from Nike, Integrated Waste Management/Waste Tire, the Smelser Foundation, Lennox School District and local community fundraising efforts.

Additional grants:

The other ten LA84 Foundation grants are to organizations providing a variety of sports programs including:   Eastside Boys & Girls Club of Los Angeles, East Los Angeles - $20,000; Inglewood Police Activities League - $20,000; LA SCORES, Palms - $32,770;  Hollywood Police Activities League (PALS) - $24,000;  United States Synchronized Team Association, Inc., Lakewood - $25,800;  Carlsbad Wave Soccer - $10,000;  Dubnoff Center for Child Development and Educational Therapy, North Hollywood - $6,075;  Ivey Ranch Park Association, Oceanside - $10,000;  Mar Vista Family Center (MVFC) - $10,000;  West Valley Boys & Girls Club, Inc., Canoga Park - $10,000.

About LA84 Foundation: The LA84 Foundation was established to manage Southern California's share of the surplus from the highly successful 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. The Foundation received $93 million at its inception and, since then, has invested $175 million in sports programs serving more than two million youth in the eight Southern California counties of Los Angeles, Imperial, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, Santa Barbara and Ventura. Its headquarters is located in the historic Britt House near downtown Los Angeles where it houses the world's premier sports library and meeting facilities. The Foundation convenes numerous forums for the exploration of the most pressing issues in sport. For additional information, please visit www.LA84Foundation.org.