Children born today are expected to have shorter life spans than their parents, a direct result of overwhelmingly low levels of inactivity combined with poor diet. To help reverse this trend, the Fitzgerald Youth Sports Institute promotes the health and well-being of youth through physical activity and healthy development initiatives.
What makes FYSI unique is our “cleats on the ground” approach to removing barriers to youth participation in sport and physical activity. Through our SportsCorps initiative, we train and place dynamic youth leaders in individual communities to develop and deliver powerful programming, as well as train community members to sustain the program’s positive impact.
We are seeking $100,000 to place a skilled SportsCorps youth leader in the communities of Charlestown, Jamaica Plain, Mattapan, Salem, South Boston and the South End for one year. These young leaders will work within the community to identify the barriers to physical activity and wellness that children face, and develop and implement programming to address those needs. In addition, these SportsCorps Team Members will train coaches and other adults to help sustain the positive programming as well as teach valuable life skills such as team work, inclusion and bullying prevention.
FACTS
-Urban youth have only 1/3 of the athletic opportunities available as suburban youth.
-Only 30% of inner-city children have the opportunity to participate in after-school sports and
recreation – and only 15% of those children are girls.
-In many neighborhoods, a lack of resources, facilities, transportation and safety act as
critical barriers to the success of physical activity programming.
-This lack of opportunity translates not only into physical inactivity, but into criminal activity
as well – FBI data shows a tripling of juvenile crime in the after-school hours between 3pm
and 8pm.