LA84 Foundation awards $1.7 million to 16 youth sports groups across Southern California
The grants, announced Nov. 9, fund adaptive sports, golf, skateboarding, soccer, surfing, tennis and wrestling for more than 122,000 young people in six counties. Four of the 16 organizations are first-time grantees.
Los Angeles. The LA84 Foundation, the Los Angeles grantmaker created from the surplus of the 1984 Summer Olympic Games, has awarded $1.7 million to 16 school and community organizations that run sports, play and movement programs for more than 122,000 young people across Southern California.
The foundation's board approved grants for programs in adaptive sports, golf, multi-sport leagues, skateboarding, soccer, surfing, tennis and wrestling in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego and Ventura counties. MyNewsLA reported the announcement on Monday, Nov. 9; the foundation's own release carries no date.
A focus on girls
Girls and young women make up 47 percent of the youth the grants will reach, the foundation said, because several of the organizations focus on girls. Four organizations received an LA84 grant for the first time: Black Surfers Collective, Concrete Queenz, Downtown LA Soccer Club and Legacy LA.
Concrete Queenz received a grant for LA Girls Next Gen, an after-school skateboarding program for 100 girls from West Athens, Watts, Willowbrook and Compton. Downtown LA Soccer Club was funded for She Came to Play, which serves nearly 200 girls, and Football for Her for its girls soccer program. Black Surfers Collective will use its grant for Pan African Beach Days, water safety and surf programs for 1,750 young people, and Volo Kids Foundation will expand free after-school programs for 2,169 youth in San Diego County.
“Receiving this grant from the LA84 Foundation allows us to provide free skateboarding instruction, mentorship, and travel opportunities directly on school campuses, removing barriers that often prevent girls from accessing and benefiting from sports.”
The other grantees
The other recipients are A Place Called Home, Beat the Streets Los Angeles, First Tee Inland Empire, the Foundation for Interscholastic Youth Athletics, Pueblo Nuevo Education & Development Group, Rio Hondo Education Consortium, SCGA Junior Golf Foundation, Team Prime Time, Teens Rise Foundation and Woodcraft Rangers.
Besides its grants, the foundation trains coaches, conducts research and keeps an Olympic and sports library. On its grants page it says its large grant cycle is closed and small grant requests of $5,000 to $25,000 are accepted year round; large grants, for more than $25,000, typically open in December or July. MyNewsLA reported that the next large grant cycle is scheduled to open in 2027.
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