Feature Story

June 19, 2008

LA84 Foundation Awards $1.6 Million to 36 Sports Programs for Youth in Southern California

From Ascribe Newsfeed:

The LA84 Foundation today announced $1,596,545 million in grants to support sports programs serving more than 14,400 youth in Southern California.

LA84 Foundation believes strongly that every young person in Southern California should be able to enjoy the benefits of sports by having access to safe and adequate recreational facilities.

Among the grant recipients, Friends of Expo Center will receive $500,000 from the Foundation to help complete a multi-million dollar renovation of the recreation facilities in Expo Park.

In a precedent-setting public-private sector partnership, the Friends of Expo Center will raise the funds necessary to renovate the field, the City of LA's Department of Recreation and Parks will have the right to program the field and the state will have access to it when additional Coliseum parking is needed.

The LA84 Foundation awarded $100,000 to A Better LA, a non-profit co-founded by USC football coach Pete Carroll and Lou and Diane Tice of The Pacific Institute.

Beginning on July 4th, eight LA city parks will extend operating hours until midnight and offer a wide range of programming, including basketball, soccer and softball leagues.

A $30,000 grant will go to Special Olympics - Southern California which, in partnership with Los Angles Unified School District (LAUSD), is offering track and field, soccer and basketball curricula at 14 LAUSD schools for children who are intellectually challenged.

Now in its third year, the program will serve 500 youth, more than triple the number of participants it had at its inception.

The Foundation awarded $10,000 to Riding Emphasizing Individual Needs and Strengths (REINS), a therapeutic horsemanship program in San Diego County that provides physical, mental and emotional therapy through carefully supervised horseback riding to 150 youth with a wide range of disabilities.

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