Youth Sports Grants program salutes employee volunteers
The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention recommends youth engage in 60 minutes of physical activity a day, yet in King County, only 19% of youth meet these recommendations. Many barriers such as rising costs, limited transportation options, along with policies and practices result in inequities of access to physical activity disproportionately impacting youth of color, youth living in poverty, and immigrant and refugee youth. King County Parks’ Youth Sports Grants aim to invest in programs and capital projects that will reduce barriers youth face to participating in physical activity.
“Physical activity is vital to youth development, physical health, mental health, and social emotional learning, and is also associated with better educational outcomes.” – Youth Sports Grants
These Youth Sports Grants have supported programs as diverse as All Girl Everything Ultimate Program (AGE UP), which partners with schools in south Seattle to provide no cost ultimate frisbee to youth of color, Cham Refugee Community providing sports and recreation opportunities to youth of Cham and East African descent, and Baseball Beyond Borders, which mentors and develops young black athlete leaders by instilling baseball fundamentals.
King County employee volunteers make it possible
The process of evaluating applications to inform how the County invests public funding is made stronger through the participation of many County employees who volunteer their time to review applications by serving as evaluators.
“We really appreciate the expertise and lived experiences they bring to the process to inform how King County Parks invests in the community,” said Sarah Margeson, Program Manager. “Their input is vital to supporting more equitable access to sports and recreation for youth furthest from play equity.”
It is a program priority to recruit evaluators who represent communities most impacted by inequities. The Youth Sports Grants team is grateful for all the employees across the Departments of Community & Human Services, Public Health, Metro, Adult & Juvenile Detention, and Natural Resources & Parks who give their time to review applications.
“Thank you for giving me the opportunity, it has been a wonderful experience” – Abdirahman Hashi, Program Manager, Public Health (Evaluator)
Below are the King County employee volunteers who have participated in the grant review process.
| Abdirahman Hashi Alejandra Calderon Allison Speicher Andy Boland Ashley Mareld Avreayl Jacobson Brandy Rinck Craig Page Cynthia Adams Darlene Sellers Desiree Hodge Emily Hart Erin Sy Gabe Avila-Mooney Hannah Faires | Heather Ahndan Jennifer Stebbins Jody Addicks Joe Inslee Jose Romo-Ramirez Julie West Kaleigh Mitchell Kendi Rossi Kerren Buchanan Ladna Farah Lara Penny Lee Anne Hughes Lilia Wong Lina Rose Lorrie Alfonsi | Mari Gregg Miesha Vaughn Minda Mattox Mirela Pencheva Ngoc Nguyen Reginald Cole Richelle Rose Sahar Arbab Saybre Locke Scott Thomas Seth Schromen-Wawrin Tiffany Kalfur TJ Davis Tri Ong Tsengyang Vang Wojciech Maciejewski |
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