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21st Street Legacy
Gift
The primary focus of the 21st Street Foundation is to fund an
annual Legacy Gift awarded
each year
to the person or organization best able
to positively impact the lives of inner-city youth.
Plans for future Legacy Gift projects include the renovation of athletic playfields, awarding
of educational
scholarships, development of life skills programs, community centers, and much
more!
Third
Annual Legacy Gift
Awarded to the Austin Foundation,
The 21st Street Foundation donated $2000 to fund the year-long participation of 20 children in the Youth & Fitness program.
The Youth & Fitness program is a sampling of different forms of physical activity. Youth learn about the components of fitness and how to apply them in their lives. Youth are highly encouraged to return and become volunteers. Participants are given t-shirts, water bottles and a program notebook to take with them as a resource. The goal of this program is to encourage teens to try new activities, discover new forms of exercise they find enjoyable and to educate them on nutrition and general fitness principles.
Program Began:
April 1994
Held on: Saturdays in Quarterly Sessions from 2pm to 4:30pm at Garfield
Community Center
Number of youth served per day: 35
Activities: Strength training, swimming, nutrition, squash, yoga, aerobics,
martial arts and more.
About Youth & Fitness
In 1994, Willie Austin, former University of Washington football player had
a calling. He recognized a need to assist area youth in bringing fitness
back into their life. Willie had always been involved in fitness from his UW
defensive back days in 1979-1983, to his numerous records in the sport of
powerlifting, to running and owning his own fitness facility. Reaching out
to the community has always been his passion. With co-founder Ros Ghan, and
a group of enthusiastic volunteers, Willie began building a grassroots
organization that sought to bring health and fitness programs to Seattle
area kids. A program called "Youth and Fitness" was launched at Gateway
Athletic Club as a community service, offering youth the opportunity to
learn about, and experience the different aspects of fitness. During that
time period the program served 120 youth per year.
In 1997, the Austin Foundation became incorporated as a non-profit organization to support "Youth and Fitness" and begin developing opportunities to serve youth out in the community. In the five years since becoming incorporated, the number of youth served increased from 120 youth per year to 2500 different youth per year at 8 different program sites. The difference equates to a 95% increase! Currently the Austin Foundation provides fitness programs at the Youth Detention Center, Ryther Child Center, Garfield Teen Life Center - Late Night Program and the Garfield Interagency school. In addition, we provide after school programming at Ranier Beach, Franklin, Cleveland and Garfield high schools. Our partners include the Seattle Public Library, Seattle Public Schools, Seattle Parks and Recreation, Harborview Children and Teen's Clinic, Odessa Brown Children's Clinic and Gateway Athletic Club. Most of the facilities are requesting an increase in services, and the list is long, of organizations requesting new programming. We are prepared to meet the critical need of the community once we have the proper infrastructures and systems in place to accommodate this growing demand.
As a result of our extraordinary growth in the past two years, the Austin Foundation has entered a new phase. We have made the decision to go with a professional staff and to put programs in place that meet the needs of the organization. We will be expanding our Board of Directors, developing a strategic plan, building our volunteer base and working more effectively with other agencies to promote fitness among our community youth. The need is great. The need already stimulated in other programs cries out for more defined and in-depth service. We are dedicated to becoming a stronger organization so our programs can continue to grow and offer experiences where youth learn to internalize their physical strength into confidence, higher self-esteem and more control over their lives.
How
to Apply
If you would like to be considered for future Legacy Gifts, please
send a letter of request to:
Attn: Legacy Gift