August 2011 — BAYS Press Release
Media Contact: Emily Queliza
Associate Director
Tel (415) 830-0292
Fax (415) 252-9010
equeliza@americascores.org
www.AmericaScoresBayArea.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: SAN FRANCISCO, CA-AUGUST 2011
BAYS FOUNDATION INVESTS IN AMERICA SCORES BAY AREA SOCCER & LITERACY PROGRAM
The Bay Area Youth Sports Foundation (BAYS) announced that it has made a $12,500 initial grant to America SCORES Bay Area. America SCORES becomes the sixth local program that BAYS has partnered with. In the past two years, BAYS has awarded over $125,000 to a small portfolio of innovative non-profit youth sports and education programs targeting low-income children in the Greater San Francisco Bay Area.
Along with America SCORES, BAYS has supported the following organizations: East Palo Alto Tennis and Tutoring, Girls on the Run Bay Area, Lacrosse for LIFE, Oakland Community Pools Project, and Real Options for City Kids.
America SCORES Bay Area partners with the San Francisco Unified and West Contra Costa Unified School Districts, as well as other community-based organizations, to provide 1,000 students at 25 underserved public elementary schools with team-based soccer, poetry, nutrition, violence prevention, and service-learning activities.
“In the current economic environment, with physical education programs in public schools either reduced or eliminated, sports programs like America SCORES provide a vital and often singular lifeline for both physical activity and mental well-being for many area children,” said Rob Urstein, Board Chair of the BAYS Foundation. “Our board was especially impressed with the quality of the programs that SCORES has operated over the past ten years and the meaningful impact on young people and communities it has had. We are confident that America SCORES has an opportunity to increase that impact significantly.”
BAYS will recognize America SCORES and the other sports-based youth development programs at this year’s San Francisco Fall Lacrosse Fall Classic presented by Levi’s® on Saturday, October 8 at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco. This annual event generates revenue for the BAYS Foundation and their grantees. For more information visit sflacrosse.com.
About the BAYS Foundation
The Bay Area Youth Sports Foundation (BAYS Foundation), a 501(c)3 public benefit corporation, was founded in 2008 by a group of professionals in San Francisco who believe that organized sports can engage and transform the experiences of all young people, and, when part of structured programs with a larger educational mission, can help change lives and strengthen communities. For more information, please visit sfbays.org.
About America SCORES Bay Area
Founded in 2001 as the local affiliate of America SCORES, America SCORES Bay Area inspires urban youth to lead healthy lives, be engaged students, and to have the character and confidence to make a difference in the world. SCORES provides children with experiences to develop their own voice through poetry and creative expression, promotes physical activity through soccer, and supports leadership development through team-based service-learning projects. The Bay Area is the largest affiliate site of the America SCORES national program. For more information, please visit AmericaScoresBayArea.org.