NFL Grassroots Program helps schools get new sports fields
19 May, 2010 Athletic Turf NewsRENTON, WA - The Enumclaw School District will receive a $200,000 grant from the Seattle Seahawks, the NFL Youth Football Fund and Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) as part of the National Football League Grassroots Program, the team announced May 18.
The grant is part of $2.5 million in field refurbishment awards allocated this year. It will be used to install a new synthetic turf field at the Enumclaw Expo Center, which contains the primary football field for the Enumclaw Public School District.
The NFL Grassroots Program, a partnership between the NFL Youth Football Fund and LISC, has resulted in the construction or renovation of 225 football fields nationwide in the past 12 years. During that time, the NFL Youth Football Fund has granted more than $28 million to revitalize playing fields in underserved neighborhoods. Fields are newly built or significantly renovated, with improvements such as irrigation systems, lights, bleachers, scoreboards, goal posts and turf. Grassroots grants are issued once established funding thresholds are reached for each project.
"Congratulations to the Enumclaw School District for taking advantage of this program through the NFL," said Seahawks Vice President of Community Outreach Mike Flood. "The new turf will provide a quality playing surface for the students and community for many years to come."
LISC identifies local, nonprofit, neighborhood-based agencies, which have an interest in building or refurbishing football fields in schools and parks in underserved neighborhoods. Through the program, the local agencies are provided with the necessary financing and technical assistance to improve the quality and safety of fields in their neighborhoods. The local agencies oversee the construction, maintenance and programming of the fields.
In related news, the NFL and the San Diego Chargers gave a similar $200,000 grant to San Pasqual Academy in Escondido, CA, for a new synthetic turf field. San Pasqual Academy is residential school for foster teens.
“Unlike most schools, San Pasqual Academy does not have a support base of parents and a local community to help raise funds for its athletic programs,” Chargers owner Alex Spanos said in a statement. “We couldn’t be happier to support this special school and their very deserving kids.
The new field will be available to all athletic programs at the Academy as well as the local Pop Warner Football League and the neighboring public schools, according to the Chargers.
The grants are part of $2.5 million in field refurbishment awards allocated for athletic fields nationwide this year through the NFL’s Grassroots Program. Other notable projects being funded by the grants include the renovation of the turfgrass field at Clinton-Massie High School, Wilmington, OH, thanks to the Cincinnati Bengals, and a $200,000 grant (plus the used synthetic turf from the Green Bay Packers Nitschke Field) to the Journey House in Milwaukee.
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