Youth Bureau Announces the Availability of Youth Team Sports Funding

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Date:                   October 30, 2023

Contact:           Deanna Edick, Director

YOUTH BUREAU ANNOUNCES THE AVAILABILITY OF YOUTH TEAM SPORTS FUNDING

A new funding stream for the Lewis County Youth Bureau Advisory Board is available and we are currently seeking applications from local community-based organizations and nonprofits.  Funds are intended to support local team sports programs in Lewis County.  Lewis County has $14,797 to allocate to local programs operating October 1, 2023- September 30, 2024.

Team sports is defined as an organized physical activity in which groups of two or more individuals are in competition with two or more opposing individuals.

Funds can be used to cover:

• Coaches/instructors/direct service staff/mentors (including training/professional development).
• Referee fees.
• Purchase of equipment or uniforms.
• Capital investment (e.g., swimming facilities, fields, fences, storage, lighting).
• Instruction or coaching necessary to support youth’s ability to participate in team sports.
• Facility/field space.
• A maximum of 10% of the total allocation may be used to support administrative/overhead costs by the municipal youth bureau.

Programs eligible for funding must meet the criteria below:

• Provide team sports activities for youth under age 18 in under-resourced communities.
• Serve youth in New York state.
• Have a child protection policy in place that includes adherence to local city, agency, school district, and state child protection guidelines.
• Collect registration data, including participant demographic information, as required by OCFS in a manner that allows for accurate reporting of anonymized aggregate data.

Organizations and activities not eligible for funding are the following:

• Private foundations, as defined in section 509(a) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code.
• Organizations that discriminate based on age, ethnicity/race, political affiliation, religion, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, physical or other disability, national origin, or any protected characteristic under local, state, and/or federal law.
• Research or project-planning activities.
• Support for elite or private sports camps, programs, or teams.
• Endowments, memorials, budget deficits, or fundraising activities.
• Religious organizations whose sports programs do not have a secular and community focus
• Lobbying, political, or fraternal activities

All programs seeking funding must track outcome measures and provide data to the Youth Bureau.

The application packet can be found on the Lewis County Website at Youth Team Sports Funding Packets

Deadline for submission of proposals is December 22,2023.