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No Rain on Christmas Parade
This year’s Inglewood Christmas Parade saw excellent weather all around. One of the participants was Inglewood High School, which put together this really cool float. Photo: Inglewood High School.
Grants Tackle Play Equity Issue
That’s Keeping Youth on Sidelines
By Rob McCarthy
Every kid deserves a chance to play a sport,
which is a core belief of the LA84 foundation.
This charity has been around since the 1984
Summer Olympic Games -- the one that was
wildly successful and closed with money in
the bank. That money now funds youth sports
and improvements to gymnasiums and pool
repairs across Greater Los Angeles.
LA 84’S chief executive recently brought
attention to what she considers a national crisis
hiding in plain sight. The issue is known as play
equity, which is a way of saying that household
incomes and zip codes are keeping area
kids from joining a sports team, taking karate
lessons, or swimming. “A chasm has formed
between the haves and the have-nots when it
comes to sports and the basic need to run or
jump, swim or compete… or simply move,” said
foundation CEO and President Renata Simril.
The AYSO mantra of “everybody plays” isn’t
true for kids who live in households making
$35,000 a year or less. Budgets for schools
and parks programs are shrinking, too.
“In neighborhoods with high poverty rates,
opportunities to play oftentimes don’t exist,”
Simril said. “Barriers include the elimination
or reduction of enrichment programs such as
P.E. and sports programs, safe passage to safe
playgrounds, lack of trained and well-paid
coaches and the rising costs of athletics and
intramural programs, which have contributed
to a ‘pay-to-play’ culture that steeply disadvantages
kids living in low-income communities.”
The foundation, based in Los Angeles, calls
itself a youth development organization that
transforms lives and communities by supporting
youth sports and structured play programs.
Through sports and play, kids learn life lessons
early from coaches whose salaries are paid
with grants from LA84.
Girls especially are kept on the sidelines because
their family can’t afford the registration, equipment
and travel expenses associated with youth
teams. The Women’s Sports Foundation has
reported that 69 percent of all American girls
who don’t play sports live in households with
incomes of $35,000 or less. Boys do better -- at
53 percent -- at overcoming the financial barrier
to athletics. In Greater Los Angeles, boys and
girls are five times more likely to be physically
inactive when their household incomes are
$50,000 or less, according to the foundation.
The benefits of sports, lessons and belonging
to a club go beyond physical fitness. A child who
plays a sports, takes lessons or is a member of
a club is a better all-around student, according
to a new report. Children’s school engagement
was higher when they were involved in one or
more activities, researchers with the U.S. Census
Bureau found. They also noted in their report,
“A Child’s Day,” the play equity barrier that
children in poverty run up against too often.
Being engaged in school is connected academic
achievement, behavior and graduation
rates, the Census Bureau researchers noted.
Other findings in the November report from
the bureau noted the role parents play in a
child’s interest and success at school:
- About 37 percent of children whose parents
were married were highly engaged in school,
compared to 30 percent with parents who
never married.
- School engagement also varied by a household’s
experience with food insecurity. Nearly
one-fourth of children in families reporting
some experience with food insecurity in the
past year were found to be engaged in school
vs. 38 percent for their peers who never had to
worry about having food in the house.
- The census team’s results reinforce other
research showing that parents are highly engaged
with their children. A majority of kids
under 5 are read to five times per week and
go on several weekly outings with a parent,
the report says.
- A majority of all children in the study eat
dinner with at least parent at least five times
each week.
- Just 9 percent of the children studied
participate in three activities, excluding faithbased
clubs and groups.
Sports is one component of kids staying
healthy and seeing the results on the field
and in the classroom, the LA84’s leader says.
Athletics offer an excellent path for children
to learn about themselves and others. The barrier
to participation for lower-income families
comes with a cost. “Without access to sport
and structured play, kids miss out on critical
benefits including physical health, socialemotional
growth and academic development,”
Simril says.
LA84 offers financial grants to sports clubs,
recreational centers and school districts to
promote physical activity and teamwork. The
foundation has given away $230 million over
three decades to programs serving 3 million
youth in eight Southern California counties,
including Los Angeles.
Last year, the sports booster group gave away
$3.5 million to get kids moving and grooving.
Recipients for 2018 include a $20,000
grant to the Boys & Girls Club of the South
Bay for its after school sports program. The
Boys & Girls Club of Carson used a $20,000
gift from LA84 last year for gear and coaching
salaries. The foundation also gives seed money
to organizations pushing sports that are new
to the region, including rugby and cycling.
Information about the next grant period is
listed at the LA84 website, la84.org under
featured grantees. The phone number to the
foundation is 323-730-4600, or email the staff
at info@la84.org to inquire about upcoming
grants and the application process. •
Friday
Sunny
64˚/50˚
Saturday
PM Showers
61˚/54˚
Sunday
AM Showers
59˚/50˚
The Weekly Newspaper of Inglewood
Herald Publications - El Segundo, Hawthorne, Lawndale & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 68, No. 1 - January 3, 2019