FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact:
Brian McCarthy, NFL, 212-450-2069
|
|
City, State |
Organization |
Project |
| Belmont, CA | Good Tidings Foundation | Crocker Amazon Field |
| Carnegie, PA | Chartiers Valley Area Community Development, Inc. | Honus Wagner Stadium |
| Dorchester, MA | Neighborhood Development Corporation of Grove Hall | Harambee Park |
| Green Bay, WI | Greater Green Bay Community Foundation | City Stadium |
| Green Bay, WI | Green Bay Preble Quarterback Club, Inc. | Preble Football Field |
| Jacksonville, FL | Jacksonville Housing Partnership | Pine Forest Athletic Field |
| Jacksonville, FL | Police Athletic League of Jacksonville, Inc. | Police Athletic League Field |
| Kansas City, MO | Twelfth Street Heritage Development Corporation | Woodland Edison Field |
| Lanham, MD | Prince George County Boys & Girls Club | The Sports & Learning Complex |
| Miami Beach, FL | Miami Beach Community Development Corporation | Memorial Stadium Football Field |
| New Orleans, LA | Friends of NORD | NFL YET Center Site/Rosenwald Field |
| Phoenix, AZ | SunnySlope Village Revitalization, Inc. | Mountain View Park |
| Phoenix, AZ | Valley of the Sun YMCA | South Mountain Athletic Facility |
| St. Petersburg, FL | Bethel Community Baptist Church | Childs Park Athletic Facility |
| San Diego, CA | STAR/PAL | La Mirada Elementary School Field |
***A COMPLETE LIST OF FIELDS IS ATTACHED***
Belmont, California
Good Tidings Foundation ¾ Crocker Amazon Park Football Field
The Good Tidings Foundation will use the $100,000 NFL Community Football Fields grant to create a football field in Crocker Amazon Park.
In partnership with the San Francisco Parks and Recreation Department, Good Tidings will make improvements to the site that will consist of the installation of goal posts, bleachers, bleacher pads, a mow strip, a scoreboard, and vinyl fencing, and the grading and installation of athletic blend turf. In addition, the San Francisco Parks and Recreation will install all new irrigation heads and drainage pipes. The San Francisco Parks and Recreation Department will assume the responsibility for ongoing maintenance of the field. The football field at Crocker Amazon Park is located in the Visitacion Valley neighborhood of San Francisco. This is a neighborhood of need with a broad ethnic mix, consisting of African Americans, Asians, Caucasians, and Hispanics.
The project has the complete support of the San Francisco Parks and Recreation Department, the Mayor’s office, Friends of San Francisco Parks, and the San Francisco 49ers. Once completed, the San Francisco Brown Bombers, local high schools, the Junior 49ers, and a to-be-created citywide flag football league will use the field.
Carnegie, Pennsylvania
Chartiers Valley Area Community Development, Inc ¾ Honus Wagner Stadium
The Chartiers Valley Area Community Development, Inc. (CVACD) will use a $100,000 grant from the NFL Community Football Fields Program to make safety improvements to the Honus Wagner Football Stadium.
The Honus Wagner Stadium is located on Washington Avenue, which is State Highway 50. Per capita income for the borough of Carnegie is $13,082. The household median income for Carnegie is $21,000 and there has been an increase in single-parent families. Directly across the street from the Stadium is a HUD Section 8 housing development where over 200 children reside. Carnegie is an ethnically diverse community with a population that reports to be African-American, Alaskan Native, Asian, Native Hawaiian, and other Pacific Islanders.
The improvements to Honus Wagner Stadium are part of a much larger effort to address safety concerns of the 50-year-old stadium. The NFL grant will be specifically used to replace the electrical distribution and lighting system, for the removal of lead paint from the main bleacher section, and for repainting the bleachers. Matching funds for the project are being provided by the Carlynton School District, which also owns and maintains the stadium. Several area sports associations including the Carlynton Youth Football League, the Carlynton Soccer League, and local high school football teams use the stadium.
Support for the project has also been committed by the Carnegie Police Department, Jimmy Leyland, former manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates, and Bill Cowher, Head Coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Boston, Massachusetts
Neighborhood Development Corporation of Grove Hall ¾ Harambee Park
The Neighborhood Development Corporation (NDC) of Grove Hall will use an NFL Community Football Fields grant of $100,000 in collaboration with the Boston Parks and Recreation Department to improve and upgrade a football field in Harambee Park in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston.
The NDC of Grove Hall was founded in 1984 and is committed to improving the quality of life for residents and businesses by enhancing the economic, social, and environmental conditions of the Grove Hall, Dorchester, and Roxbury neighborhoods. The organization’s catchment area is a low- to moderate-income neighborhood with approximately 90,000 residents. The majority of the population is African-American, while Caucasians and Latinos comprise the next largest groups. Of the 90,000 people living in the area surrounding Harambee Park, 38% percent are young people under the age of 21.
The NDC of Grove Hall and the Boston Parks and Recreation Department, along with the support of local community and youth groups such as the Boston Raiders Youth Football and Cheerleading Club, are moving forward to build a community-based football field as a way to reach out to youth in the area. Harambee Park currently supports a number of playing fields, including a children’s play lot, cricket and soccer fields, a baseball diamond, and a football field. The existing football field can best be described as an open green space with one goal post. Improvements to the site include plans to replace and restore electrical systems where possible, to provide lighting, to install of a chain link fence, to install goal posts and bleachers, and to construct a storage box for groups to store equipment. The grant from the NFL will be matched by a $50,000 grant from the Boston Parks and Recreation Department, who will also be responsible for the ongoing maintenance of the field.
The Harambee Park Football Field will serve approximately 300 youth in football each year.
Green Bay, Wisconsin
Green Bay Preble Quarterback Club ¾ Home Field Advantage Project
The Green Bay Preble Quarterback Club will use the $100,000 grant to renovate a football field as a part of Green Bay’s larger Home Field Advantage Project.
The Home Field Advantage project involves renovating the existing football field and track adjacent to Green Bay’s junior and senior high schools. The project will include construction of a facility for hosting a wide variety of community and school events. The facility will include seating, lighting, a sound system, restrooms, concessions, and a scoreboard. Overhead wiring must be removed from the site and all jumping, vaulting, and throwing areas will be rebuilt. This will enable the community, neighborhood, and area schools access to a much needed multiple-use area.
The Preble area initially consisted of farming households, nearly all of which fell into the low- to moderate-income bracket. The make up of Preble’s population has changed dramatically due to the existence of large meat packing plants and the influx of new immigrants. While the Caucasian population comprises 50% of the community, there are large numbers of Hispanics and Asians in the area. Statistical data shows that 60% of households in Preble earn less than $30,000 annually.
To date, the Home Field Advantage Campaign has secured pledges and matching funds of almost $800,000 for the project. Upon completion of the project, the Green Bay Area Public School District has agreed to provide all necessary maintenance to ensure the quality use and safety of the field.
The youth and neighborhood will benefit from the Home Field Advantage Project by finally having a magnet facility to host activities. Neighborhood unity would be heightened by the field’s availability to hold programs, sporting events, and festivals that would bring together diverse groups in the neighborhood and help make the Preble community a better and more cohesive place to live.
Green Bay, Wisconsin
Greater Green Bay Community Foundation ¾ The City Stadium Football Field
The Greater Green Bay Community Foundation (GGCF), in partnership with the City Stadium Commemoration and Restoration Project, will improve the physical facility at City Stadium and create a memorial commemorating the site as the home of the Green Bay Packers from 1925 until 1956.
Using a grant of $100,000 from the NFL Community Football Fields Program, GGCF will make improvements to the existing football field at City Stadium that will include the installation of bleachers and a sound system and the grading and seeding of the playing field. Other components of the project, which will be completed in three phases, will include fencing, a gate and sign structure that will evoke the memory of the original appearance of the entrance gate to City Stadium, the renovation of a red sandstone garage structure that is the only remaining part of the original City Stadium, and the conversion of that building into a community history center. This is an important historic preservation project that will significantly improve the appearance of the area and increase the use of an historic football field. Matching funds are being provided through a special City Stadium Restoration Fund. $134,741 has been raised to date.
The City Stadium Project is located within the Navarino neighborhood, the oldest section of Green Bay adjacent to East High School. The current location of East High School was the original playing field of the Green Bay Packers. The neighborhood has become increasingly more diverse since the 1990 census with 34% minority families in the area. Fifty six percent of the children in the area are classified as economically disadvantaged, compared to the citywide average of 21%. The area served by City Stadium has a population that is significantly more diverse and significantly less wealthy than the rest of the city.
Expansion of the use of the field by local community groups has already begun as Pop Warner leagues, soccer leagues, and youth and adult flag football leagues apply for programming space on the field. It is anticipated that over 500 children will have access to the field for football practices and games, while helping future generations understand the important role that the Packers have played in Green Bay history.
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville Police Athletic League
The Jacksonville PAL plans to renovate an existing field at 11751 McCormick Road in the East Arlington section of Jacksonville. The PAL will use a $100,000 grant from the NFL Community Football Fields Program for the renovations.
The East Arlington neighborhood is a primarily residential community and includes three multi-level public housing complexes. Ninety percent of the youth living in the area and utilizing the services of PAL are low-income. The PAL offers a number of sports programs such as football, flag football, cheerleading, double–dutch, and others.
The project will include the construction of restrooms and concession stands, design and layout of the field, installation of irrigation systems, installation of lighting, grading of the field, and installation of bleachers. Matching funds for the project are provided in the form of in-kind services from the WG Pitts Company, a general contractor.
Upon completion of the project, the PAL anticipates increased use by serving over 350 tackle football players, 600 flag football players, and 200 cheerleaders, with spectators during the games.
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville Housing Partnership ¾ Pine Forest Athletic Field
The Jacksonville Housing Partnership, in collaboration with the Pine Forest Athletic Association, will use a $100,000 grant from the NFL Community Football Fields Program to renovate an existing field in the Pine Forest Community.
The Pine Forest Community is located in the south side area of Jacksonville within Duval County. The community is a low- to moderate-income area, according to the latest census data. Sixty-one percent of Pine Forest households have annual incomes of less than $25,000. Single parents head 62% percent of households in the Pine Forest neighborhood.
One of the visions of the Pine Forest Community is to provide programs for youth that focus on recreational and academic enrichment. Currently, the Pine Forest Community is providing these services through the Pine Forest Athletic Association, which provides access to organized sports for approximately 200 youth each year. Additionally, Project Upward and Beyond Team-up provide academic and social enrichment, recreational activities, volunteer opportunities, and healthy snacks to approximately 150 youth, ages 6-18. The Pine Forest Athletic Association was established 30 years ago and is committed to ensuring the safety of youth while they participate in organized sports.
Improvements to the field will include the construction of the football field, irrigation system, and press box. Construction of the field will allow Pine Forest Athletic Association to increase the number of youth that have access to the field from 200 to 600 over the next three years.
Kansas City, Missouri
Twelfth Street Heritage Corporation ¾ Woodland Edison Football Field
The Twelfth Street Heritage Corporation and the Woodland Edison Classical Academy will use a $100,000 grant from the NFL Community Football Fields Program to develop a multi-use field on the Woodland Edison School grounds in the Independence Plaza Neighborhood in Kansas City.
The school and the proposed field are across the street from a proposed location for a new PAL center on 9th Street and Woodland in the western section of the historic northeast neighborhood. The PAL currently serves over 200 children in the area, while the larger targeted area (including three public housing developments and HUD-subsidized housing complexes) has more than 1,500 children residing in it. Currently, children from the area must be transported over 10 miles to have access to playing fields. PAL currently provides transportation for the children. They improvise practice fields by drawing lines on vacant lots or under-developed park property. The new field will allow neighborhood children to have access to a playing field in their immediate neighborhood while enabling the new PAL center to expand programming for youth in the area.
Forty one percent of all families live under the poverty line in an area with one of the fastest growing immigrant populations. Diverse cultures live in the area and include African Americans, South Africans, Asians, Mexicans, Bosnians, Hispanics, Croatians, and West Indians.
Physical improvements to the site will include grading and seeding of the land and installation of lights, goal posts, and bleachers. The City Council District Fund, the Kansas City Power and Light Company, and other corporate contributors will provide matching funds for the project. The project has received support from various community groups, neighborhood associations, and former Kansas City Chiefs player, Jimmy Kearney.
Lanham, Maryland
Prince George’s County B&G Club ¾ The Sports and Learning Complex
The Prince George’s County Boys & Girls Club (PGCBGC) and the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission have collaborated to enhance and restore the field at the Prince George’s County Sports and Learning Complex.
The Prince George’s County Sports and Learning Complex is a state-of-the-art facility that includes a gymnastics center, an aquatics center, a fitness center, indoor/outdoor track and field venues, computer classrooms, and a football/soccer field. The field is approximately 200 yards from the complex and adjacent to FedEx Field, home of the Washington Redskins. The Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission maintains the field. The field is under constant use for events and activities by the community and is in need of repair.
Prince George’s County is a predominantly African-American community, with an environment ranging from well-maintained neighborhoods to those that have undergone changes and are in a state of decline. The per capita income of the inner beltway community is $19,047. Forty percent of the children in Prince George’s County are eligible for free or reduced lunch.
Repairs and enhancements to the field include the installation of an eight foot fence around the perimeter of the track area surrounding the field, the addition of restroom/comfort stations with washing facilities, and re-seeding the football field to create a quality surface for participants engaging in athletic events. Upon completion, the field will be used by the Prince George’s County B&G Clubs (with over 30 individual affiliate clubs) and numerous high schools in the area.
Miami, Florida
Miami Beach CDC ¾ Flamingo Park Football Field
The Miami Beach Community Development Corporation will use a $100,000 grant from the NFL Community Football Fields Program to completely reconstruct the Memorial Stadium football field at Flamingo Park.
In partnership with the City of Miami Beach, the Miami Beach CDC has undertaken the task of restoring the Flamingo Park Stadium. The Stadium lies within Flamingo Park, which is located at 11th Street and Jefferson Avenue. The Flamingo Park neighborhood is identified as a low- to moderate-income area with 70% percent of area residents falling into this bracket. Flamingo Park serves the entire Miami Beach area and has served as an alternative to unsupervised activities for youth.
In 1999, the City of Miami Beach approved $2.9 million to be allocated as part of the Parks General Obligation Bond for improvements to Flamingo Park. In addition, the City has secured a grant from Miami-Dade County Safe Neighborhood Park Bond in the amount of $2 million. The project budget for all of the renovations to Flamingo Park is estimated at $5.6 million. The renovations to the football stadium are part of the Parks Master Plan that was approved in 1996. The total budget for the renovations to the football stadium is $162,216. Renovations will include the application of non-selective herbicide to kill weeds, the excavation and elimination of the top six inches of playing field, and the grading, drainage, and installation of Bermuda grass. The City of Miami Beach will be responsible for the ongoing maintenance of the field and the entire park.
A number of leagues currently use the field, including youth flag football teams who host 32 regularly scheduled games with a total of 512 players and 480 spectators. The Park provides for an array of functions with over 4,200 players and 11,000 spectators utilizing the park in the spirit of sportsmanship.
New Orleans, Louisiana
Friends of NORD ¾ Rosenwald Center Football Field
The Friends of NORD, in partnership with the New Orleans Recreation Department (NORD), will use a $125,000 grant from the NFL Community Football Fields program to create a practice football field at the Rosenwald Recreation Center.
The proposed field sits adjacent to the B.W. Cooper Housing project and neighboring Guste High Rise and C.J. Peete housing developments. The area’s population is made up of 76% ethnic and racial minorities and the average annual household income is a dismal $19,000. Nearly 30% of the neighborhood residents are under the age of 18. Despite the good design of the developments, chronic poverty, lack of property ownership, deferred maintenance, and isolation of the residents from the greater community have caused the sites to be named by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development as among the worst housing projects in the country in the mid-1990’s. Currently, there are plans underway to refurbish all of the housing developments in New Orleans. The children and families who currently live in the developments in this neighborhood will benefit greatly from the improvements to the site at Rosenwald Center. Additionally, the NFL YET Center is adjacent to the Center and provides recreational and educational services to the children and families in the neighborhood.
Improvements to the site will include security fencing with a mowing strip for the NFL YET Center building, grading and drainage improvements to the ball field, installation of a water fountain/hose bib unit, and demolition and relocation of the parking area. The New Orleans Recreation Department has committed the required matching funds for the completion of the project.
The New Orleans Recreation Department has a strong history of inner-city youth football programming. The renovation of the Rosenwald Center field will allow for increased programming offered to a larger number of neighborhood children.
SunnySlope Village Revitalization, Inc., a community development corporation, will use a $100,000 grant to develop an NFL Community Football Field as part of a $1.2 million multipurpose athletic fields project in partnership with the City of Phoenix and the Washington School District.
SunnySlope is a 100-year old community in north Phoenix that encompasses six square miles and is home to approximately 38,000 residents. More than 51% of the residents are low-income, working poor families with a significant number of single-parent households. The football field will provide residents of this low-income, ethnically diverse community with a new site for youth and family-based recreational activities. The field site is located at Mountain View Park, currently owned and maintained by the City of Phoenix and nestled between the Phoenix Mountain Preserve and the site of a new middle school, now under construction.
Specifically, this project will create a football field for flag football by providing athletic field lighting, bleachers, and a project sign for an existing turf area within the Park. The City of Phoenix and the Washington School District have entered into intergovernmental agreements along with local community groups that allow for community use of athletic fields, sports courts, and school facilities during non-school hours.
Phoenix, Arizona
Valley of the Sun YMCA ¾ South Mountain Athletic Facility
The Valley of the Sun YMCA will use the $100,000 grant from the NFL Community Football Fields Program to develop a football field at the South Mountain YMCA branch for the youth and teens of South Phoenix.
The South Mountain YMCA is one of thirteen branches and five extension sites of the Valley of the Sun YMCA and is located in an area with one of the highest rates of crime and juvenile delinquency in the city. There are over 16,000 children under the age of 17 living in the area that are served by the YMCA. The ethnic make-up of the community is largely Hispanic and African American with some Asian Americans and Native Americans. Statistics show that 50% of the families living in the area are single-parent families, with 59% having three or more children and 68% with annual incomes of less than $15,000. The local school district reports that 100% of the families are eligible for free or reduced lunch due to income qualifications.
The South Mountain YMCA branch opened in 1995 in response to community needs and plans to create a 45,142 square foot multi-sport field complex as a part of a $830,257 facility addition. The proposed site is on 2.5 acres of vacant property at the Northeast corner of Central Avenue and Olympic Drive. The project will include improvements to the vacant land adjacent to the facility by landscaping, fencing, and installing lighted fields to create flag football, baseball, and soccer fields. Additional improvements to the project will include a concession area, a miniature golf course, batting cages, a tot-lot with play structures, and a volleyball sandpit. Currently, there are no sports fields in located in South Phoenix that are accessible to the broader community. The development of the multi-sport athletic field at the South Mountain facility will enable the YMCA to respond to the needs of the community to provide positive sports activities for children, youth, and families.
St. Petersburg, Florida
Bethel Community Baptist Church ¾ Childs Park Athletic Facility
The Bethel Community Baptist Church, the City of St. Petersburg Capital Improvements Department, and the Childs Park Junior Rattlers will collaborate in the development of a two-field football complex in the Childs Park neighborhood of St. Petersburg. The Childs Park Community is a low- to moderate-income community with a population that is primarily of African American descent.
The project will construct two football fields with lighting, seating capacity for 500 spectators, a restroom/concession building, parking for 100 vehicles, site grading and drainage, fencing, and landscaping. The site is located on an undeveloped seven-acre parcel adjacent to the Pinellas walking and biking trails between 43rd and 46th Streets South. Plans have been developed, reviewed, and approved unanimously by the local community and by the City’s Environmental Development Commission.
The total project cost is $915,000, with funding provided by the Local Option one-cent sales tax referred to as “Penny for Pinellas.” An additional $400,000 has been approved from the Federal Community Development Block Grant.
The Childs Park Junior Rattlers Youth Football organization will be the primary users of the complex. The organization currently leases space from a local high school and this new facility will enable them to save that cost and allow more children to participate in the program. The organization currently services over 500 children for youth football and cheerleading. Additionally, it will give them a space that they can identify with and maintain. The facility will also be available to other users, such as adult flag football leagues and other organized or non-scheduled athletic events.
San Diego, California
Star/PAL ¾ La Mirada Elementary School Joint-Use Field
Star/PAL, along with the San Diego Parks and Recreation Department and the La Mirada School District, will construct a turf football field at the La Mirada Elementary School using a $100,000 grant from the NFL Community Football Fields Program.
The project site is located in the San Ysidro neighborhood in the southern-most community of San Diego, in close proximity to the Tijuana, Mexico border. The majority of the population is Hispanic with over 34% of the population under the age of 18 and 58% of the population falling into the low- to moderate-income bracket. Studies and statistics show that there is an increase in youth crime during the after-school hours between 2:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. Crimes against property, including theft, vandalism, and graffiti, in the San Ysidro area are 43% higher than the citywide average.
Improvements will include the installation of a turf field with irrigation and portable goal posts. The completed field will be used for football and other athletic activities by the school and the community. During school hours, the field will be programmed for school activities and during non-school hours, the San Diego Parks and Recreation Department and Star/PAL will program the field for Pop Warner football, AYSO Soccer, and other athletic activities. The San Ysidro Activity Center, adjacent to the school, will host a flag football league at the site as well.
Star/PAL estimates that over 350 children will use the field upon completion.