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There are more than 500,000 children in the foster care system across the United States and over 100,000 of them will never be reunited with their biological families. Many foster care youth find themselves plagued with issues of abandonment; mental, emotional and physical disabilities; low self-esteem; and poor academic performance, to name a few. Then there are those who age out of foster care without the necessary tools for survival who are then confronted with issues of substance abuse, higher levels of unemployment, unplanned pregnancies, homelessness, and engagement in criminal activity that often lead to incarceration, etc.

Add to that, a devastating number of underperforming and failing schools within our public school system and we have a cause for significant alarm. There is a war on education and the aggressors include ineffective teachers and students and parents who are giving up on the fight for better education. As the dropout rates continue to increase so do poverty rates. We are in a state of emergency. It will take each of us to affect the change needed for America to succeed globally.

MISSION

Athletes for Charity is a nonprofit organization headquartered in New York. Our mission is to serve as a charitable initiative dedicated towards encouraging the giving of time, financial resources, and information to improve the collective lives of disadvantaged youth, advance the common good and support the nonprofit sectors that benefit underprivileged and foster care children.

Athletes for Charity achieves its mission by teaming up with professional athletes, sports leagues and teams, various sports professionals, foster care agencies and related organizations, as well as volunteers and mentors, to empower and support the development of disadvantaged youth. Athletes for Charity is a volunteer based organization that relies on its most valuable resource, volunteers, to benefit youth.

Athletes for Charity's objectives as they relate to foster care, include but are not limited to the following:

• Providing foster care teens with the necessary life skills and tools that they require to achieve successful and self sufficient lives leading into adulthood. Assisting with the recruitment of foster and adoptive parents, volunteers and mentors.
• Joining forces with various professionals, communities, and agencies to address issues confronted by foster care youth.
• Providing support to foster care agencies and related professionals in their efforts to better the collective lives of youth in foster care and those who age out of the system.
• Supporting select organizations that benefit underprivileged youth with preference to those which focus on helping foster care youth achieve their fullest potential.

Additional objectives include:

• Supporting the philanthropic initiatives of professional athletes who aim to benefit their communities while teaming up with the sports industry to present unique opportunities and incentives for underprivileged youth.
• Collaborating with select middle and high schools to create incentives through the use of sports and challenge youth to excel academically to achieve successful futures. Through a generous grant received by the BARCLAY / NETS COMMUNITY ALLIANCE, Athletes for Charity has created multiple school and community based mentoring programs for youth in Brooklyn, NY.

Athletes for Charity's work range from the planning and implementation of football camps and basketball clinics for youth; holiday toy drives for underprivileged children; assisting with the establishment of athlete foundations and charitable projects; sponsoring youth groups to attend sporting events; coordinating athlete appearances; and planning special events which include youth and athlete participation i.e. "Bowl with an Athlete" and "Back to School / Sports Day" events.

YOUTH ORGS

Athletes for Charity has been honored to support the efforts of the following foster care agencies, youth organizations and schools:

• Academy of Business & Community Development (ABCD)
• Another Choice for Black Children, Inc.
• Big Brothers Big Sisters of New York City
• Boys & Girls Clubs of Newark
• Business of Sports School
• Catholic Big Sisters & Big Brothers
• The Children’s Home, Inc.
• The City of New York Police Department Explorers Program (103rd Precinct)
• Covenant House
• ESPN
• Forestdale, Inc.
• Georgia Mentor
• Hale House Center, Inc. & Mother Hale Learning Center
• High School of Sports Management (HSSM)
• Incarnation Children’s Center
• Inwood House
• Little Flower Children & Family Services of New York
• Lutheran Social Services of Illinois
• Lutheran Social Services of New York
• NECCO
• Oklahoma Department of Human Services
• P.S. 86
• Salvation Army Group Home Programs
• SCO Family of Services
• You Gotta Believe!
• W.E. B. Du Bois Society
• WorldofMoney.org

SUPPORTERS

Athletes for Charity would like to acknowledge the following supporters for their continued commitment towards our efforts to serve underprivileged youth: