US Sailing Announces Reach Youth Engagement Grants for Programs in Midwest, Pacific Northwest

Published: Thursday, August 27, 2020

2020 Reach Youth Engagement Grant Recipients

Congratulations to Green Bay Sail & Paddle, Milwaukee Community Sailing Center, The Foundry Sailing Association, and the Oregon Youth Sailing Foundation for being awarded Youth Engagement Grants in 2020 from US Sailing.

The Youth Engagement Grant program provides individual organization support and an opportunity to grow Reach programming at these centers. Grants support costs for materials, staff training, and program costs when implementing Reach. Recipients are often new to Reach and are seeking support with partnership development and content delivery. With limited access to summer activities in an environment growing in online education, these programs are invaluable for the youth who are now given a chance to experience hands-on learning while exploring their local aquatic environments from a sailboat.

The Reach Program utilizes sailing as an educational platform, challenging youth to embrace education, establish a love of learning and explore productive Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) based careers. Combining educators, sailing instructors, engineers, scientists with today’s youth to provide them with a one of a kind authentic learning experience, giving students the opportunity to apply classroom learning in a cooperative work environment.

Midwest Grant Recipients

Green Bay Sail & Paddle (Green Bay, Wis.)

Green Bay Sail & Paddle creates opportunities for all area youth and families, regardless of means and abilities, to safely enjoy sail and paddle sports on the waters of Green Bay. By aligning their program with US Sailing’s Reach Initiative, they were able to offer Summer School options for the Green Bay Public Schools. During the last three years, close to 800 summer school students have been introduced to sailing. More importantly, they were learning valuable components of science, technology, engineering, math, and respect for the environment. Reach modules are also integrated in all their regular classes and they are active members of the community partnering with many youth service providers and conducting water quality testing, creating local citizen scientists. Learn more about Green Bay Sail & Paddle.

Milwaukee Community Sailing Center (Milwaukee, Wis.)

The mission of Milwaukee Community Sailing Center (MCSC) is to promote sailing and make Lake Michigan more available to everyone in the Milwaukee area through quality programs. MCSC has been actively using Reach modules for over five years and created STEM and Sailing summer camps and school year programming where at least four of the Reach modules are incorporated into the classroom teacher’s curriculum. In just two years, this program reached 99 students, while partnering with three schools. They plan to extend their partnership to more schools and students in 2020. Learn more about the Milwaukee Community Sailing Center.

The Foundry Sailing Association (Cleveland, Ohio)

The Foundry Sailing Association is a water recreation organization with a mission to create a positive space for youth fitness and empowerment through the nautical sports of rowing and sailing. The Foundry seeks to enable all students, regardless of background, ethnicity, socio-economic status, or any barrier, to participate in their sports. Established just three years ago, the Foundry has impacted at least 5,000 students a year in their rowing, sailing, and outreach educational activities. Currently, 75% of their student-athletes live at or below the federal poverty level and they continue to explore new opportunities to enable more students to participate. Sailing is just a steppingstone for student-athletes who desire to understand STEM education and the relationship to the sport of sailing. Beyond partnering with schools, the Foundry works with After School All-Stars and Open Doors Academy, providing opportunities for local youth to get outside in a safe, fun, and educational environment. Learn more about The Foundry Sailing Association.