URBAN YOUTH SPORTS
Acting
Program Director:
Linda Keefe
Urban
Youth Sports
Health Connection
Project
Director:
Linda
Keefe
Youth
Sports Health Coordinator:
Linda Keefe
(Mattapan Community
Health Center)
Youth
Sports Health Coordinator:
Linda Keefe
(Brookside Community
Health Center,
Jamaica Plain)
Youth
Sports Health Coordinator:
Julie Vanier
(Bowdoin Street Community
Health Center, Dorcester)
Project
Director:
Alfreda
Harris
Research
Director:
Cindy Hannon
(617) 373-4025
Goals:
The Urban Youth Sports Health Connection is a project of Urban Youth Sports, an outreach program of Northeastern University's Center for the Study of Sport in Society.
What are the issues?
Compared to youth in the suburbs, urban youth get a late start in sports, and urban girls are less likely to participate at all. Limited access to safe and well-maintained facilities and lack of transportation are just two of the primary barriers to increased youth sport participation.
Health-wise, many urban youth remain uninsured and many others have limited access to affordable health care resources.
What are the goals of Urban Youth Sport Health Connection?
The Urban Youth Sport Health Connection believes that all youth should have:
-
access to affordable health insurance
-
an opportunity to participate in organized sports and/or other recreational programs
Who are our Community Partners?
The Urban Youth Sports Health Connection has partnered with the Mattapan Community Health Center and the Brookside Community Health Center in Jamaica Plain to work toward ensuring that youth between 6 and 18 years of age in those communities have access to affordable health care and increased opportunities for organized sport and recreation.
We are also working with local sports programs, community centers, schools, and other community-based organizations to achieve the same results.
How can we help you?
If you work for or know of a program, school, or organization that services Boston youth, and you would like to receive information on affordable health care and/or recreational opportunities for youth, contact Project Director Steve Burke at (617) 373-8952, or E-mail: [email protected].
The Urban Youth Sports Health Connection is funded by:
-
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
-
BlueCross BlueShield of Massachusetts
-
The Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers
Other local health care partners are:
-
Boston Medical Center
-
Boston's Children's Hospital
-
Partners HealthCare
The $431,000 RWJF grant is matched by support from BlueCross BlueShield of Massachusetts and the Mass. League of Community Health Centers.
The Urban Youth Sports Health Connection is currently funded through July 2003.
Northeastern
University's
CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF SPORT IN SOCIETY
360 Huntington Avenue, Suite 161 CP
Boston, MA 02115-5000
Phone: (617) 373-4025
Fax: (617) 373-4566 / 2092
E-MAIL US at [email protected]