The Ravens Foundation, Inc. recently awarded $100,000 in grants to 22 nonprofit organizations in the Baltimore area. The Ravens' PLAY 60 Grant continues to provide financial support of up to $10,000 for both new and expanding programs or endeavors that promote physical fitness and/or nutrition education among youth. Over the past 15 years, the Ravens Foundation, Inc. has provided over $1.5 million in funding to support these deserving programs.
The 2021 PLAY 60 Grant helped fund a variety of projects, such as interscholastic athletic programs for students with disabilities, cooking and nutrition education, boxing training and after-school mentorship programs. Each of these programs work to increase physical activity and nutrition awareness among local youth. A few examples of projects that received grants for 2021 include:
Black Girls Cook is an organization that empowers adolescent girls of color through hands-on cooking and nutrition classes to better understand the importance of eating a healthy, balanced diet; Umar Boxing, a Baltimore program that provides 12 months of curriculum geared toward improving academic, social and athletic skills for at-risk youth through their motto, "No hooks before books!"; continued support for Horizon Day Camp, which serves children throughout the Greater Baltimore region who are dealing with pediatric cancer, by hosting a free, full summer day camp, in-hospital programs and "funday" reunions that occur throughout the year.
The Ravens Foundation, Inc. is committed to improving, encouraging and enabling the healthy development of youth in Baltimore and throughout the state of Maryland. Annually, the Ravens Foundation, Inc. provides more than $500,000 in grant funding to local nonprofits. In addition to the PLAY 60 Grant program, other foundation projects include the Ravens Scholarship Program, the Ravens Youth Football Equipment and Apparel Grant Program, renovations of the Edgecombe Circle and Curtis Bay Elementary Schools (2021) and Webster Kendrick Boys and Girls Club (2019), Kaboom! Playground builds at Edgecombe Circle Elementary (2020), Douglass Homes (2018), German Park (2011) and the Good Samaritan Hospital Child Development Center (2009); the school transformation project with Heart of America at Mary Ann Winterling Elementary School (2017), the completion of a library renovation at Charles Carroll Barrister Elementary School #34 (2015), the build partnership with Habitat for Humanity of the Chesapeake in the Pigtown neighborhood (2014), and stadium renovations at Mergenthaler Vocational Technical High School (2008) and Baltimore Polytechnic Institute (2006).
2021 Ravens PLAY 60 Grant Recipients:
- Active Social Communities Inc. DBA Volo Kids Foundation
- Baltimore SquashWise
- Black Girls Cook
- Cool Kids Campaign
- Corner Team, Inc.
- Freedom Hills Therapeutic Riding Program
- Friends of Great Kids Farm
- Friends of Patterson Park
- Girls on the Run of the Greater Chesapeake
- Horizon Day Camp
- KEEN Greater DC-Baltimore
- Patterson Park Public Charter
- Soccer Without Borders
- Special Olympics
- Talisman Therapeutic Riding
- TasteWise Kids
- Team Captain Kids Foundation
- Tender Bridge
- Umar Boxing
- Unmatched Athlete
- USTA
For more information on the Ravens Foundation, Inc. or the Ravens' PLAY 60 Grant Program, visit www.baltimoreravens.com/community.
