After doubling the amount of grant applications from last year, the Ravens Foundation, Inc. recently awarded $100,000 in grants to 27 nonprofit organizations in the Baltimore area. Beginning in 2019, the Ravens' PLAY 60 Grant now provides 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 13 years, the Ravens Foundation, Inc. has provided over $1.3 million in funding to support these deserving programs.
The 2019 PLAY 60 Grant helped fund a variety of projects, such as interscholastic athletic programs for students with disabilities, running clubs, wrestling 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 2019 include:
Baltimore Area Special Hockey, Inc. provides an opportunity for over 135 special needs children to learn how to play ice hockey in an environment adapted to each of their individual abilities; The Dayspring Grow Strong program serves homeless youth across Baltimore City by offering nutrition education and cooking classes, physical fitness instruction and social-emotional counseling; continued support for Girls on the Run, which serves central Maryland and the greater Chesapeake, by teaching the value of goal setting, the importance of physical health and self-confidence to young women.
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, Renovation of the Webster Kendrick Boys and Girls Club (2019), Kaboom! Playground builds at 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), stadium renovations at Mergenthaler Vocational Technical High School (2008) and Baltimore Polytechnic Institute (2006).
2019 Ravens PLAY 60 Grant Recipients:
- Baltimore Area Special Hockey, Inc.
- Baltimore Community Tool Bank
- Baltimore County Public Schools – Allied Sports Program
- Baltimore SquashWise, Inc.
- Beat the Streets Baltimore
- Boys Hope Girls Hope of Baltimore
- Creative Alliance
- Dayspring Programs, Inc.
- Friends of Patterson Park Youth Soccer Program
- Girls on the Run Central Maryland
- Girls on the Run Greater Chesapeake
- Girl Scouts of Central Maryland, Inc.
- Irvine Nature Center
- Kids Enjoy Exercise Now (KEEN) Greater DC – Baltimore
- Mountain Lions Cycling Club
- Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital's Weigh Smart Program
- Parks & People Foundation, Inc.
- Patterson Park Public Charter School, Inc.
- Reach High Baltimore: Rowers Empowering Baltimore Youth
- Safe Alternative Foundation for Education, Inc.
- Sunrise Day Camps Association: Horizon Day Camp
- Team Captain Kids Foundation: Hero Boys Run Club
- The Hearing & Speech Agency of Metro Baltimore
- The Interfaith Service Coalition of Hancock, MD, Inc.
- The Maryland Agricultural Resource Council, Inc.
- The Michael Phelps Foundation
- The Tender Bridge, Inc.
For more information on the Ravens Foundation, Inc. or the Ravens' PLAY 60 Grant project, visit www.baltimoreravens.com/community.
