History and Mission
Mission Statement
The mission of Arthur Ashe Youth Tennis and Education is to create opportunities for a diverse cross-section of young people, especially those from low-income families and communities, to make positive choices in their lives, remain in and succeed in school, reject violence and other risky behaviors, and grow into active, responsible and productive citizens. We work to achieve these goals through innovative tennis instruction, education, life skills, and leadership development programming in neighborhoods throughout the Philadelphia area and at the Arthur Ashe Youth Tennis and Education Center.
History
In 1952, Dr. William Clothier founded the Philadelphia Tennis Patrons Association which was merged with the Philadelphia National Junior Tennis League 44 years later to become Philadelphia Youth Tennis. In 2003, Philadelphia Youth Tennis became Arthur Ashe Youth Tennis and Education; a leader 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Three years later, the Arthur Ashe Youth Tennis and Education Center located in East Falls was constructed as a premiere facility dedicated to innovative youth tennis and education programming.
Today we provide high quality tennis instruction by experienced instructors, educational programming, and positive opportunities to more than 6,500 children annually, most of whom participate at little or no cost through our indoor after-school and community programs and the National Junior Tennis League's outdoor summer program. Using tennis as the primary motivator, the programs teach positive, rewarding lessons, build confidence, and provide a framework of personal discipline
Arthur Ashe Youth Tennis and Education Programming
Arthur Ashe’s legacy is a rich one and includes extraordinary tennis achievements, breaking racial barriers in an overwhelmingly white tennis community and serving as an active, engaged citizen deeply involved in the issues of the day. This remarkable man has served as a model and beacon around which we have been actively building out programming for helping young people grow as individuals and as caring, responsible, and active citizens. We are building and expanding on our programming to reflect Arthur’s life and legacy.
Arthur Ashe Youth Tennis and Education currently operates various programs both in communities in and around greater Philadelphia, and at our campus in East Falls. These programs include:
Neighborhood-Based Programs
- AfterSchool Tennis, Tutoring, and Youth Leadership Initiative
- Love 2 Serve
- QuickStart
- National Junior Tennis League
- Camden After School
Center-Based Programs
- Munchkins
- Red, White, Blue
- Academy and High Performance
- Community Group
Each of the indoor clinics provides life skills training and access to a number of educational programs and resources.
The organization has always been dedicated to providing access and opportunity for young people, especially those from families without significant financial resources. Based on this vision which comes directly from that of our namesake, Arthur Ashe, we have developed the following new programs:
- Future Stars, a year-round program for high-potential players, most of whom come from lower-income families and neighborhoods
- Second Serve, provides positive role models and structured sports programs for adjudicated young people.
Youth Leadership
The Goodstein Junior Leadership initiative is a vital part of our organization and the wider community. The young leaders in this program are actively involved in homelessness and hunger relief, literacy and tennis instruction with young Ashe participants, recycling and environmental awareness. The young participants are fully involved in key aspects of the organization, including low-dollar fundraising and many facets of program-planning and design, and low-dollar fundraising support. In many ways, they have become the standard-bearers for what Arthur Ashe himself saw as the fundamental mission of our organization – providing opportunities for young people to become active, engaged citizens in the broader community.
Click here to learn more about Arthur Ashe.
|
