Philadelphia Sports Collaborative believes that every child will have equitable access to high-quality youth sports activities grounded in the principles of positive youth development and delivered by adults trained in trauma-sensitive coaching methods.

The Philadelphia Youth Sports Collaborative (“the Collaborative”) works to dramatically enhance the capacity of youth-serving organizations in Philadelphia to provide equitable access to high quality, sports-based youth development (SBYD) programs for youth in Philadelphia. The Collaborative strives to make a large-scale systemic impact on Philadelphia youth at the highest standard possible by: Cross-Sector Collaboration: Since its inception, a key component of the Collaboratives' work has involved catalyzing innovative, cross-sector program collaborations aimed at increasing equitable access to sports programming and addressing facility maximization, quality standards, outcome measurement techniques, and coach education. In the past year, the organization has significantly broadened the reach and scope of its cross-sector work by convening a task force drawn from the senior ranks of government, business, health, higher education, philanthropy, social services, professional sports teams and collegiate athletics to identify strategies aimed at providing equity in access to high quality, sports-based youth development opportunities for Philadelphia’s kids. The work of the task force resulted in a five-year-plan, called Game On Philly!, to build a comprehensive system for high quality, affordable SBYD programs for all Philadelphia children and the ongoing commitment of a collective impact team to implement that plan. Development of Measurable Outcomes: The Collaborative has just completed the piloting of Hello Insight: Sports, a tool that allows the Collaborative and its member organizations to measure the Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) capacities best nurtured by sports programs and asks young people to reflect on the quality of their experiences. Preliminary data shows that this is a valuable tool – measuring not only the impact of SBYD programming on youth but the effectiveness of member organizations to deliver quality SBYD programming. Education/Workshops: The Collaborative is working to improve the quality of youth sports programming throughout the city. We provide training for entire organizations, from child-facing coaches and mentors to executive directors on topics such as positive youth development and trauma-sensitive coaching. We also sponsor opportunities for organizational leadership to network, collaborate and share information and resources. In late 2018 the Collaborative worked with Temple University to develop a comprehensive coaches education program rooted in positive youth development for 250 coaches. The training will be implemented in the fall of 2019 and will result in a non-credit certificate issued by Temple University for all participants upon completion. Research and strategy: The Collaborative commissions research on the outcomes and accessibility of sports-based youth development programs. Such research not only helps drive fundi

Philadelphia Sports Collaborative has been a leader in promoting SBYD in Philadelphia since 2009. After six years of peer support and knowledge sharing, the organization was re-launched in 2016 as a standalone 501(c)(3) nonprofit, with an expanded mission and a full-time executive director to better focus on increasing access to SBYD programming for the children of Philadelphia. The Collaborative partners with a host of community stakeholders and thought leaders to shape and drive their efforts. We actively involve the communities and families on behalf of whom we advocate. We work closely with community organizers to understand the needs of each community and develop strategies to bring new opportunities into available spaces. We also recruit and develop local young leaders to encourage grassroots growth of SBYD programs and opportunities. We educate community organizations and leaders about existing SBYD opportunities in their neighborhoods and engage parents in school communities to hear their needs and better understand how we can help to best serve their children. Our member organizations and the children and families they serve, also play a critical role in informing our work. The Collaborative regularly surveys members to learn more about their needs and challenges, which drives our advocacy and educational efforts. We also provide index cards at every workshop and event we sponsor so participants can communicate issues, request information or suggest strategies. Additionally, our advocacy objectives have been shaped by the more than 40 government, business, health care, academic and community leaders that comprise the Philadelphia Task Force on Sports-Based Youth Development. Their report, which serves as a blueprint for the Collaborative’s advocacy efforts, summarizes challenges faced by low-income Philadelphia youth, presents research on the benefits of sports-based youth development programming and outlines recommendations and strategies for increasing equitable access to high-quality sports programming. These cross-sector leaders have also committed to continuing their work with the Collaborative to support the implementation of the recommendations. In the fall of 2017, Philadelphia Sports Collaborative funded and coordinated a Citywide Task Force that included a host of partners, including the Mayor’s Office of Education, the SDP, the Managing Director’s Office, Parks and Recreation, the Dept. of Health, Philadelphia’s professional sports community, plus members of the university, philanthropic, corporate and health care communities. The Task Force ended in 2018, with the creation of Game on Philly. Game On is a 5-year plan to increase SBYD direct access to underserved youth, improve quality, improve evaluation and maximize the use of recreational space.

Measurement and evaluation are vital to the success of this initiative. As such, we strongly encourage all our member organizations to use Hello Insights Sports as the primary tool for data collection and evaluation. The tool measures Social Emotional Learning (SEL) capacities best nurtured by sports programs and asks young people to reflect on the quality of their experiences. SEL is a continuous, ongoing process in young people that involves developing many skills and attributes that are closely related, but distinct enough to be measured on their own (i.e. self-efficacy, goal orientation, self-confidence, and self-management). The Collaborative also annually provides the demographic and participation data of our members to the Citywide Out-of-School Time Initiative’s data collection system.

We know that our advocacy is effective because it is already garnering tangible results. Through the collective efforts of the Collaborative and its cross-sector partners, there will be at least 1,000 more slots for youth in Philadelphia public schools to participate in high-quality SBYD programming during the 2019-20 school year. In addition, resources have been secured to train 250 coaches in the principles of using sport for positive youth development and being a trauma-sensitive coach. The formation of alliances among Collaborative members and traditional out-of-school time providers has resulted in more consistent and coordinated programming in community schools. Furthermore, we have identified a set of benchmarks against which we are monitoring the success of our five-year campaign. These benchmarks state that by 2023: • Every school housing 4th to 8th grades will have at least one SBYD Out-of-School Time program or in school sports program on-site or at a nearby location with coaches trained in positive youth development; • Philadelphia Parks and Recreation and School District of Philadelphia, along with private and non-profit program host facilities will have developed a coordinated access approach to their facilities to ensure that every neighborhood has adequate spaces available for use in a manner that is not cost-prohibitive; • All SBYD OST programs will use a set of common measurement tools and reporting them through the Out-of-School Time Initiative’s citywide data management system (or a comparable system that feeds information into the citywide system); • Partnerships will be established with key community influencers to support the promotion of SBYD to make sure that we are reaching everyone who wants to participate; • Sufficient funding will be identified and secured to support program expansion without impact on other city or School District of Philadelphia priorities and supports the work of current SBYD providers.