National Football League
& NFL Players Association Award
JCC Association Grant to Expand Flag Football in JCCs
The
JCC Movement is committed to encouraging healthy lifestyles
and providing programs of the highest quality. Now, thanks
to an exceptionally generous grant of almost a half million
dollars from the NFL Youth Football Fund (YFF), JCC Association
can help youth and teens stay fit while they have fun and
learn character-building lessons of teamwork and sportsmanship.
JCC Association will use the grant to:
• expand flag football programming to more North American
JCCs
• introduce flag football to JCC day and resident summer
camps
• train a large number of JCC health and phys ed professionals,
coaches, and volunteers, including women
• introduce football to Israeli health and phys ed professionals
in Israeli community centers
• make flag football a core competitive sport at the
JCC Maccabi Games®
• train international JCC professionals to coach and
run flag football programs in their countries
Today’s children suffer from obesity,
juvenile diabetes, and high cholesterol. Many school districts
have eliminated physical education programs, and some have
even cut out recess. Kids need enjoyable organized sports
programs that will get them off the couch and onto an open
field. "JCC Association is proud of our ongoing relationship
with the NFL,” said Lenny Silberman, continental director,
JCC Maccabi Games, and assistant vice-president of program
services at JCC Association. “The generosity of the
NFL Youth Football Fund will enable JCC Association to continue
to positively impact the lives of children throughout North
America."
JCCs already have 7,500 kids enrolled in flag
football programs. The team at Michael-Ann Russell JCC in
North Miami, Florida is a two-time national NFL FLAG champion
and will compete in the NFL FLAG Football World Championship
in Beijing, China this summer. This newest YFF grant will
enable JCC Association to almost triple the number of boys
and girls involved and help them to stay fit and healthy.
“The NFL Youth Football Fund is
proud to be a partner of the Jewish Community Centers Association,”
said Cedric Jones, NFL senior director of Youth Football.
“Every year, 14.1 million children across the country
play touch and flag football and through this grant JCC Association
will be able to provide even more youth the opportunity to
be involved with the game.”
JCC Association always endeavors to improve
the professionalism of JCC employees, and part of the YFF
grant will enable JCC Maccabi Games coaches to participate
in a safety-awareness clinic developed at Rutgers University
in New Brunswick, New Jersey. The grant will also allow more
women coaches to be trained, which will give girls more female
role models on the playing field.
From left, Cedric Jones, former Senator Jack
Kemp, Lenny Silberman and Steve Becker from JCC Association.
JCC Association is the leadership network
of, and central agency for the Jewish Community Center Movement,
which is comprised of more than 350 JCC, YM-YWHA and camp
sites in the U. S. and Canada. JCC Association offers a wide
range of services and resources to strengthen the capacity
of its affiliates to provide educational, cultural, social,
Jewish identity-building, and recreational programs to enhance
the lives of North American Jews of all ages and backgrounds.
Additionally, the movement fosters and strengthens connections
between North American Jews and Israel as well as with world
Jewry. JCC Association is also a U.S. government accredited
agency for serving the religious and social needs of Jewish
military personnel, their families, and patients in VA hospitals
through JWB Jewish Chaplains Council.
The NFL Youth Football Fund (YFF) is
a 501c3 nonprofit organization founded by the National Football
League and NFL Players Association in 1998 to use football
as a catalyst to promote positive youth development. Through
the YFF, hundreds of thousands of youngsters have been given
the opportunity to learn the game of football, get physically
fit, and stay involved in productive after-school activities
with adult mentors. The YFF also provides youth football participants
with safe and accessible places to play, as well as programs
and initiatives that address the importance of proper coaching,
academics, health and safety, and life skills development.
###
JCC Association
is the leadership network of, and central agency for the Jewish
Community Center Movement, which is comprised of 350 JCC,
YM-YWHA and camp sites in the U. S. and Canada. JCC Association
offers a wide range of services and resources to strengthen
the capacity of its affiliates to provide educational, cultural,
social, Jewish identity-building, and recreational programs
to enhance the lives of North American Jews of all ages and
backgrounds. Additionally, the movement fosters and strengthens
connections between North American Jews and Israel as well
as with world Jewry. JCC Association is also the U.S. government
accredited agency for serving the religious and social needs
of Jewish military personnel, their families, and patients
in VA hospitals through JWB Jewish Chaplains Council.
The NFL Youth Football Fund (YFF) is a 501c3 nonprofit organization
founded by the National Football League and NFL Players Association
in 1998 to use football as a catalyst to promote positive
youth development. Through the YFF, hundreds of thousands
of youngsters have been given the opportunity to learn the
game of football, get physically fit, and stay involved in
productive after-school activities with adult mentors. The
YFF also provides youth football participants with safe and
accessible places to play, as well as programs and initiatives
that address the importance of proper coaching, academics,
health and safety, and life skills development.
Miriam Rinn
Communications Manager
JCC Association
15 E. 26 St., NY, NY 10010
212-786-5092
fax: 212-481-4174
send an e-mail
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