NAF Supports Northside Youth Organization (NYO)

Northside Athletes Foundation is supporting NYO (Northside Youth Organization) again for 2013. Charlie Caswell presented a $10,000 check to Jane Wilkens, Executive Director of NYO, to help with their capital campaign.

For over 60 years, NYO has provided a special environment for the growth and development of our community’s young athletes.  Starting with football in 1948, NYO soon added baseball, basketball, softball & cheerleading. From a few local families, the program grew to 700 kids by 1972.  Through the ’80’s and ’90’s, NYO continued to grow by finding better ways to utilize the park’s fields and facilities. Since then, they have more than doubled in size, and expect nearly 6,000 participants in all sports for 2012-13.  In order to handle these numbers, each year, they have to convert fields from baseball to football and back again; plus, they also now partner with neighboring schools, parks and churches to use 11 off-site fields and 7 different gyms.  In most cases, they make substantial improvements to these off-site facilities, which benefits both the NYO community as well as their partners’ constituents.

NYO remains a volunteer-lead organization, having only one paid administrative employee to support their amazing group of volunteers.

NYO offers one of the country’s highest quality recreational sports programs.  And they give back to the community as well by supporting NYO’s Christopher League, which serves mentally and physically challenged kids, as well as offering Scholarship Programs, which provide assistance for kids that otherwise could not afford to play.

Follow the links to learn more about NYO and their Captal Campaign.