U.S. Figure Skating today announced the winners of the 2024-25 Community Development Grants, awarding a combined $12,000 to six recipients who will use the funds to attract, involve and inspire new generations of figure skaters.
U.S. Figure Skating Community Development Grants are presented to applicants who successfully demonstrate plans that embody U.S. Figure Skating’s mission to create and cultivate opportunities for participation and achievement in figure skating as well as promote diversity, equity and inclusion through the development of community-based programs or events.
Below are the six recipients and their plans for the grant:
- Figure Skating on Your Block (Chicago, Illinois): In collaboration with the Chicago Youth Foundation, the organization aims to engage over 2,000 inner-city and low-income youth through a free ice sports program focused on figure skating and hockey, which includes free skate rentals with quality skates and blades. It also plans to grow its Pathfinders program, which provides young people with social-emotional and health-fitness education through interactive off-ice workshops.
- City of Millcreek (Millcreek, Utah): Will provide accessible and inclusive skating opportunities to individuals from Title 1 schools in the Granite School District who come from low-income families.
- Detroit Skating Club (Detroit, Michigan): Plans to use the grant to establish an eight-session Learn to Skate USA® summer camp for the Grace Centers of Hope, which serves individuals experiencing homelessness or struggling with addiction and abuse. The program would cover the cost of a Learn to Skate USA® membership, rental skates, group lesson ice time and off-ice lesson time.
- Morgan Park Sports Center (Chicago, Illinois): Aims to grow its Aspire Program to offer testing and competitive opportunities as well as financial assistance to skaters of diverse socioeconomic backgrounds living on Chicago’s far south side. By doing so, skaters have the ability to progress by taking skating tests to enter a competitive pipeline.
- Skate Therapy (Sugar Land, Texas): Will expand to offer a third session of their Skate Therapy program, which offers skating lessons to individuals with disabilities, promoting social interaction, physical achievements, and a sense of compassion and cooperation among skaters and instructors. With a third session, Skate Therapy can remove individuals from their waitlist and add them into active programming.
- Stockton FSC (Stockton, California): Plans to use the grant to launch a new initiative called Breaking Barriers and Inequity of Figure Skating in Stockton, Central Valley. This initiative aims to create a welcome environment for skaters from diverse backgrounds through community events, free Learn to Skate USA® lessons, open houses and educational workshops about the benefits of skating and competitive pathways.
The Community Development Grants, started by the Robert V. Hauff and John F. Dreeland Foundation, were established in 2010 with the purpose of providing funding to eligible member clubs, Learn to Skate USA® programs and Aspire programs throughout the United States.
Click here to learn more about U.S. Figure Skating’s Community Development Grants. Please reach out to giving@usfigureskating.org to learn more about how you could increase funding for the Community Development Grants or provide additional support to U.S. Figure Skating.
