Coaching Corps and Positive Coaching Alliance are excited to recognize the Philadelphia Youth Sports Collaborative (PYSC) as our Partner of the Month for March!
The Collaborative’s 60+ member organizations collectively serve over 65,000 youth in Philadelphia, using sports as a hook to engage young people in an array of enrichment services focused on developing the child first, the athlete second. The Collaborative’s role is to convene these providers around shared learning and support their work with resources, opportunities for growth, and advocacy.
Through partnership with PCA, The Collaborative drives comprehensive coach education with member organizations such as Zhang Sah to professionalize youth sports coaches leading to social-emotional outcomes through sport. As part of the ‘From Barriers To Belief’ initiative, Coaching Corps spent the day with Mike Barsotti, Director of External Relations, and community leaders Eric Worley and Valencia ‘Coach V’ Peterson, members of The Collaborative, to learn more and get a firsthand insight into the great work being done in and around the neighborhoods of Philadelphia.
The Collaborative has been able to provide equitable access to sports in four key ways, which include:
- Facilitating increased access to the power of Sports Based Youth Development through the engagement and coordination of partnerships, programs, and places.
- Advocating for favorable public policy to support the work and growth of the Sports Based Youth Development ecosystem in Philadelphia.
- Identifying and securing financial and other resources that support the expansion and quality of the system-wide work in Sports Based Youth Development.
- Convening large youth-facing agencies and other cross-sector stakeholders around a common agenda to achieve the goal of equitable access to quality sport for development programs.
The Collaborative also recently developed the Youth Engagement in Sports (YES) Initiative, a program designed to increase participation in sport sampling and nutritional education to students in 6 middle schools in North and West Philadelphia for over 200 youth. The YES Initiative studies the impacts of various methods of program delivery, measures participation and trends in nutritional habits to identify characteristics of effective collaborations that improve physical activity and nutrition through increased participation in sports.
Over the next several months and with our upcoming merger with Positive Coaching Alliance, we look forward to expanding and growing our relationship with the Philadelphia Youth Sports Collaborative as we work towards our collective goal of access and equity for all of our children.
