Financial assistance to enable youth in poverty to participate in sports programs was brought up during the City Council meeting Tuesday night by councilmember Robb Casseday.
The Mayor agreed to discuss this issue in the future to see if any funding can be given to youth in poverty to cover Greeley Recreation Center’s sports program costs.
“There has always been a need for this issue to be addressed. We have wanted to offer more aid, but it comes down to a budgeting issue,” said Andy McRoberts, Leisure Services Director.
McRoberts said that it is a challenge to find additional funds to offset program costs.
Some solutions briefly suggested by Casseday and McRoberts were grants by the police department and fundraising. Casseday said he thinks they can get the Greeley Police Department to fund youth more because being in sports keeps kids off the streets and out of trouble.
Casseday said that currently there is a youth assistance fund that is supporting qualified students, but is not funded enough to give all poverty students a chance to play.
“All youth benefit from being in extracurricular activities because they learn how to work as a team, communicate and be an effective leader,” McRoberts said.
In addition to sports, McRoberts said that they should also look at funding other programs to incorporate those who don’t like playing sports.
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