USTA Foundation Launches Community Impact Hub Initiative

The USTA Foundation today announced the launch of its bold new Community Impact Hub initiative in 10 communities across the country. The goal of this new effort is to leverage the power of tennis to grow impact and grow the game in under-resourced communities, offering young people and families unparalleled opportunities to play, learn, and thrive – right where they live.

10 community-based organizations that are a part of the USTA Foundation’s National Junior Tennis & Learning (NJTL) network will expand upon their work to offer tennis and education programs to embed tennis as a catalyst for holistic community change. These Hubs will dramatically scale the Foundation’s efforts to offer access to tennis and all of its benefits to communities that need it most through no-cost school and family play opportunities, coach training, and investment in courts in under-resourced communities.

Photo credit: USTA Foundation.

This initiative is projected to reach over 630,000 young people and families, implement new youth tennis programming in over 570 schools, refurbish at least 160 tennis courts, and recruit over 2,000 new coaches in Hub communities nationwide by the end of 2027. This more than $6 million initiative is seeded by the USTA and USTA Foundation, and the Foundation will actively fundraise to support its growth, with the ultimate goal of scaling into additional communities, affording more people access to the benefits of tennis–on and off the court.

The Community Impact Hubs were selected from the more than 270 community organizations part of the USTA Foundation’s NJTL network. Created in 1969 by tennis legend Arthur Ashe, Charlie Pasarell and Sheridan Snyder, the network is the core initiative of the USTA Foundation, and prepares young people from under-resourced communities for life on and off the court by providing them access to tennis, academic support services, career readiness programs, and mentorship opportunities.

Photo credit: USTA Foundation.

“Community Impact Hubs will provide unprecedented access to tennis and all of its benefits to youth and families in under-resourced communities," said USTA Foundation CEO Ginny Ehrlich. “This initiative reflects our deep commitment to harnessing the transformative power of tennis to open gateways of opportunity in the communities that need it most.”

These Hubs will also serve as anchors for broader community connection while helping meet high levels of unmet demand and supporting the USTA’s broader “35 by ’35” goal: growing tennis participation to 35 million Americans by the year 2035.

Photo credit: USTA Foundation.

"This initiative is about more than introducing people to tennis. It is about embedding the sport into the fabric of communities in a way that creates lasting impact," said Brian Vahaly, USTA Board President and interim co-CEO. "By partnering with local leaders to shape these Community Impact Hubs, we can create programs that reflect each community’s unique needs, expand access to the game, and ensure tennis is seen as a source of opportunity, connection, and inspiration for young people and their families."

The 10 USTA Foundation Community Impact Hub pilot locations include:

• Advantage Cleveland Tennis and Education – Cleveland

• Atlanta Youth Tennis & Education Foundation (AYTEF) & L.E.A.D. Center for Youth – Atlanta

• Cincinnati Tennis Foundation – Cincinnati

• Houston Tennis Association – Houston

• Junior Tennis Champions Center (JTCC) – College Park, Md.

• MaliVai Washington Kids Foundation, Inc. – Jacksonville, Fla.

• New York Junior Tennis & Learning – New York City

• Sloane Stephens Foundation – Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

• Tennis Memphis – Memphis, Tenn.

• Woodcraft Rangers – Los Angeles
  

USTA Foundation 

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Courtesy of USTA Foundation. Top photo credit: USTA Foundation.