Youth & Amateur Sports Grants
2023 Update
The next King County Parks Youth and Amateur Sports Grants (YASG) Request for Applications (RFA) will be in early 2024, and details about the 2024 application and technical assistance will be available in late 2023. While YASG funding priorities and commitments remain consistent, starting in 2024 we will:
- Shift our annual awards process to every other year (2024, 2026, etc.)
- Award approximately $3 million every other year; rather than $1.5 million per year
This YASG grant cycle will allow us to distribute funding more efficiently, reduce time and effort for community partners, and improve funding stability with two-year awards.
In August 2022, YASG awarded more than $4.2 million in pandemic-related federal relief funding to 45 community organizations, which is double the amount YASG typically distributes each year. We look forward to supporting these organizations as they work to recover. Click here to view the complete awards list.
Why We Invest in Youth Sports
Physical activity is vital to youth development, physical health, mental health, and social emotional learning, and is also associated with better educational outcomes. The Center for Disease Control recommends that youth get at least 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity daily to stay healthy. However, only 19% of youth in King County meet this recommendation according to the Healthy Youth Survey.
Disparities in access to physical activity and health outcomes are evident by race, place, and income. By investing in organizations and agencies serving low-income youth and youth of color King County Parks is working to increase youth access to and participation in physical activity.
Interested in collaborating on a collective impact approach toward systems change? Check out the King County Play Equity Coalition.