Leaving a Lasting Legacy

When we started our race for the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games three years ago, we made a very important decision.

We determined that--whether we won the Games or not--our bid would produce important and long-lasting benefits for Chicago and its people.

We were particularly interested in making a contribution to better the lives of young people, especially kids from urban neighborhoods, helping keep them on a healthy and positive track.

So Chicago 2016 created World Sport Chicago, a sister organization whose mission is to involve youth in sport.

I'm more than a little proud to report that WSC not only has begun to function, it is going full tilt. It is touching the lives of literally thousands of Chicago kids--roughly 30,000 so far-- through sport introduction programs, gym classes, educational trips, coaching clinics and demonstrations and talks by Olympians and Paralympians.

Under a new program this summer, hundreds of kids were organized into neighborhood teams and got fundamental training in the sport of track and field and the opportunity to compete in meets. A few weeks ago, a team of 11 young boxers from Chicago traveled to Ireland to compete against an Irish team in matches in Cork and Galway.

World Sport Chicago is led by its dedicated executive vice president Scott Myers and by two Olympians who are active in promoting Chicago's bid for the Games. Chairman Bill Scherr won a bronze medal in wrestling at the 1988 Games in Seoul. And President Michael Conley won the gold in the triple jump in Barcelona in 1992 and the silver at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles.

All three are passionate about sport and about the power of sport to change lives.

Clearly there is a health benefit to what WSC is doing. Last month we read about the new report that ranks Illinois 10th in the country for the percentage of children between 10 and 17 who are overweight and obese.

But there also is the potential for great social gain stemming from World Sport Chicago's efforts. Besides being engaged in positive activities, kids are being exposed to the values of hard work, dedication, teamwork, fair play and respect for the rules--Olympic values.

And at the behest of Mayor Daley, the U.S. Conference of Mayors now is working with World Sport Chicago to expand this urban sport initiative to cities across the United States.

The privately-funded efforts of WSC will continue no matter the Oct. 2 selection of a winner for the 2016 Games by the International Olympic Committee. But if Chicago is chosen, the profile and programs of World Sport Chicago -along with its funding--are expected to grow.

The private foundation that was established in 1984 to manage Los Angeles' share of the surplus from that city's Games has put $185 million into programs that have benefited more than 2 million children throughout Southern California. The organization just celebrated its 25th anniversary.

We hope to invest that much--and more--in kids if Chicago wins the Games.

 

 

Comments

[Lakeview Greg]

04:17 PM on 07/31/2009

Tearing down part of a park, 16 tennis courts, 4 baseball diamonds, a not too long ago completed bird sanctuary, and putting up a building to hold tennis matches doesn't make a lot of sense. And that is in my neck of the woods. You say you will put the park back together after the games. Absolutely no one believes you. Now they're trying with the "it's all about the kids" stuff. No, it is not. It is about making wallets fatter and making the citizens of Chicago fill them up!!

[Valeriefleonard]

11:55 AM on 07/29/2009

An Olympic venue is planned for Douglas Park, in North Lawndale, which is just south of the Garfield Park Community. Chicago 2016 proposes to demolish the gym building of Collins High School, the only building in the community (as defined by Community Area 29) that was built for a high school. All other high schools either share a space with elementary school children, and may not have gym facilities of their own, or will be holding classes in buildings that were never intended to be schools. Chicago 2016 insists that it's better in the long run to demolish the gym building and replace it with the Velodrome. They also brag about not displacing residents. They neglect to mention that they will be displacing school children who live in a community the hardest hit by school closings and restructurings. This community's schools have a graduation rate of 34%, according to the last publicly available documents from CPS (2004). In 2008, the top performing high school in the community had about 15% of students reading on par with national averages, and about 21% of students with math scores meeting or exceeding national averages. Why would Chicago 2016 cause further disruption is beyond reason.

[Valeriefleonard]

11:54 AM on 07/29/2009

I attended a Chicago 2016 meeting at Marshall High School, and these statistics were rolled out. Marshall High School is located in Garfield Park, a rapidly changing low-moderate income African American community in Chicago. Granted, the program may be serving 30,000 youth, but you'd think that somebody in the audience would have heard of a program serving so many Chicago children. The buzz in the audience suggested that folks were surprised and didn't believe the claim--especially when there are so many youth hanging out in the streets, getting involved in all kinds of trouble, from truancy and dropout to cold blooded murder. These concerns, among others, were raised. The bottom line was, there were so many unmet needs in the neighborhood, and children needed a whole lot more than sports. People wanted to know why it took the Olympics to generate concern for the children?

[47th]

09:53 PM on 07/28/2009

Nice try Ryan, but nobody is buying! Here's an idea to help kids in the Douglas and Washington Park neighborhoods, do not tear up their neighborhood parks for the Olympics! WSC may be privately funded, but the Olympics is going to be paid for by Chicago taxpayers, pure and simple! No Olympics in Chicago!

[LadyJ]

07:53 PM on 07/28/2009

...I got your lasting legacy right here...ha ha.....too bad it's only part of the story. I say No to the Olympics in Chicago or the legacy will be a huge tax bill for the rest of us to shoulder as the schools, roads, city infrastructure continues to decline.

Our Chicago kids need better schools more than they need what this guy is selling.......a program that already has helped...OMG....Hundreds of people in a city of millions....woo hoo!