Grantmakers in the News
July 1, 2006
Name: Jacksonville Jaguars Foundation
Address: One Alltel Stadium Place
Jacksonville, FL 32202
Telephone: 904-633-KIDS
Fax: 904-633-LOVE
URL: www.jaguars.com/Foundation/
The Sports Philanthropy Project and the
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation jointly announced recently that the Jacksonville Jaguars Foundation will receive the 2006 Steve Patterson Sports Philanthropy Award. This award is presented annually to a sports team or athlete foundation whose work is deveoted to improving the lives of others.
The Jaguars Foundation is being honored for developing innovative community programs, which have received national recognition and have been widely replicated, and for their support of organizations and initiatives throughout the Jacksonville community focusing on the empowerment of young people.
Between 1995 and 2005 the Jaguars Foundation awarded more than $9 million in cash grants and gave in-kind grants exceeding $430,000 annually in game tickets earned by youth and adults through local nonprofit organizations. The award also recognizes the Jaguars Foundation for their leadership in assisting other professional sports teams in developing their own philanthropic iniatives.
The Jaguars Foundation's programs include:
- Honor Rows, a ticket incentive program through which low-income youth earn a seat to a Jaguars home game by setting and attaining educational, personal improvement and volunteer service goals—a program which has been replicated by a number of professional sports teams
- The Official Playbooks, which encourages reading and the use of public libraries
- Straight Talk, a partnership with all local television media that produces and airs an annual prime time forum on the prevention of teen pregnancy, HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infrections.
The Jaguars football team and foundation have also been recognized for their leadership in youth tobacco prevention initiatives, including leading the NFL to a league-wide ban on tobacco advertising in Game Day publications.
The award is named for Steve Patterson, a well-known center on three national basketball teams at UCLA, who later played in the NBA and coached at Arizona State University. He also worked to link players, teams, and sports foundations with important social causes.
The Steve Patterson Sports Philanthropy Award will be officially presented to the Jaguars Foundation in Jacksonville at their Monday Night Football game on September 16, 2006. The presentation will take place on-field during a pre-game ceremony.
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