Published: February 1, 2008
Dear It Takes A Team! Supporter:
It's been nearly three years since I became director of It Takes A Team! in February 2005, and as we approach our three-year anniversary it seems like a great time to reflect on our accomplishments. I want you, our supporters, to know what we've been doing and to share in our pride in the It Takes A Team! accomplishments. I also want to challenge you to become directly involved with It Takes A Team!
Challenge for athletic supporters: Help It Takes A Team! raise $5,000 in the next two months so together we can get the curriculum out to 1,500 more schools this year.
Among its many accomplishments and successes, It Takes A Team! has:
- Disseminated education kits to 700 NCAA member schools, 300 schools through the NCAA CHAMPS Life Skills curriculum for collegiate student-athletes and 640 individuals through Web site and phone inquiries.
- Distributed advice, information and referral services to numerous individual parents, athletes and coaches about LGBT issues and discrimination in sport. These individuals contacted us by phone (800-227-3988), e-mail (info@WomensSportsFoundation.org), or in person at conferences.
- Completed a grant-funded model education program with five universities in Connecticut to train campus-based leaders who conducted workshops on LGBT issues with school athletic staff and student-athlete leaders (Eastern Connecticut State University, Central Connecticut State University, Trinity College, University of Hartford, University of New Haven).
- Completed a successful evaluation project examining attitude changes toward lesbian and gay teammates and coaches among 300 student-athletes who participated in an education session using the It Takes A Team! video. Results showed that student-athletes attitudes were significantly more positive after viewing and discussing the video.
- Collaborated with the Human Rights Campaign Coming Out project to organize a panel of gay and transgender former professional athletes - John Amaechi, Esera Tuaolo, Dave Kopay, Billy Bean, Terri O'Connell. The video of this event is posted on youtube.com and has been viewed by more than 7,000 people and rated as a five-star video.
- Collaborated with the National Center For Lesbian Rights on the first national meeting with NCAA member schools on negative recruiting based on sexual orientation.
- Created a partnership with the Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network on National No Name-Calling Week in schools by developing activities and information for high school athletics.
- Collaborated with the NCAA to organize a panel on LGBT issues in athletics for the NCAA 2008 national convention.
- Worked in conjunction with the NCAA to design a survey of the diversity climate in collegiate athletics.
- Received endorsements from 17 national educational and advocacy organizations.
- Gave 58 presentations for national athletic, education and advocacy organizations.
- Served as a resource for news stories about LGBT issues in sport by ESPN, New York Times, Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times and many other print and Internet sources.
- Received funding from IBM, Arcus Foundation, the Gill Foundation and the Richardson Foundation and many individual donors.
Our overall goal is to be the "go to" education resource for addressing LGBT issues in high school and collegiate athletics. We provide up-to-date, practical and effective information and strategies for athletic administrators, coaches, athletes and parents to make sport a safe and respectful place for all athletes, including lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. I hope you'll agree that It Takes A Team! has made incredible progress in reaching our goal.
We've seen just how successful the It Takes A Team! curriculum is. The more schools we reach, the closer we are to making sport safe and welcome for everyone. We need your help to spread our reach.
If you have any questions or would like to learn how to get more involved, please contact Melanie Bennett, It Takes A Team! Coordinator, at MBennett@WomensSportsFoundation.org. For donation information, please click on either of the below links.
I look forward to continuing our work together.
Sincerely,
Pat Griffin, Ed.D.
It Takes A Team! Director