NFL donates $1 million to South Florida Youth Education Towns as part of Super Bowl Legacy CSR program

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL— NFL Charities will donate $1 million to the South Florida NFL Youth Education Towns to fund expansion and support community outreach efforts.  For the past 17 years, NFL Charities has donated close to $20 million toward constructing NFL YETs in at-risk neighborhoods since the initiative began in 1993 as a legacy of Super Bowl XXVII.
 
There are two NFL Youth Education Towns in South Florida, one in Fort Lauderdale and one in Miami.  The Miami NFL YET opened following Super Bowl XXIX and the Fort Lauderdale NFL YET opened as a legacy of Super Bowl XXXIII.  
 
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell announced the $1 million donation at a press conference and spoke to the children and guests about the success of the South Florida NFL YETs and celebrated the ways in which the facilities have benefited the surrounding community.  
 
Goodell was joined by Florida Governor Charlie Crist, Broward County Mayor Ken Keechl, Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross, and NFL players including Steve Young; ESPN Monday Night Football analyst Ron Jaworksi; Miami Dolphins quarterback Chad Pennington; and Cleveland Browns wide receiver Mike Furrey.  Young, Jaworski, Pennington and Furrey joined other NFL players in leading an NFL Charities-NFL Youth Football Fund youth football clinic for NFL YET children immediately preceding the press conference. As 2009 NFL Charities and NFL Youth Football Fund grant recipients, these players were recognized for giving back to their communities through their foundations and to youth and high school football programs nationwide.
 
Each year NFL Charities donates $1 million toward the NFL YET initiative, a figure which is matched by local private and public donations. This year, the funds donated by both NFL Charities and the South Florida Super Bowl XLIV Host Committee will be used to fund building expansion at the Miami NFL YET and programmatic enhancements, equipment upgrades to the multi-media lab and the establishment of an endowment in Fort Lauderdale.
 

NFL YETs are facilities offering tutoring, mentoring, career training, computer education, and access to recreational activities. Each facility is designed to help youngsters succeed by providing educational assistance, job training, technical instruction, life-skills development, and recreational outlets.  The Forever Young Foundation, founded by Pro Football Hall of Fame member and ESPN analyst Steve Young has collaborated with the NFL YET initiative for many years by funding multi-media technology centers at NFL YETs nationwide.

The press conference also included the announcement of a donation of photography equipment valued at $150,000 by Canon, a community partner of the initiative, to fund the use of photography equipment by youth at each of the 13 NFL Youth Education Towns across the country.  Canon also participated in the youth football clinic, hosting a photography station as part of the event. 
There are presently 13 NFL YETs operating in ten Super Bowl host cities—Los Angeles, Phoenix, New Orleans, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Detroit, Atlanta, and two in Tampa, Jacksonville, and Houston.  A new NFL YET was unveiled in Honolulu, HI last year as a legacy of the NFL Pro Bowl which was played in that state since 1980.