eyenl aly __ NFL Plays A Different Game (NAPSA)—The National Football League andits players have been quietly working to help give urban kids better places to play. Over the pt six years, through the NFL Grsroots pro- gram, a joint effort of the NFL Youth Football Fund (YFF) and Local Initiatives Support Cor- poration (LISC), the YFF h invested $10 million in almost 100 fields across the country where facilities were neglected, aban- doned,or didn’t even exist. A variety of non-profit, neighborhood-bed organizations, mid- dle schools and high schools have benefited from the financing and technical sistance to improve the quality, safety, and accessibil- ity of local football fields. With YFF’s contributions, LISC h been able to leverage an addi- tional $31 million to help develop these footballfields. For the NFL, the decision to be This football field in Jacksonville, Fla. is one of nearly 100 NFL Grsroots community fields nationwide. the creation and maintenance of playing fields, those developments are much morelikely to be protected and preserved for long-term use,” said LISC President and CEO Michael Rubinger. The newest field, dedicated in November 2003, is a turf field in Chelsea, Ms., a community out- side of Boston. It w developed involved w an ey one. “It is a longstanding tradition of the NFL through a nonprofit called Chelsea supporting us,” said NFL Com- tions are encouraged to go to LISC’s Web site, www.liscnet.org to give back to those communities missioner Paul Tagliabue. “Having safe, accessible fields is essential to youngchildren today.” LISC ensures that community groups get the funding to main- tain older fields and establish new ones, and that those groups have the community support needed to sustain the use of the fields over the long term. “When local resi- dents have a sense of ownership and see themselves central to Neighborhood Housing Services. Community-bed organiza- for information about LISC pro- gramsin their are. LISC, a taxexempt 501 (c)(3) organization, is the nation’s largest supporter of nonprofit community development. Since 1980, LISC h invested more than $4.5 billion in non-profit neighborhood-bed organizations for the benefit of low-income, urban, and rural communities nationwide.
