Tony Hawk: Build A Skatepark In Watts--Match Funds

Summary

Tony Hawk has joined the youth of Watts to create a skatepark that will promote a healthy lifestyle and be an alternative to the crime, gangs, and drugs that pervade their challenged community. project reportread updates from the field

How You Can Help  Help

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Received $19,110 from 390 donations from people like:

ox rellimstap vvrana <i>(Anon.)</i>
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More Information About this Project

Project Needs and Beneficiaries

Help Tony Hawk build a skatepark for the youth of Watts, and YOUR DONATION WILL BE MATCHED by the Tony Hawk Foundation.* “To provide a positive alternative to the challenges that face the community, I’ve joined a coalition of community and business leaders to create a landmark skateboarding facility (skatepark) that will give Watts youth a place to be active, creative, and enjoy their sport,” says Tony Hawk. * The Tony Hawk Foundation will match all Global Giving donations up to $10,000.

Activities

This will be a sanctuary for local youth to meet, skate, and enjoy themselves in a safe environment. Top designers and builders will ensure the skatepark will be a landmark that the skaters of Watts and the entire community can be proud of.

Funding Information

Total Funding Received to Date: $19,110
Remaining Goal to be Funded: $890
Total Funding Goal: $20,000

Additional Documentation

This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).

Resources

Why this Project is Important

Potential Long Term Impact

This landmark skatepark at the Watts Towers will provide the more than 2,000 local skateboarders a safe, sanctioned place to ride, and provide them a healthy, creative, athletic alternative to gangs, drugs, and crime.

Project Message

I know first-hand how a young person can learn, grow, and find a sense of identity through skateboarding, and I want to help kids in Watts to have that same opportunity.
- Tony Hawk, Professional Skateboarder

Who is Running This Project

Contact

Miki Vuckovich

1611-A S. Melrose DR #360
Vista, CA 92081
United States
(760) 477-2479
Email:

Project Sponsor

Athletes for Hope

Organization

Tony Hawk Foundation
1611-A S. Melrose Drive #360
Vista, CA 92081
United States

Where this Project is Located

Country

This project is located in United StatesUnited States and can also be found under ChildrenChildren.

For more information about United States, read the Human Development Report on United States or the Wikipedia entry for United States.

When this Project was Updated

Last Updated

This project was last updated on January 13, 2010.

Date Added to GlobalGiving

This project was added to the GlobalGiving project catalog on December 11, 2009

Latest Update from the Field

Watts Community Excited About Skatepark Plan

By Miki Vuckovich - Executive Director - THF, January 13, 2010 11:40 AM

Alternative angle of the Street Plaza skatepark design.
Donate TODAY (Tuesday, January 12) to the Watts Skatepark and help us earn an additional $1,000 by winning today's Bonus Challenge. And please spread the word through your facebook and other networks to encourage your friends and family to get involved!

At a meeting of Watts community leaders and local agencies last week, the enthusiasm and excitement over the skatepark plan was overwhelming.

Representatives from the Los Angeles Mayor's office, local Council Member Janice Hahn's staff, the Community Redevelopment Agency, and other local organizations discussed the impact of the skatepark on the site of the historic Watts Towers landmark, and the general consensus was that the skatepark at the Watts Towers will benefit the community in several ways:

• Skateboarding, an inherently creative activity, will give local skaters a "canvas" to express their style and technique in the heart of Watts' "Cultural Crescent," a redevelopment district designated around the Watts Towers that includes community arts centers and cultural facilities.

• The attraction of the skatepark will bring local youth to the site to experience the Watts Towers landmark and learn to appreciate their own local history.

• The Street Plaza design of the skatepark will blend with the aesthetics of the Towers and the existing amphitheater at the site, and will also accommodate multiple uses--festivals and other public gatherings.

• The design will be refined with additional input from top-professional skateboarders and local youth, who would be the park's primary users.

• The skatepark isn't only for the youth who will finally have a safe, sanctioned place to ride, but will allow non-skating community members the opportunity to see what these young athletes can do--the skatepark will be as exciting to spectators as it will be for the youth who will get to use it.

• The skatepark construction is being funded by private donors, so there will be no fiscal impact on the community or City of Los Angeles to create the landmark skatepark.

• The Watts Towers already attract many tourists to come see the 100-foot spires, and the skatepark will show another type of local creativity that will also be an attraction to visitors.

Currently a series of public meetings is being planned to collect more community input and answer questions about the skatepark plan. But fundraising efforts are ongoing, and through this special Global Giving campaign that ends Friday, January 15 you can help make this dream a reality for Watts youth.

Donate TODAY (Tuesday, January 12) and help us earn an additional $1,000 by winning today's Bonus Challenge. And of course your donation will be matched by the Tony Hawk Foundation.

Spread the word!

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