b'Sports 4 LifeCo-founded by the Womens Sports Foundation and espnW in 2014, Sports4 Life is a national initiative designed to increase the participation and retention of African-American, Black, Hispanic and Native American girls, ages 1118, in youth sports programming. Last year, Sports 4 Life provided more than 5,000 girls of color with access to a wide variety of traditionaland nontraditional sports, giving them the invaluable life and leadershipskills that often come with participation and can lead to increased confidence. In total, more than 80,000 girls have been impacted by the program in the last nine years.Project Play Sports Equity ToolkitCreated by the Aspen Institutes Project Play and sponsored by ESPN, the Sports Equity toolkit was launched this year to help young leaders use their voice, passion and talents in service of students in their community who lack opportunities to play. Through captivating stories and practical strategies, these first-of-its-kind resources support future leaders by revealing diverse methods, partnerships and pathways to change.Founded by ESPN and Beyond Sport, the Return to Play Fund supports community efforts to get young people of color playing, while also providing guidance and opportunities to help them grow, build confidence and feel successful. As part of the Return to Play Fund, a newAs part of its commitment to help kidsmini-pitch and basket-Return to Play, ESPN continued its support ball court opened in Flint last fall. This revitalized of building safe places to play sports forthe surrounding park, young people. In partnership with love.ftbol,providing a vibrant playESPN FUNDED 8 new spaces were built and revitalized inarea and a safe spaceMARKETS AS PART OF Miami and Flint, Mich., with year-long for sport and educationalSpecial Olympics SPECIAL OLYMPICS life-skills programming provided by RISE. programs.UNIFIED CHAMPION ESPNs relationship with Special Olympics spans more than 40 years. Serving as theCITY SCHOOLS official media partner for Special Olympics USA Games and World Games, ESPNsBRINGING THE TOTAL coverage of the World Games in Berlin, Germany this summer included more than NUMBER OF SCHOOLS 220 hours of live streaming competitions as well as a Best of Special Olympics WITH ELEMENTS World Games Berlin 2023 recap show. OF THE UNIFIED CHAMPIONS SCHOOLS Since 2013, ESPN also has been the Global Presenting Sponsor of Unified Sports,PROGRAMMING pairing athletes with and without intellectual disabilities on the same team. ThisTO MORE THAN 330 SCHOOLS IN represents a 182% increase in Unified participants globally, bringing the numberUNDERRESOURCED of participants to over 1.8 million. With support from ESPN, the Special OlympicsDISTRICTS. ESPN supported the USTAs National Junior Tennis LeagueUnified Champion City Schools Initiative also saw significant growth this past in bringing their ACES curriculum to vulnerable communities inyear. This program looks to accelerate Unified opportunities in city school Jacksonville, Fla., Los Angeles, Phoenix, Ariz., Washington, D.C.,districts, including hundreds of Title I schools, which often face more complex Dallas and New Mexico. challenges. Unified Sports on college campuses continued to grow ESPN has teamed up with First Tee to provide greater access to the game of golf as well, with nearly 300 colleges engaged as Unified Championfor youth of color in the Los Angeles area. Schools. HBCU participation within that number grew by 30%.8 9'