Friends of Urban Squash Letter from National Director Tim Wyant

December 19, 2015

Friends of NUSEA,

In January, 1,250 people gathered in New York City to celebrate the 20th anniversary of urban squash's launch. It was the first time the entire urban squash community had come together. Attendees included six former world No. 1 squash players, leaders and supporters of 26 urban squash programs worldwide, and over 400 urban squash students and alumni. First Lady Michelle Obama kicked off the gala dinner at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel with a video greeting, acknowledging the "outstanding work of the urban squash movement and NUSEA." The weekend raised a record $2 million for urban squash. It was an inspiring start to 2015.

Membership grows to 22 programs

With the addition of programs in Hartford, Cincinnati, and Charleston, NUSEA concludes the year with 18 member organizations in the U.S. and four international affiliates that together serve over 2,000 students and young adults. 170 individuals are now employed by our programs nationwide, and thousands volunteer. The combined annual budget of NUSEA and our member programs exceeds $10 million. Chicago's MetroSquash opened its own $8 million youth center with squash courts and classrooms. Startups in Pittsburgh, Houston, and Atlanta aim to become NUSEA members this upcoming year. As the movement gains awareness inside and outside the U.S., NUSEA continues to work with local leaders to start new programs. Wilmington, Sao Paulo, and Cairo are among the cities where we're working to launch programs next.

Developing leaders and evaluating programs
 

One of NUSEA's most important functions is to identify and promote best practices among our member programs. We continue to work closely with programs to collect and share information, and we lead annual, peer-led evaluations of our members. In an effort to deepen the bench of urban squash's future leaders, NUSEA launched a year-long fellowship program for 12 promising young staff members across the country. We also created a national database that tracks all of the high school graduates of our member programs. The database enables programs to study student outcomes on a comparative basis and encourages collaborative efforts between programs.

Organizing educational and athletic events across the country
 

With the help of our institutional partners, notably US Squash, NUSEA continued to provide rich educational and athletic opportunities to our students and alumni. The University of Virginia joined Stanford and Deerfield Academy in hosting NUSEA-run squash camps for our top players. Similar to our partnership with Phillips Exeter Academy, the Taft School began providing our highest-achieving students with scholarships to its 5-week summer school. Williams, Amherst, Kenyon, Denison, Trinity, Fordham, and Yale welcomed hundreds of students to their campuses for tournaments. Twenty-two high school and college students participated in NUSEA's week-long Citizenship Tour, meeting with political leaders such as Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. Alumni from the Bronx, Harlem, and Boston traveled to Colombia to volunteer for our program in Cartagena. In all, almost 1,000 students participated in the more than 20 tournaments, camps, and educational programs that NUSEA organized and funded in 2015.

278 students enrolled in college today

Most important, our students and alumni continue to work hard and make the most of their urban squash experiences. From Minneapolis to Santa Barbara, Denver to Philadelphia, Toronto to Johannesburg, young people in low-income communities are fulfilling the promise of the urban squash model. They are developing as students and athletes, giving back to the community, and learning character-building lessons that will serve them well in life. Of our 435 students who have graduated from U.S. high schools, 98% have gone on to post-secondary schools. Today, 278 urban squashers are enrolled in college (57 of whom play college squash) and many attend the country's most selective schools, such as Bowdoin, Dartmouth, Northwestern, and UC Berkeley.

Thank you

On behalf of NUSEA and our member programs, thank you for making all of this possible. You are the reason that the urban squash movement continues to grow larger and stronger. As you plan your year-end giving, we hope you will consider supporting NUSEA. Contributions can be made by check or by clicking on the donate link below. 

Happy holidays and all the best in 2016.

Tim Wyant
Executive Director
NUSEA

P.S. If you'd like to see photos of some of the great things our students and programs have done this year, click here.