Mission:

 The Mission of Courage and Grit is to use sports, the arts and motivational speaking to inspire overlooked and underserved youth, including: deaf/hearing impaired, refugee, immigrant, inner-city, rural, low income and/or special needs, by giving them opportunities to attend free of charge sessions and camps facilitated and organized by world class athletes and artists.

At Courage and Grit, Lance Allred focuses on helping children of all ages develop ‘soft skills’ by using basketball as a catalyst. Courage and Grit seeks to provide life enhancement elements, teaching young people the importance of developing leadership traits which are critical to success.  



Key Leadership:

Lance Allred

Dr. Jaynee Poulson

Charlene Dawson

David Munshine

Denise Lynch

Greg Bosshardt


Vision:

For camps, we will only select students who have a strong letter of recommendation from a mentor, teacher or leader in his/her community who believes s/he has the potential, heart and desire to be a leader, and simply needs the opportunity to learn and grow. Specifically, our work is best suited for those students who push the boundaries and show an entrepreneurial spirit, not necessarily ones who have the highest GPAs or grades. We do this to ensure quality time and efforts are not wasted, and that the students who are there want to be actively involved in the sessions. Through their participation in Courage and Grit, our students in grades 6th through 12th will develop character traits that are critical to success:

  • Accountability

  • Community

  • Confidence

  • Discipline

  • Gratitude

  • Leadership

  • Perseverance

  • Perspective

And most importantly… Courage and Grit… breaking the chains of self-perceived limitations.

 

Strategy:

Courage and Grit partners with existing organizations who currently provide services to our targeted groups. Our research suggests that it is most impactful to youth if we collaborate with organizations who are already doing exemplary work and are meeting their youth’s basic needs. Courage and Grit will then provide “life enhancement” elements in a safe environment by teaching young people the importance of Lance’s defined vision traits.

In its initial format, Courage and Grit will focus solely on sports programs, with the hope of moving into the arts in the future.


Approach:

Courage and Grit will live out our mission of inspiring and transforming young people to grow into their full potential. We will accomplish this by:

  • Running individualized-attention training and sports camps to students coached by prominent athletes and coaches.

  • Providing leadership coaching, motivational speaking and mentoring to students by prominent athletes and speakers.

  • Enabling program graduates to “pay it forward” by helping coach special or other-needs students in future camps.

  • Partnering with professional athletes, and eventually artists, to share their stories and the stories of young people they mentor.

  • Offering arts camps in collaboration with the Leonardo, Art Access, and UMOCA.

  • Providing access and platforms for students of the arts to display their work in museums.

  • Providing opportunities and ideas for students to engage in environmental stewardship.