| Name | Darryl |
|---|---|
| Last Name | Frazier |
| Home Address | 2300 North Brier Ln. Chattanooga, TN 37406 United States |
| Organization Name | JOE JOYCE & DARGIN JOHNSON TENNIS FOUNDATION |
| Describe Your Role In The Organization | It is my responsibility to supervise the day-to-day activities of our organization. I work with our board of directors to implement the best-known practices for our field. I am responsible for hiring staff and volunteers. I secure locations for our practices and tournaments throughout the year. I coordinate our travel events. I secure funding through donations, in-kind, and fundraising efforts. I make sure that we are in compliance with our state and federal requirements of being a 501c3 tax-exempt organization. |
| Organization Address | 2300 North Brier Ln. Chattanooga, TN 37406 United States |
| Website | https://www.joejohnsontennisfoundation.com/ |
| Best Phone Number To Reach You | 4235050978 |
| Alternate Phone Number | |
| Email Address | DarrellFazier1960@gmail.com |
| Alternate Email Address | corribischer@gmail.com |
| Please Describe Your Project In Detail | Our organization teaches tennis to youth up to college level and professional if they choose. We teach the fundamentals of tennis such as hand strokes, proper hand alignment, the rules of the game, and the culture of tennis. We ensure the youth understand the importance of approaching tennis, and life, as an individual player as well as a team player. Our students learn the significance of their own actions to themselves and to those around them. We will play tournaments on different indoor and outdoor courts around the city and travel to various tournaments. For some students, this will be the only time they travel outside of their city. This to us is a significant experience to help them see the lives of others and to respect those differences. We see tennis as not only a sport but an avenue to teach our youth life lessons that they will be able to use in all aspects of their lives as they grow older. These life lessons include responsibility, teamwork, commitment, dedication, hard work, goal setting, and personal gratitude. We strongly believe once we teach our youth these attributes, they will be able to make wise choices to become self-sufficient, responsible citizens no matter where they live. We have professional tennis coaches teaching all the fundamentals they need to learn. We bring in former students to share their expertise and motivate our youth that they have options such as college scholarships to pay for their entire college career. They even have the option to choose this as a profession. This is what our program teaches, life options. |
| Please explain how your project meets the requirements of the American Rescue Plan | Our program fits the American Rescue Plan in several areas. One, it is known that most crimes perpetrated by youth between the ages of 13-18, are committed between the hours of 3-6pm, after school hours. It is our goal to align our program with these hours so we can attract youth to have a positive outlet, a place to not only make goals but have the resources to set them in action. When in this arena, youth are less likely to join gangs or participate in gang activity. Our youth start as soon as they can hold a racket. We want to reach them long before the negative influences can affect them. They will not have the desire to get into mischief because they will be working on goals and not picking up a gun. We reduce gun violence by addressing it long before it is an issue. We pray for our children to be protected from danger seen and unseen. This program is the answer to that prayer because we know that we are saving lives by having the youth with us and not allowing them to "find their way" on the streets. This is how we are addressing gun violence, by preventing it long before it is able to take root as an option in the minds of our youth. |
| Where would your project take place? | We have several locations available in Chattanooga TN, ( some indoor courts for the fall/winter and outdoors for spring/summer) |
| How much will your project cost in total? | 67900.00 |
| Do you have any matching funding sources from other local governments, private entities, non-profits, or philanthropic entities for your project? | No |
| Please describe the source and list amounts of any other funding. | |
| What portion of the project are you asking the city to fund? | |
| If funded, when would your project start? | March 22, 2022 |
| How long would your project take to complete? | We are a year round program so this is funding for one year |
| What milestones would you use to measure your project’s progress? | We will use several milestones to measure our progress. One, the number of students currently enrolled is 75. We plan to increase that number by the beginning of our summer program with our "Bring-A_Friend" program. Each student will be asked to bring one friend, relative, or neighbor to come out and join them. This will increase our numbers to 150. Individually, we will measure success by the youth's abilities to handle the racket, properly hit keystrokes such as a forehand and backhand. Each student will also need to know the lines of the court and their purpose. We will also measure the youth's ability to play in an individual match as well as with a partner, known as doubles. We will measure our success by creating and participating in local ranked tournaments to test our youth skills with that of other area tennis players. They will play individually and as a team. It is these rankings that determine what state and/or national tournaments we are invited to as well. We are looking forward to participating at this level. |
| How would you ensure accountability and transparency throughout the project lifecycle? | We have several measures in place to ensure accountability and transparency. Our organization has a board of directors that meets once a month to discuss our goals and plans as an organization. We discuss all issues pertaining to financials, schedules, tournament invitations, legality issues, and all other aspects to maintaining our proper 501c3 status and personal responsibilities to the program. In addition to that, we use an outside company for all of our bookkeeping needs so no one person, within the organization, is responsible for the financials. Any financial information required would need to go through our bookkeeper and even we do not have access unless requested for meetings. |
| If successful, how would your project benefit the community? | As discussed, we are saving our youth. We save our youth, we save the world. We are looking at the capability of positively affecting 150 youth, and more, to believe in themselves, to have a positive outlook on life, to learn how to face conflict, know they are part of something bigger than themselves, and problem solve. These are the very reasons that we hear time and time again why young people join gangs-they wanted to feel part of a family. This is exactly what we are here to do. Instead of picking up guns, our youth will have tennis rackets to focus their natural and taught talents into something positive. How will this benefit our community? We know our youth as they walk in the neighborhoods. We benefit because we see the fruits of our labor. Our youth will be better at home because they will be responsible for being an active part of their family. As part of our program, we require reports from parents and teachers on their responsible behavior, school work. We also provide opportunities for them to give back to the community by cleaning up the neighborhood, mowing lawns for the elderly, veterans, and single parents for free. By partnering with "Raising Men and Women Lawn Service, our youth that participates will receive a free lawn mower, blower, and edger by mowing 50 lawns. This is a great way to incentivize their participation in their community. 150 youth mowing 50 yards is 7500 lawns cut in the Chattanooga area. These are the kinds of partnerships that we expose our youth to show them directly how they make an impact. |
| How will you attract community buy-in for your project? | We have several ways to attract community buy-in. One, the program mentioned earlier. This will allow us to reach the elderly, veterans, and single-parent households to let them know we are there to help them. We will work with the local chamber of commerce and allow businesses, schools, and other organizations to advertise with us. This will be done through our social media presence and participation at the actual games. We will have several community-based events in connection with other organizations to bring awareness of who we are and how youth can participate. We are looking at pop-up events that will allow vendors and food trucks to be on onsight of tournaments and matches to attract their followers as well to come to attend. Again, partnering with the Diversity Office with the City Of Chattanooga will bring great opportunities to network and let the community participate in our events. |
| Is there anything else you would like us to know about your project? | Chattanooga has been looking for answers for a long time about how to end gun violence. Unfortunately, they have been looking at the youth that is already participating in the nonsense. Let's take a fresh approach. It is time that we look at this situation beforehand and prevent the elements that lead up to it. This program is one of the answers needed. I am sure that you can clearly see that. So with that being the case, I thank you, in advance, for choosing to fund this program. |