USTA Foundation to celebrate 30th anniversary with bold commitment to youth

Thirty years ago, the USTA's first female president, Judy Levering, and a team of committed and passionate volunteers founded the USTA Foundation with the intention of opening more kids' doors to tennis, so all youth in the United States could have an opportunity to play, no matter their race, gender or economic status, or where they lived. 

Now, as the USTA's national philanthropic arm celebrates its three-decade anniversary, it is doubling down on that promise with a bold, new initiative that hopes to expand the impact of programs that have already changed countless lives, through scholarships and its flagship National Junior Tennis and Learning Network. The USTA Foundation helps support more than 250 sports-based youth development organizations across the United States that are a part of this network; created in 1969 by tennis legend Arthur Ashe, along with Charlie Pasarell and Sheridan Snyder, these programs aim to provide more than 150,000 under-resourced youth annually with health and wellness opportunities, academic services, and other educational support.

“We are incredibly proud of the impact we’ve been able to make over the last 30 years," USTA Foundation CEO Ginny Ehrlich said, "but we know that there is more work to be done." 

Over the next three years, the organization hopes to contribute funds to help resurface over 200 tennis courts in communities of need; provide graduating seniors with access to over $3 million in scholarships; and help NJTL chapters increase their participation to reach 200,000 youth, including doubling the number of adolescents in USTA Foundation programs.