FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Supported by the Reebok Foundation; funding will help bring daily movement to children in the Mission Society community.
New York, NY (November 3, 2021) — The Mission Society of New York City today announced it has been awarded Reebok’s BOKS (Build Our Kids’ Success) Kids Physical Activity Grant to get more kids in the Mission Society community active. Mission Society was chosen out of hundreds of applicants nationwide for its commitment to using physical activity and play to improve students physical and mental health. As part of the grant, the Mission Society will receive $2,000 which can be used to enhance their BOKS program.
"The Mission Society is excited to continue our partnership with BOKS," said Carmen Rosario, Senior Director of Children’s Program Education and Operations at the Mission Society, "We know firsthand how impactful staying active can be for our students - from developing social emotional skills, to building trust and teamwork, to enhancing quality of life. We look forward to furthering our commitment to incorporating physical activity and play in the classroom."
The BOKS program, BOKS (Build Our Kids’ Success), which has been part of the Reebok brand since 2010, has impacted more than 500,000 kids over the last 11-years, improving whole child health and priming their minds for learning. Built on the science and research documented in the book, Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain, BOKS provides free physical activity programs, training and support to communities that want to establish and maintain impactful fitness and nutrition programs serving the whole child.
“BOKS is nothing without the individuals and communities that bring our program to life,” said Kathleen Tullie, Executive Director of BOKS and Senior Director, Reebok Social Purpose. “We are thankful to communities like yours who help our mission to get kids moving and are so excited to be able to support you through this grant.”
Through its partnership with Reebok, BOKS provided more than $300,000 in grants to schools and youth organizations that provide equitable access to physical activity and play to children in underserved communities in 2021. These grants can be used to purchase equipment, provide participant incentives/rewards, to pay trainers a stipend when program volunteers are lacking; or to be used in other creative ways to help overcome barriers to participation.
Media Contacts Jess Garbarino, Reebok jess.garbarino@reebok.com
Sara Elghobashy, Mission Society of New York City
development@missionsociety.org
About BOKS
In today’s screen obsessed culture, kids are the least active generation in history. This sedentary lifestyle is negatively impacting both their physical, mental and social health. BOKS is a physical activity program designed to reverse this public health crisis by getting kids active and establishing a lifelong commitment to health and fitness. Built on the science and research documented in the book, Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain, BOKS provides free physical activity curriculum, training and support to communities looking to establish and maintain impactful fitness and nutrition programs serving the whole child. Having grown from a single elementary school to a global initiative, BOKS is scalable and its impact is supported by scientific research. BOKS envisions a world in which movement is a foundational part of every child’s day. For more information about BOKS visit www.bokskids.org.
About the Mission Society
Since 1812, the Mission Society of New York City has worked to end multigenerational poverty by building the lifelong educational capacity of New York’s most vulnerable youth and families. Each year, they provide over 3,000 students with a suite of afterschool, summer, college access, and career readiness programs at their flagship building on Malcolm X Boulevard and 12 public school programs in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Bronx. To learn more, please visit their website at missionsociety.org.