Gifted Hands program

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Through our gifted hands program we have been training youth and young adults both male and female since 2018 how to relieve their stress through physical training, the development of technical skills for self disciple, and mentoring that helps reflect the true character of a champion. We started this program with two coaches and four boxers in 2018, since then we have now developed 22 boxers and produced 3 ranking champions in the sport of boxing. We now have 4 coaches now who are from the same neighborhoods that are boxers reside in Allegheny County.  Out of the 22 boxers we have developed and mentored, 3 boxers have became coaching assistants to help train new participants in our program. Participants do get the chance to compete in the Western Police Athletics League Golden Gloves Tournament every year and also compete in nationals to advance to the USA Boxing Olympic Team. The boxers in our program are mentored during each training session as well because we believe in sharpening the mind along with the body. We train 3 days a week on Monday's, Tuesday's, and Thursday with the option to compete on various weekends throughout the year all over the country. Our team continues to grow and serve members of Allegheny County with our gifted hands programs.

Our program has been a huge vessel to prevent gun violence in the communities. We have partnered with different schools to have some of the high school students join our program to train in the sport of boxing. Students have learned self-disciple through training and have begun to reduce the disturbances in the classroom. In our gym we train and workout with members on the police force to give participants an opportunity to build a relationship with police officers who come and workout alongside of us. The gifted hands program is need of support because of the growth of participants in our program. We are in need of new equipment, a better ring to train in, and the ability to be able to travel together as a team. Most cases when our boxing team is going to national competitions, only a few participants can go due to lack of funds. We try to help participants go on team traveling events when possible, by pulling together and car pulling to drive to most events as well as lodging in the same room. By gaining support for this program, we plan to alleviate these hurdles by getting more equipment such as boxing bags, gloves, head gear, boxing cups, mouth guards, and most importantly an official competition ring. We would also use the support of this grant to help with traveling to critical competitions throughout the year. The experience this provides each participant is critical to the mentoring process and violence prevention efforts to reduce gun violence. By training in the gym and traveling with the team, participants are given goals to focus in our program that prevent the temptation of gun violence in their neighborhood or attended schools.

Our gifted hands program operates in the Boyce Park gym and 3rd Ave gym downtown Pittsburgh. We travel between gyms to train for boxing with our participants. Community members also attend these gyms to train and get in shape, however most of the attending members who come to these gyms to train are police officers. We have the opportunity to normally interact with them and build a relationship with outside of the officers working shift. Officers getting a chance to get to know our participants makes the interaction better when engaging each other in the community outside of the gym. Participating in the annual Police Athletic League for gold gloves also provide a great opportunity for our participants to interact with the police as well.

The participants in our program start as young as 10 years old and we have had participants as old as 43 years old. We allow all races and genders to participate in our program and most participants reside in the Penn Hills, Wilkinsburg, Homewood and Northside of Pittsburgh. We continue to get short term members as well as long term participants who continue with our program throughout the year. With a current number of 22 participants yearly we hope to increase to 50 participants by the year 2024.

Progress Tracked and Recorded

The impact of our program has increased not only in the number of participants but also in character in the sport of boxing. We started with 4 participants in the amateurs in 2018 and now we have produced one national champion ranked boxer, 6 ranked amateur boxers, 4 pro fighting boxers, one Olympic hopeful, and ten more amateurs looking to grow in the discipline and in character with the sport of boxing. Participants are giving the option to choose if they want to do more than just train and be mentored in the sport, they can also choose to compete and learn how to become a champion.

The biggest challenge we have had in our program has been with participants having transportation to make it to the program and traveling to competitions. We have had a shortage in uniforms and equipment for newcomers. Some participants can't afford the equipment in order to compete in the sport. To address these issues, we plan to do more car pulling and fundraisers to help offset cost when traveling to national competitions. We can host our own competitions and or tournaments to help raise funds to purchase more equipment and uniforms. We also recently decided to have membership dues to help with the cost of food when traveling to competitions as well.