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Who we are
GAFY was established in March 2017 as a 501(c)3 Tax Exempt nonprofit charitable foundation.
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Our mission is to empower youth through sports. Youth that participate in sports or activities have a lower risk of drug use, criminal activity, and dropping out of school. GAFY’s focus currently is the U.S. and Caribbean but may expand to Africa and/or Central - South America in the future.
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Shortly after being founded GAFY began work in the Bahamas and the United States. In the Bahamas, we refurbished a youth boxing center and began development of a sports activity area for an at-risk girls’ facility (both damaged by Hurricane Matthew).
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Additionally, GAFY hosted a youth empowerment conference with athletes from Clemson, Vanderbilt, Alabama, UTEP, and North Carolina in cooperation with the U.S. Embassy. GAFY also hosted a service program in Saint Lucie, Florida during the Spring of 2019. We partnered with Place of Hope and Guardians for New Futures to provide a meaningful impact on the community and kids. This past fall, we conducted an Athletic Donation drive following Hurricane Dorian to provide materials from shoes to jerseys to equipment for those affected to ensure that their access to resources may continue in order to pursue their dreams!
Your participation is critical in helping us support the youth.
Thank you in advance for your consideration and generosity!
What we do
Plan and complete projects that are designed to help youth engage in fundamental activities.
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Host competitions in a variety of areas from traditional athletics to robotics, and help athletes with promotional videos for colleges.
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Organize events for high-level athletes and provide exposure to U.S. Colleges & Universities.
Why it matters
* Charles, Jacqueline (2017). The secret in paradise: Violence mars Caribbean life. Miami Herald.
- The Bahamas is an archipelagic nation with over 700 islands and cays which is approximately the size of the California state.
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- Approximately 80% of tourists are U.S.Citizens.
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- Crime levels are high ranging from theft to gang-related violence, including youth gangs.
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- Dr. David Allen, a psychiatrist who studies crime in the Bahamas said, "Crime is a public health problem. Public health means it cannot be solved just by law enforcement” (Charles, 2017).*
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- Heather Sutton, the lead researcher behind the Inter-American Development Bank study, said researchers not only found that revenge attacks were a common motivation behind homicides in the Bahamas, but children who are either victims of violence or witnessed violence in their homes risk becoming perpetrators of violence (Charles, 2017).*
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- Supporting youth through sports will encourage children to steer away from negative social activities. It will provide youth with positive peer interactions, opportunities to develop various skills and a supportive environment which will help reduce the risk factors associated with youth crime.
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