KEEN Los Angeles



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Board of Directors | Community Advisory Board | Coach Committee | Founding Coaches | Executive Director |

KEEN-LA

Before launching KEEN-LA, a group of community members who care deeply about the quality of life of children with special needs, worked with parents, volunteers, existing agencies providing programs serving the developmentally-disabled community to assess the need in Los Angeles for a program like KEEN and the resources that would be available. The result was a broad consensus that KEEN would fill a real need for recreational and sports programs accessible to these special-needs children and valuable offers of assistance in terms of recruitment of participants and volunteers, facilities and training.

With this help, KEEN LA was able to launch its program in October 2005 - only three months after the first community assessment meeting. The program has now expanded to serve developmentally disabled children on a twice-monthly basis. It has been a stunning success, accomplished within a remarkably short time.

Particularly important was the support given by KEEN-LA’s “strategic community partners”:

Los Angeles City Recreation and Parks Department, which has made available its Elysian Park
Therapeutic Recreation Center as the program site and provides shuttle bus service from the
closest public transportation to the Center on program days;

Frank D. Lanterman Regional Center (a California-funded entity that funds and coordinates
services for individuals with developmental disabilities in the Los Angeles area), which publicized
the program, conducted training programs for volunteers and assisted in recruitment;

SONNENSCHEIN NATH & ROSENTHAL LLP (a national law firm with a strong Los Angeles
presence), has provided volunteers, office space and administrative help, as well as
financial support;

Rotary Club of Los Angles, has sponsored special KEEN events and helped in recruiting
additional volunteers.

Volunteers are crucial to KEEN’s success. In 2006 - first complete year of the program, KEEN-LA had 140 volunteers who contributed 2,770 hours of their time to the organization, enabling more than 624 athlete hours to be logged.

Most of the volunteers serve as KEEN Coaches working directly with the disabled participants - the most challenging, rewarding and fun job at KEEN. At each program session, a participating Athlete is paired with his or her own volunteer Coach. The one-on-one Coaches teach and encourage KEEN’s participants to become the Athletes they aspire to be. Volunteers also fill all of KEEN-LA’s leadership positions, serving as directors, officers and chairs (as well as members) of our development and program related committees. Finally, KEEN’s volunteers contribute financially to KEEN LA through direct contributions, donor solicitation and attendance at special events.

KEEN-LA develops and runs its own programs to meet the needs of athletes and volunteers in the Los Angeles community. The members of our Board include parents of disabled persons, community members with special skills and volunteers who passionately want to help children with disabilities enjoy life to keep the laughter and fun alive. The responsibilities of KEEN-LA’s Board include policy making, long-range planning, fiscal planning and financial well-being, and assuring that KEEN-LA activities are consistent with the organization’s mission and standards.

Currently, KEEN-LA has an Executive Director, who is the organization’s only paid employee. The Executive Director manages the day-to-day - administrative, development and program needs of the organization.

You can visit the KEEN USA web site to learn more about KEEN USA Foundation and other KEEN affiliates. Web sites for each of these affiliates can be accessed directly or linked to through KEEN USA.

KEEN 2005 Annual Report | KEEN Brochure |

Kids Enjoy Exercise Now (KEEN) - 601 South Figueroa Street, Suite 2500, Los Angeles, CA 90017 - info@keenlosangeles.org