ODS Receives Grants from The Tribute 21 Fund, the Carl Freeman Foundation and Montgomery County

Open Door Sports Inc. was recently awarded grant funding totaling $20,244 to support our ongoing and expanding programming for kids with special needs ($10,000 was from The Tribute 21 Fund, $5,244 from Montgomery County Office of Grant Management and $5,000 from the Carl Freeman Foundation).

The Tribute 21 Fund is dedicated to funding programs, raising awareness and providing support to those with Down Syndrome. Tribute 21’s grant is for unrestricted funds, allowing ODS to use it to grow our offerings and our number of programs, ultimately serving more children – our ever-present goal.

The Carl Freeman Foundation is designed to find and fund the smaller, overlooked projects in our neighborhoods. They use a volunteer advisory board composed of community leaders who evaluate grant applications and recommend funding choices. The FACES advisory board provides a unique insight into community needs and priorities, and allows the Foundation to support projects that are most important to the community. This funding is for the support and growth of ODS’ winter 2025 youth programs.

The award from the Montgomery County Nonprofit Technical Assistance and Management Support (NTAMS) Grant Program award is the first time Open Door Sports has received government funding from any agency. NTAMS grants support nonprofits providing direct services to or advocacy for underserved communities in the County. This funding is also unrestricted in order to enhance ODS’ core capacity, infrastructure, and support functions, resulting in improved overall performance of our programs.

Whether for a specific program or for our programs generally, the funding from these grants helps ODS increase the number of free-of-charge, high-quality sports programs the variety of which include soccer, basketball, bocce, tennis, yoga – and will expand to golf and flag football later this year. It enables ODS to serve over 2,000 children with special needs, over 2,600 volunteer peer buddies and – in the inaugural of our program for young adults - 75 adults with disabilities.