After Making Waves, Sustainability Through the Ripple Effect
From September 11 through October 16, I was at Arshay’s side:
Traveling to cities across the country, including Chicago, IL; Baltimore, MD; Newburgh, NY; Newark, NJ; New Haven, CT; and Stockton, CA;
Organizing Community Exposure Events, which featured not only appearances, but support and sponsorship from local elected officials and small businesses
Coordinating ten brand new HUDSON boat and fifty Concept2 RowErg deliveries across five of the cities listed above
Introducing rowing to over 2,000 students at dozens of schools, a few hundred at a time
Our Fall events culminated in Stockton, CA, where we honored Delta Sculling Center with boats named after Alvin Ross and Black Olympian Patricia Etem.
For each of the Community Exposure Events, Arshay and I intentionally partnered with the community so that the boathouse can look like the community. As a result an additional $650K (so far) has been raised by local stakeholders; this $650K is going directly into the budgets of the programs. (Last email we said the amount was $100K and it has increased to $650K… so far!)
Our key goals are access to rowing, diversity, and sustainability of each program.
By bringing exposure and support from partnerships and local politicians, we at AMBTIF set each program up for success. Each event - and each wave - takes weeks of preparation with local stakeholders; how the waves undulate through the rowing world and our communities is the secret ingredient of AMBTIF success. That way, when AMBTIF leaves after one fund year, the boathouse not only looks like the community, but is supported by it as well.