The Andy Roddick Foundation Celebrates 20 Years of Philanthropy By Serving More Central Texas Students and Families Than Ever Before
(AUSTIN, Texas) — January 21, 2021 — The Andy Roddick Foundation (ARF) is celebrating 20 years of philanthropy and accomplishing their most successful year to date. Over the last two decades, ARF efforts have raised more than $30 million that contributed to grants, direct services and programs, and the LATT initiative. In 2020 alone, ARF supported more than 81,000 high-quality educational opportunities that impacted over 79,000 youth in Central Texas.
“Let’s expose kids to everything, and let’s help them find something that sticks with them,” says Chair and Founder Andy Roddick. “That moment I had at nine, when I picked up a tennis racket and it clicked with me––it built my self-esteem and gave me a sense of self-worth at a young age because I could do something well. That’s the moment we’re trying to hit with these kids. And we’re going to give them every chance to find it.”
The ARF Learn All the Time initiative (LATT), which consists of 38 member organizations, impacted over 74,000 youth in 2020, hosted over 40 professional learning sessions, and conducted over 70 quality observations of educational programs, all designed to ensure all afterschool and summer programs in the LATT network providing high-quality opportunities for youth to develop academically, physically, and emotionally whether programs were in-person or remote.
“When I was at camp, I would actually spend time reading books,” says ARF student Adrian. “Ever since then, I like to read in my spare time.”
In spring of 2020, ARF worked quickly to provide engaging and enriching opportunities for learning and development for youth across Central Texas. This included developing and distributing over 15,000 weekly activity menus, producing and sharing 56 interactive videos, and hosting 13 virtual sessions for children. This summer, they provided ARF Summer at Home for 1,025 elementary-age children across North America. In Austin, 170 children received tablets, materials, and synchronous instruction from ARF during an 8-week virtual program. Participating students made statistically significant gains in social emotional skills such as motivation, problem solving, persistence, and asking for help. ARF also provided an asynchronous virtual winter camp, accessed by over 450 participants. Throughout 2020, ARF hosted multiple virtual family activities and provided materials like basic needs gift cards and books. None of this could have been accomplished without the support of over 200 community volunteers and countless other supporters.
From the inaugural fundraiser in the parking lot of Boca Prep High School in 2000, to a gala hosted by Sir Elton John in Austin, TX in 2018, and more recently hosting their first virtual fundraiser while simultaneously roasting Andy Roddick, the Andy Roddick Foundation has been able to impact the lives of over 117,000 youth across the country.
“Talent is universal but opportunity isn’t,” Roddick says. “Help us make opportunity universal for all kids, because they can do anything.”
