Another article about the 209. I've already written a ton on these guys so I won't go on and on. I'm truly, always happy when people take note of what they are doing with racquetball.
"The group is planning on starting a non-profit youth program." This makes me wonder what the mission statement will be for this if it comes about. Will its focus be to grow racquetball? Will its focus be to get kids off the street? Or will its focus be to use racquetball to provide opportunity to better access higher education? I know it's possible to have a program that encompasses all three. My experiences tell me that growth development has to truly pinpoint focus on one of these things, because the other two can happen organically once things are rolling. Raising money for a non-profit or more importantly, sustaining it, will be completely dependent on outcomes.
Dave Ellis has already been informally facilitating a piece that can grow sustainable when you look at Jose Rojas and University of the Pacific. That developed through Dave's personal relationship with Jose, his family and being able to pick up the phone and lean on contacts. Moving this into a formal set up won't be so easy, but there are some good precedents with groups like CitySquash. If it stays local or is just about sport, fitness and positive and recreation, it may be doable, but will be harder to sustain. The bigger the dream, the bigger the money to sustain it will be. Ironing out the programming will be key. Advice worth about 2 cents: Get and educational development professional onboard and find a good fundraiser and dream big.