Elgin offers grants for youth sports facility improvements
Elgin youth sports organizations will see a combined $47,800 to make capital improvements to their fields this summer.
The Youth Sports Grant Program for years has been funded with revenue collected from the Grand Victoria Casino, but a program overhaul this year included eliminating the Riverboat Fund grants. Ultimately, though, the city council decided to offer the money, knowing that the sports groups will add their own sweat equity by doing some of the work themselves.
Grants to three Elgin Little League organizations, the American Legion's baseball team and Elgin Youth Football were given preliminary approval at the June 27 council meeting. They should see final approval Wednesday.
“All of these organizations put in a tremendous amount of volunteer effort at their facilities,” said Tom Armstrong, chairman of the city's parks and recreation board, which recommended the grant amounts.
“This helps stretch those efforts and their volunteerism helps to stretch the dollars that are allocated to them.”
Elgin Classic Little League is in line to receive $10,000 for new bleachers to replace wooden bleachers that are outdated and in bad shape.
Brad Heath, president of the league, said grounding the bleachers so they're protected from lightning strikes and actual setup of the seating will probably be done with volunteer labor.
Heath hopes to have the bleachers ready for the start of the fall season in mid-August.
The youth sports organizations are generally active in maintaining the fields on which they play. The city grants allow them to make capital improvements the Parks and Recreation Department then forgoes.
Altogether, the nonprofit groups requested $95,000 for various projects. The approved funding will cover field improvements, scoreboards, dugout upgrades, and work on the concession area for Elgin Youth Football, among other projects. The concessions improvements will include bringing the facility up to Americans With Disabilities Act standards.
The city council approved $47,180 in youth sports grants in 2011.