Allyson Felix sets up childcare fund for women athletes
Melanie May | 9 August 2021 | News
With childcare an obstacle for many women athletes, athlete Allyson Felix has created a fund to help with these costs for other sportswomen.
Created with her new sponsor Athleta and the Women’s Sports Foundation, the Olympian runner has launched The Power of She Fund: Childcare Grant, aimed at empowering girls and women to ‘reach new heights on the playing field, in the studio, in the community, at work and at home.’
A number of athletes have already been awarded grants, including Gwendolyn Barry, Natasha Hastings, and Kaleo Kanahele Maclay, with the grants helping some of the recipients attend the Tokyo Olympics. The remaining recipients will be announced in October.
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On the grants page, Felix says:
“As a mom and an athlete, I know firsthand the obstacles that women face. I wanted to work with Athleta and the Women’s Sports Foundation to take an important step in supporting female athletes as whole people—both on and off the field—by offering financial child care support to mom-athletes headed to Tokyo.”
The Child Care Grant programme is currently open for applications until 31 August. It is designed to support female athletes balancing their sporting careers with children with $200,000 of funding to distribute.
Open to US citizens or legal residents, female athletes with one or more children under the age of 18 or female athletes expecting a child in 2021 can apply for a $10,000 grant. They must be able to demonstrate an apparent and immediate financial need that, once fulfilled, will have a significant impact on their ability to continue training and competing while raising their children.
The funding can be used to offset childcare related expenses such as caregiver costs, travel and added costs of bringing children along to competitions, meals and supplies, equipment and medical expenses.
About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.