Background

The First Tee of Greater Cincinnati & Northern Kentucky was founded in early 2006. As a chapter of the national The First Tee organization, we are a 501c3 non-profit led by a diverse board of trustees. We operate summer programming at Reeves Golf Course in Cincinnati, the Golf Courses of Kenton County, KY and Meadow Links in Hamilton County, plus school-year programming at inner-city Cincinnati schools and community centers. We make efficient use of volunteers and count on corporations, individuals and foundations for funding, ensuring The First Tee program is always free to local youth. Since our founding we have quadrupled the number of children we reach each year, and are on track to increase participation by ~15 percent in 2010.

Mission

The First Tee mission is to impact the lives of young people (ages 8-18) in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky by providing learning facilities and educational programs that promote character development and life-enhancing values through the game of golf. We focus on nine core values: Honesty, Integrity, Sportsmanship, Respect, Confidence, Responsibility, Perseverance, Courtesy, and Judgment. With these at its core, our Life Skills Experience program teaches kids about the importance of maintaining a positive attitude, how to make decisions by thinking about possible consequences, and how to define and set goals from the golf course to everyday life.

Teaching Plan & Target Audience

At The First Tee, we believe kids are our city's greatest asset. Our goal is to help them grow up strong, self-reliant and successful. We keep our operating budget lean by using public golf courses and a highly-trained, dedicated corps of volunteers (in fact, we have only one full-time employee!) so we can focus more than 80 percent of our funding squarely on educational outreach. We work with government organizations such as the Cincinnati Recreation Commission to find facilities, and reach out to potential participants through the schools and groups like the Boys & Girls Clubs.

Nearly 800 children from diverse backgrounds and almost every part of the region participated in The First Tee during 2008. We are set to reach ~925 during 2010.

The First Tee Life Skills Experience instills in young people the important values inherent in the game of golf, and teaches them to transfer those values from the golf course to every part of their lives. The curriculum was created by The First Tee home office in partnership with experts in youth development, and our chapter built upon that original program to better benefit our local youth. Although many sports programs teach valuable lessons, The First Tee's unique approach makes life skills a core component of the program itself. Participants cannot simply learn golf, because the lessons are seamlessly integrated into the physical instruction.

The Life Skills Experience begins with our Target program, which introduces its core components. Kids progress through Par, Birdie, Eagle and Ace certification levels, with testing in both golf and life skills. Our research shows that 90% of our kids transfer life skills to school, home and other areas; 94% showed increased respect in school, home, and workplace; 97% used meeting and greeting skills; and 100% used our methods to manage negative thoughts and emotions. A Scholars Program rewards exceptional performance in academics, leadership, character and community involvement with college scholarships at over 24 colleges and universities.

Measuring Our Progress

The First Tee Corporate plan "Zeroing in on Our Network Excellence (ZONE) " measures our basic operational results. ZONE provides benchmarks and assessment tools that help us measure both our qualitative and quantitative results and enable comparison to the 204+ individual chapters across The First Tee worldwide chapter network. We concluded 2009 at the Eagle Level for the third consecutive year - an exceptional performance for a four year old chapter.

We also monitor children's academic performance via the A/B Honor Roll; regular surveys of children, parents, and volunteers; and focus on retention of children from one year to the next.

Fundraising

All local funds raised by the First Tee of Greater Cincinnati & Northern Kentucky stay in our hometown. We raise funds primarily from annual events (Golf Outing; Golf Ball Drop for Kids) and from individuals and corporations including Toyota, PNC Bank, and Liberty Mutual/Ohio Casualty Corporation. Several foundations (Charles H. Dater Foundation; Harold C. Schott Foundation) have been critical to our on-going success as well.