Beyond their physical benefits, sports were transformational in shaping Robert Marcus as a young person. “When done right, sports provide safe places, caring adults, mentors and life skills,” he says. “Without access to these developmental experiences, how do youth thrive?”
As chief strategy and impact officer for the Positive Coaching Alliance, Marcus works to eliminate systemic barriers that prevent youth of color, youth from low-income communities and girls from accessing sports at the same rate as other young people. In his role, he builds cross-sector, sports-equity coalitions at the community level and connects them with data on the availability and costs of local sports programs. In response to barriers and inequities identified by coalition members, local agencies and funders have added millions of dollars to the ecosystem, and now thousands more students are playing sports.
Marcus believes his Results Count® work through the Fellowship is integral to his goal of seeing 350,000 more kids participating in sports in the next five years.
“Oftentimes, you do systems-change work, but things aren’t changing,” he says. “They don’t get better or [the changes] aren’t measurable. Being able to tap into the Foundation’s frameworks and networks to produce something sustainable is a high motivation for me.”