COMMUNITY PROFILE SENATOR JAMES COLEMAN (D) POSES FOR A GROUP PHOTO WITH TRACK COACHES AND YOUTH ATHLETES OF HIS CHANCE SPORTS ORGANIZATION. | CREDIT: ADRIAN MICHAEL CHANCE SPORTS LEVELS THE PLAYING FIELD BY ADRIAN MICHAEL ON A THURSDAY EVENING IN NOVEMBER, at Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Early College in Denver, Colorado, State Senator James Coleman (D) watches his daughter and other teen athletes race against each other during track practice. Coleman stands along the race sidelines wearing a lapel pin on his suit that says Chance Sports while his daughter wears a shirt with the same message. Chance Sports was launched with the vision of creating opportunities for all children to be able to play competitive sports by providing scholarships to those in financial need. “We provide scholarships to kids who are 350% or below the federal poverty line. Our scholarship range is on a tiered system from $500 to $5,000 a year per athlete, and we have just over almost 500 athletes on scholarship,” said Coleman. In 2022, Coleman and former Colorado Representative Colin Larson (R) founded Chance Sports after Coleman learned teammates on his son’s basketball team were quitting the team due to not being able to afford sports fees and other costs. Recognizing a problem, Coleman sought solutions and reached out to the Daniels Fund, an organization that provides funding for sports programs. “I was told to go bigger than just funding my son’s sports team; [that I] should create an organization to help more kids out,” Coleman said. “We partnered with the Daniels Fund, which provided our organization with $500,000. Additionally, the sale of the Broncos team provided funding for local Denver Metro Municipalities to fund sports. We were blessed to get $200,000 from the City of Denver in 2022, $500,000 from the City of Aurora in 2023, and funding from corporate partners and individual donors. “When we talk about sports, we always say kids deserve a chance, and it was simple. We want to help level the playing fields for as many kids to have a chance to be able to compete, and so that’s how we came up with the name,” said Coleman. “The beautiful thing about Chance Sports is we are strictly funders,” said Coleman. “We partner with our clubs, but we directly scholarship athletes. We give funding to the athlete. The way it works is we raise money, and if an athlete qualifies for a scholarship, we give them a digital card that allows them to be able to use it at pre-approved vendors (such as Dick’s Sporting Goods). We cover travel costs, including gas, flights, and hotels as well as club dues and fees, and the beauty of this is it makes our program highly scalable, and we can get dollars out quickly to families on a digital card, and it gives families dignity,” he added. Service has been part of Coleman’s entire life. He grew up attending church and doing nonprofit service-oriented work. “That’s part of why I ran for office. What I love about this TWO FEMALE ATHLETES RUNNING DURING TRACK PRACTICE. | CREDIT: ADRIAN MICHAEL 8 DENVER VOICE December 2024
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