Expanding and enriching learning opportunities for underserved children and youth that prepares them for academic achievement and career success.
Learning Initiatives
Funding priorities:
- Broadening access and improving opportunities for high-quality infant, early care and learning.
- Creating and supporting innovative programs for students to learn more effectively and boost their overall achievement.
- Supporting creative pathways to college and career success.
Stories of Impact
Three-Year Challenge Grant Catalyzes Racquet Up’s Impact
“This pivotal challenge grant will anchor our funding for years to come, enabling us to serve more youth, more families and make an even greater community impact.”
Derek Aguirre, President & CEO, Racquet Up Detroit
Detroit, MI (August 2024)—Forbes named it #1 of the top ten healthiest sports. It’s a calorie burner, a flexibility booster, a mental toughness builder, and so much more. It’s squash. At Racquet Up Detroit, squash isn't just a game – it's a catalyst for unleashing youth potential. Participants enjoy world-class coaching, robust academic support and character-building activities from the 5th grade all the way through graduation from high school and college.
The Walters Family Foundation is proud to support Racquet Up Detroit with its fourth grant. The newest grant provides funds to the organization over three consecutive years, contingent on meeting yearly fundraising goals. Each year, the stakes get a little bit higher, and the fundraising goals increase. “It’s fuel for our organization,” says Derek Aguirre, President & CEO, Racquet Up Detroit. “We have to do our part in order to unlock the challenge grant, but when we do, it’s going to take us to a whole new level.”
In 2024, Racquet Up Detroit achieved a significant milestone by surpassing its first-year fundraising target through its Double Down competition, which culminated in a spirited squash and pickleball tournament. This enabled the organization to unlock the first year of the Walters Family Foundation funding.
The funding directly benefits Racquet Up Detroit's 150 youth participants, offering programs from educational enrichment and squash coaching to mentorship and nutritional support. This holistic approach not only cultivates athletic skills but also instills lifelong values and prepares students for academic and personal success.
With 100% of participants graduating from high school and earning admission to college, the organization delivers on its mission. In fact, some students end up taking what they learn from Racquet Up Detroit and making a career of it.
“We have one graduate named Trevone who was with us for eight years,” says Aguirre. “What really lit him up was outdoor adventures. We worked out a scholarship program for him to attend a summer camp on Torch Lake. He went for years. He loved it so much that now, he spends his winters working at a camp in San Diego, and his summers as an Assistant Director at the camp at Torch Lake.”
It’s stories like these that underscore Racquet Up Detroit’s impact. “We zero in on whatever the students’ passions are and try to open new doors to help them pursue them,” says Aguirre. “Trevone really blazed a trail, and his story is just one of many.”
