GOALS (Growth Opportunities through Athletics, Learning, and Service) is a
nonprofit organization
A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
based in
Anaheim, California
Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orange County, the 10th-most ...
, which offers programs to aid
low income
Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little
children in the Anaheim area. GOALS is currently headquartered in central Anaheim and has community partnerships organized in 12 greater Anaheim communities in the city of Anaheim, the city of Placentia, the city of
Huntington Beach
Huntington Beach is a seaside city in Orange County, California, Orange County in Southern California, located southeast of Downtown Los Angeles. The city is named after American businessman Henry E. Huntington. The population was 198,711 duri ...
GOALS was originally established in 1994 as an outgrowth of the
Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
's acquisition of the then named
Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
Mighty may refer to:
* ''Mighty'' (The Planet Smashers album)
* ''Mighty'' (Kristene DiMarco album)
* ''The Mighty'' (1929 film), a 1929 American action film
*'' The Mighty'', a 1998 comedy-drama film
* ''The Mighty'' (comics), a DC Comics title
* ...
professional hockey franchise. Not Since then, this not-for-profit program has expanded into many low-income communities, fielding a combination of educational enrichment, team and fitness-oriented
athletics
Athletics may refer to:
Sports
* Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking
** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport
* Athletics (physical culture), competi ...
, and community service activities where GOALS youth help others. While GOALS is by far the worldwide leader in providing
ice hockey
Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...
access for minority children, the program has taken major strides in other sports opportunities such as
lacrosse
Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensiv ...
, soccer, tennis and roller hockey. Currently, the program involves more than 2,000 youth ages six to nineteen each year. GOALS operates indoor and outdoor facilities and a bus fleet, and provides all necessary equipment, insurance, coaching, teaching, and supplies all at no charge to participating youth. GOALS organizes activities within designated under served communities and links those areas to central GOALS facilities with a community bus network. One of the hallmarks of the GOALS program is that youth are required to serve through a "Summer of Service" in an innovative arm of the program called GOALS Cadets. This initiative leads efforts to read storybooks to children in school, clean up parks, paint out
graffiti
Graffiti (plural; singular ''graffiti'' or ''graffito'', the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from s ...
, through a program called GOALS CityPride, coach
disabled
Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physical, ...
young people through GOALS Special Sports, visit veterans at local VA hospitals, and pack food for local food distribution centers that support the poor.
Growth
In 2005, GOALS began a strategic expansion in close partnership with the city of Anaheim, with the opening of GOALS Gardens, an adaptive reuse of the indoor Martin Recreation Center in Anaheim's La Palma Park. This indoor center was renamed and renovated with an indoor rink and has become the home for roller hockey, indoor soccer, and some adaptive recreation utilizing ringette hockey as a feature sport. GOALS expanded a bus fleet to meet increased geographic growth into neighboring cities adjoining Anaheim and ferries hundreds of low income youth daily to and from GOALS facilities. In 2009, GOALS dropped the "Disney" from its name as a joint decision made by both organizations. The entertainment corporate giant still provides some support to the community-based organization with the hope that other regional entities will expand their level of support for the betterment of low income children and families.
GOALS operates a host of interrelated community based programs often partnering with regional school districts to do so. These include the Anaheim Elementary School District, Anaheim Union High School District, Magnolia School District, Placentia Yorba Linda Unified School District and Ocean View School District. GOALS has long had an effective partnership with multiple civic agencies including the City of Anaheim Community Services Department, Anaheim Police Department, Anaheim Public Works Department, and many others.
GOALS programs all revolve around (free) opportunities in athletics, learning and service. GOALS is the largest diversity program for ice hockey in America and also fields programs in lacrosse, soccer, basketball, tennis, Olympic handball, roller hockey, and skating. GOALS operates major after school enrichment programs in multiple communities, hosts a morning enrichment program for children who are not attending school, and operates a local (free) public school (see GOALS Academy below).
Dreamscape development
In 2010, GOALS opened the Dreamscape, which features two championship
tennis court
A tennis court is the venue where the sport of tennis is played. It is a firm rectangular surface with a low net stretched across the centre. The same surface can be used to play both Types of tennis match, doubles and singles matches. A variet ...
s, circumferential track for jogging and fitness, a artificial turf arena for field sports, a small
community garden
A community garden is a piece of land gardened or cultivated by a group of people individually or collectively. Normally in community gardens, the land is divided into individual plots. Each individual gardener is responsible for their own plo ...
, and a fitness gym with
anaerobic
Anaerobic means "living, active, occurring, or existing in the absence of free oxygen", as opposed to aerobic which means "living, active, or occurring only in the presence of oxygen." Anaerobic may also refer to:
* Anaerobic adhesive, a bonding a ...
fitness equipment. The McCarthy Construction Company led a group of 37 construction and design firms to create this mufti-million dollar facility as a massive community service project. In the summer of 2017 a major second phase: Dreamscape Too, with a
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...
center,
volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...
center and synthetic
ice skating rink
An ice rink (or ice skating rink) is a frozen body of water and/or an artificial sheet of ice created using hardened chemicals where people can ice skate or play winter sports. Ice rinks are also used for exhibitions, contests and ice shows. The ...
on a nearby {{convert, 28600, sqft, m2, adj=on land parcel in north central Anaheim opened and substantial community expansion followed. Multiple benefactors have stepped forward to support this innovative regional program, most prominently Disneyland, the Orange County Community Foundation through the ACT collaborative, LA 84 Foundation, The Ueberroth Family Foundation, Eisner Foundation, Ben's Asphalt, the LA Lakers among many others. The City of Anaheim, Tait & Associates, Berg Electric, McCarthy Construction Company, and RJ Noble have also stepped up on multiple occasions to assist GOALS especially with their landmark facility development to involve more underserved children free of charge.
GOALS has continued to support community needs in creative ways and in 2015 opened the first free public charter school in the City of Anaheim. GOALS Academy was founded by GOALS as a Kindergarten to 6th grade elementary school located in north central Anaheim. More than 230 youngsters attended this school daily, and a well attended after school program has been operated by GOALS daily from the same location.
In 2018 GOALS launched a major development initiative dubbed "A Better Community" or ABC for short. This model community project led to a major physical restoration of a clubhouse and large "common" area within a very deteriorated neighborhood in west Anaheim. Within 1 year this area was transformed with over 35,000 of activity improvements and daily free GOALS programs were installed. Among these were a recreation rink built by the Anaheim Ducks, small tennis court, tetherball court, amphitheatre, grass picnic and play zone, handball court, the ABC garden and a 1,000 square foot clubhouse. Hundreds of children and family members have benefited greatly and this initiative stands as an affordable and sustainable. urban model
In mid 2020 GOALS separated the charter school operation into a separate not for profit entity called "Anaheim Academy". GOALS has set a strategic focus on expansion of service projects to support municipal partners and anticipates adoption of further major service projects. In addition GOALS is pursuing efforts to restore and operate a youth mountain camp with a plan to create up to 1,000 free annual camping slots for "at-promise" youngsters. The plan simultaneously involves major service commitments to bolster environmental needs in southern California forests. The current expectation is that the "Camp GOALS" endeavor will be in development mode throughout 2021 and operating on a phased in basis by the summer of 2022.