After securing money to buy land for their planned $80 million nonprofit sports facility on Milwaukee’s far north side, Damian Buchman and Franklin Cumberbatch are intensifying their fundraising efforts and aim for a 2025 opening for the inclusive center.
“This loan and securing the site will give us the opportunity to take this purpose to an actual project,” said Buchman, founder of The Ability Center and co-leader of the project.
The resulting 300,000-square-foot facility would have indoor basketball courts, a 300-meter running track, swimming pool and fitness center. Called The Opportunity Center, it is intended to generate money through regional sports tournaments and memberships to support the core goal of making sports available to more people with physical or developmental disabilities, and to families with low incomes.
That means youth sports leagues that are more affordable and “scholarships” to help those with low incomes participate. The thousands of dollars needed to sign up for many youth sports programs make them inaccessible to many low-income youths in Milwaukee, said Cumberbatch, vice president of Bader Philanthropies Inc.
“There is a segment of the community that is just cast aside,” he said. “The families can’t pay. A lot of these places where the games are played are in the suburbs or even in rural communities. Transportation is an issue, which sets families aside.”
Buchman described their planned facility as a “community center first, but at the scale of a sports tourism venue.” It is expected to have an economic impact of up to $15 million by attracting about a million annual visitors through tournaments and team practices.
“There’s a focus on education here, and mentorship and tutoring and learning,” Buchman said.
Having control of their future construction site near Interstate 43 at 4206 N. Green Bay Ave. is a needed step toward making the project real. The two are seeking to raise $80 million in grants and donations by 2024 to fund its construction. The Milwaukee Economic Development Corp., an affiliate of the city, recently approved a $2.5 million loan that will finance the site purchase. The two set a goal to raise $9 million overall this year.
Cumberbatch and Buchman were separately working on sports center concepts before connecting around this project. Cumberbatch, a track and field athlete during his college days, was seeking an initiative that would use sports to open opportunities for Milwaukee’s central city youths.
Separately, Buchman was already working on his concept for a sports center that opens opportunities for people of all physical abilities. Cumberbatch connected with him in spring 2020 after Buchman sent a grant request to Bader Philanthropies.
The sports facilities will be fully accessible to players of all abilities, and will encourage mixed play between, for example, people who play basketball in wheelchairs and those with full use of their legs, Buchman said.
https://www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/news/2021/08/27/fundraising-for-inclusive-sports-center.html