Resources:
Sarah Rigg's Feature Article: Ypsi mini-grants support youth nonprofits offering sports and professional trades programming
City of Ypsilanti Youth Mini-Grant
Transcription:
Rylee Barnsdale: You're listening to 89.1 WEMU. I'm Rylee Barnsdale, and this is On the Ground Ypsi. Back in March, the City of Ypsilanti announced the recipients of this year's Youth Mini-Grants program, designed to bring grant funding opportunities to local nonprofit organizations providing resources to the youth in our community. After evaluating applications submitted back in the fall of 2024, a committee of city council members awarded $9,000 in total to two different Ypsi orgs to help bolster their missions of promoting the well-being of young people right here in our town. Today I'm here with Sean Brandon, the president and head coach of Ypsi's All About Speed Track Club and one of this year's mini-grant recipients. Hi, Sean! How are you doing today?
Sean Brandon Jr.: Hi! I'm doing very well! How about yourself?
Rylee Barnsdale: You know, I am loving the sunshine! I'm so glad that spring has actually sprung here in Michigan!
Sean Brandon Jr.: I've been waiting a long time for it!
Rylee Barnsdale: So, you started All About Speed, the All About Speed Track Club, back when you were living in Flint in 2016. And you've since moved to Ypsi and brought the club with you. But how did the idea for a club like this--this brand of athletics club for young people--come around originally?
Sean Brandon Jr.: So, back in, I want to say 2010, I was in college. My parents actually started the program because they also run an All About Ball Youth Sports in Flint, Michigan. So, it started with flag football and tackle football, elementary basketball, tee ball. And then, in 2014, we started track and field. We started with a very small group, so it wasn't anything to write home about.
Rylee Barnsdale: Sure.
Sean Brandon Jr.: And that was when I came on as like the head coach for the track and field program. And my parents just kind of oversaw everything because they've run youth sports for three decades now.
Rylee Barnsdale: Sure.
Sean Brandon Jr.: And in 2016 is when we really kind of made a bigger name for ourselves throughout the state, competing in the AAU Junior Olympics right here at Eastern Michigan in the summer of 2016. And that was our first real taste of like being on the national stage for track and field and youth track and field. Since then, we've grown. And then, 2020 hit and the pandemic hit. And so, it created a big change and shift for everyone. And that summer, I ended up moving down to Ypsilanti with my wife Jessica, and that summer was just like a transitional period for us. I was traveling back and forth to Flint to coach. And then, the following summer in 2021 is when we officially started the Ypsilanti chapter of the All About Speed Track Club.
Rylee Barnsdale: And as you mentioned, too, this club stemming from the work that your parents had been doing originally as well, this is all pretty much family-run from top to bottom.
Sean Brandon Jr.: Yes.
Rylee Barnsdale: You work with your wife pretty closely with the Ypsi chapter as well. Family members and team members also have a lot of opportunities to come in and be a part of the coaching and things like that. Is that just stemming from its roots in All About Ball or is that something you wanted to really instill in the participants--this idea of community and this close-knit kind of feeling?
Sean Brandon Jr.: It's kind of how our foundation is set. It's family-run. It's community led. Most of our coaches either have children who participate in the program, or they were athletes themselves in prior years, either in football or basketball, or they we're one of our first runners when we started track and field. And they said, "You know what? I enjoyed my experience so much, I want to come back and be a coach." And it's also helped us to recruit some former college athletes to say, "Hey, I ran with this person who was in this program. I want to come and help coach too." And so, that's kind of how we grow and develop our administrative base. And then, we just kind of build from within.
Sean Brandon Jr.: And so, you applied for this year's round of Youth Mini-Grants from the city and All About Speed received....was it $4,000 from this grant?
Sean Brandon Jr.: Yes.
Rylee Barnsdale: Was this your first time applying for this grant?
Sean Brandon Jr.: This was our first time applying for this grant. We've actually been applying for grants for months now. And this was the first one we actually like got a response back from that was positive. And so, I was excited! I still remember the call that I got, and I was dumbfounded and lost for words. It was just like, "Oh my gosh! Thank you! Like, thank you!" I didn't have any other ways to express how gracious I was in the fact that we were awarded this grant.
Sean Brandon Jr.: How has receiving this money impacted the team and its members and even on the admin side of things? What are these dollars going towards to continue elevating these students in this program?
Sean Brandon Jr.: It's had an immediate impact. It actually helped us to be able to afford to travel to the Michigan indoor state track and field championships. We were able to pay for some of our athletes to stay in the hotel because it was a two-day event all the way in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. It also helped to pay for travel opportunity for a couple of our high school runners who qualified for national championships in Boston, Massachusetts and New York City at the Armory. These are really big opportunities that we get to have kids within the community travel and represent themselves, represent their city, represent our team on a national level, and kind of get the word out there that we're small, but we're talented!
Rylee Barnsdale: Sure! I'm curious about how this grant will impact All About Speed also in the long run as well, as in the immediate, being able to travel and provide these different resources for your athletes. But as far as next year, three years down the line, etc., what does showing this particular commitment now mean for future members of the club?
Sean Brandon Jr.: Well, this is going to help us show our dedication to the city and how much we plan to put into growing within the city and being able to add more kids and more structure to our program to provide more opportunities for others to join and participate. This is going help us with traveling, being able to take more kids on the road to bigger events out of state and allow more kids who may not be able to afford the registration fee to participate anyway and be able provide scholarships and scholarship opportunities.
Rylee Barnsdale: This is WEMU's On the Ground Ypsi. I'm talking with All About Speed Track Club head coach and president, Sean Brandon Jr. Sean, why is a program like this youth mini-grants program we have here in Ypsi so important to nonprofits like yourself and others that are specifically geared toward the youth in our community? I mean, you've spoken at length about the impact that these grant dollars can have on your personal organization. But from a nonprofit standpoint, what does having this opportunity just available mean for groups like yours?
Sean Brandon Jr.: It allows us to provide an opportunity for younger kids to participate in something outside of school, something extracurricular. Because we start at such a young age, this is something that can help a kid find direction or find a community that is like-minded. And we promote education through our program. And so, this is something that gives kids--a group of kids--just like them to grow with outside of school. It's a small, community-based program that looks to grow within the community with the community.
Rylee Barnsdale: We'll wrap up our chat here just by asking as someone who went out to apply for this grant and then did end up receiving it if there are other non-profit leaders or folks in similar organizations to All About Speed that are thinking, "Maybe I could apply for a grant, but maybe I'm not." For whatever reason they haven't gone out and done so yet, why would you encourage them to take that leap and put that application out there?
Sean Brandon Jr.: Because growth is scary, but growth requires risk. And this was something risky that we didn't even think we would get, but it was also something we felt like was necessary. And in order for us to grow, we have to take a risk. And the risk was applying for a grant and saying like, "This is what we need to keep growing." And in order for us grow, we got to reach out to people who have the opportunity and the means to help. And this was someone saying, "We see what you're doing. We like what you are doing. We want to help." And if you want to grow, reach out and give somebody an opportunity to help you.
Rylee Barnsdale: Well, Sean, I want to thank you so much for being here today with us. It's really wonderful to see such great work being done with young folks in our community. And when you're talking about athletics and you're talking about self-betterment, those things are hard for adults to do sometimes.
Sean Brandon Jr.: Absolutely! It is!
Rylee Barnsdale: So, it's really wonderful to see that happening with our young folks! And I'm really excited to see where All About Speed goes in the next couple of years, too!
Sean Brandon Jr.: Well, we'll be growing right here in Ypsi and doing the best we can!
Rylee Barnsdale: For more information on today's topic and links to the full article, visit our website at WEMU.org. On the Ground Ypsi is brought to you in partnership with Concentrate Media. I'm Rylee Barnsdale, and this is your community NPR station, 89.1 WEMU-FM Ypsilanti. Celebrating 60 years of broadcasting at Eastern Michigan University!
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