Oakland, CA - Team-Up for Youth will host a Coaching Corps Appreciation Reception for invited guests on Tuesday, May 2, 2006 at the Mills College Faculty Lounge from 6–7:30 pm.  Among the anticipated attendees is Walter J. Haas, chair of the Team-Up for Youth Board of Trustees and a champion for Coaching Corps since its inception. Student volunteers will be honored for engaging in youth development training and coaching in after-school sports programs.

Team-Up for Youth is a non-profit organization in Oakland that promotes the healthy development of young people by strengthening and expanding after-school sports programs, particularly those serving low-income neighborhoods.

Team-Up for Youth selected two institutions as pilot programs for their latest project called Coaching Corps. Mills College Athletics, Community Link and Service Learning departments, and the University of California at Berkeley’s Cal Corps, Athletics, and Recreational Sports departments partnered with Team-Up for Youth to launch the Coaching Corps initiative last fall.

Coaching Corps recruits and trains volunteer youth coaches, especially women and people of color, to address the shortage of coaches serving in low-income areas. This year, the Corps provided Mills students with training stipends of up to $1,000, and placements in community organizations as volunteer coaches.

Mills students to be honored at the reception are listed below, along with the organizations they served:

Chrissy Fisher – Mills College Campus Coordinator
Amra Becirovic – Mills Community Tennis Program
Claudia Bugarin – Mills Community Tennis Program
Shelby Phillips – Bay Area SCORES
Adriana Hernandez – Bay Area SCORES
Lauren Lieberman – Berkeley Police Activities League
Jessica Miller – Oakland Girls Softball League
Dennis Somera – (Mills alum) – Mills Community Tennis Program

Mills College is a nationally renowned, independent liberal arts college offering innovative degree programs for undergraduate women, and graduate degree and certificate programs for women and men. Consistently ranked among the top 75 liberal arts colleges in the nation by U.S. News & World Report, Mills is also recognized as one of the country’s 20 most diverse liberal arts colleges. The Princeton Review selected Mills as one of 11 colleges for first-time inclusion in its Best 361 Colleges in 2005. Nestled in the foothills of Oakland, California on 135 lush acres, Mills provides a dynamic liberal arts education fostering women’s leadership, social responsibility, and creativity.

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Deborah Dallinger
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