KEEN 30th Anniversary Logo

 

 

To celebrate KEEN’s 30th anniversary of providing free programs of recreation and fitness for youth with disabilities, we are proud to announce our new Mission and Vision Statements. KEEN’s direction for the next 30 years will be focused on inclusion, empowerment, and community impact.

 

KEEN’s Mission: Empower youth with disabilities and impact volunteer coaches through participation in free, non-competitive, one-on-one programs of physical activity and fun, supporting the overall health and well-being of all participants.

KEEN’s Vision: Create communities in which individuals with disabilities have equal opportunities for recreation, fitness, and friendship; provide families with respite and a supportive network; foster a lifelong commitment to positive change for volunteers through their engagement with KEEN athletes; develop partnerships to actively promote disability awareness.

KEEN will continue to be guided by our core principles of accepting every child, regardless of the nature or severity of their disability, providing all programs entirely free of charge, and meeting the needs of the individual athlete, allowing everyone to find success and joy.

KEEN is a volunteer-led, nonprofit — 501(c)(3) — organization headquartered in the Washington, DC area. KEEN USA’s Board of Directors oversees affiliate operations and charts national initiatives. Each affiliate also has a Board of Directors, comprised of parents, volunteers and members of the community who direct all local activities in accordance with KEEN‘s mission of providing free programs for kids with disabilities, regardless of the nature or severity of that disability.

KEEN is modeled on an innovative program established in Oxford, England by Elliott Portnoy, who brought KEEN to the Washington, DC area in 1992. With his wife, Estee Portnoy, and help from a handful of parents and volunteers, KEEN started as a single program. 25 years later, because of its unique approach of individualized, one-to-one, noncompetitive programming, KEEN has expanded into seven markets across the nation, serving over fifteen hundred young people with disabilities each year and touching the lives of tens of thousands of volunteers.

KEEN operates programs in the following 7 cities:
KEEN Affiliate Map