In 2024, You Helped Us…

January 24, 2025

…take nearly 300 kids from across the city on six introductory Lake Michigan cruises.

…introduce sailing and Great Lakes ecology to 175 students on nine science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) cruises aboard the tall ship Inland Seas.

…teach science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM) concepts in 66 after-school sessions, reaching a total of 561 students.

…increase the number of our week-long sailing camps from three to 11—including launching a new Community Sailing Program in Monroe Harbor—and the number of young sailors participating from just over 30 to 115.

…triple our swim school support, enabling three times as many Chicagoland kids to learn this essential life skill this year from 120 in 2023 to 357 in 2024.

…grow our collaboration with the Judd Goldman Adaptive Sailing Foundation and the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab to provide sailing lessons to 40 sailors with physical disabilities.

…continue our flagship Lead HER Ship program, during which nine young women embark on a five-day sail aboard the tall ship Inland Seas to learn boating, teamwork, and Great Lakes ecology while having fun and making new friends.

…offer 13 sailing school scholarships to young people, to attend the program of their choice across Chicagoland.

…support the oldest Sea Scout Ship in the nation, #5870 Privateer, serving 20 active Scouts.

…award the inaugural InSPIRE Scholarships for postsecondary education for alumnae/i of Foundation programs; named for CYC member Dr. Jean-Paul Spire, whose bequest enabled us to add this program to our portfolio.

…support young Chicagoland sail racers at the very highest levels of competition nationally and globally via ten grants from the Foundation’s Competition Fund, including Roble/Shea Sailing’s participation in the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics in Marseille.