August 2026 Grant Winner

Access to Play Initiative

Strike Force FC

Soccer, or football around the world, can bring people together through play. All you need is a ball. And a few other things if you want to play well.

Huge congrats to Strike Force FC, one of our August 2026 grant recipients! They’re using their $1,500 award to put more Chattanooga kids on the field through the Access to Play Initiative: training gear for one of their new teams and a Player Access Fund so no kid gets turned away over cost.

Strike Force FC started when two Chattanooga dads decided competitive club soccer had gotten too expensive. They began with two players. In less than a year, they’ve grown to twenty kids, with U7 and U8 teams on the field and U6 and U9 on the way.

The math is the point. Every coach and board member volunteers, which keeps the average player cost around $945 a year, compared to roughly $3,000 at many traditional competitive clubs. Our grant helps fund the equipment, uniform assistance, and Player Access Fund that let them keep growing without passing those costs on to families.

Talent, effort, and passion should decide who gets to play, not income. Chattanooga’s more awesome when every kid has a spot on the team.

Child and Family Enrichment | Chattanooga Room in the Inn

We proudly announce our $3,000 October grant to Chattanooga Room in the Inn (CRITI), a vital organization providing temporary shelter and support services to women and children experiencing homelessness. Our grant will directly impact the lives of shelter residents by supporting them through education, health, and well-being initiatives. How, exactly? We’ll tell ya.

• Therapeutic Activities: Art supplies, sensory and mindfulness toys, as well as workbooks $515

• Local Adventures: Creative Discovery Museum, Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum, Rock City $500

• Tutoring Supplies $245

• Outside Talent: yoga instructors, ceramists, dance instructors $500

• Extracurricular activities: sports, dance, gymnastics, and spring, fall, and summer camps. $1,240

CRITI invests in the family as a whole. More healthy, confident, self-sufficient families in Chattanooga benefit local schools and workplaces and hopefully inspire families to spend more time together healing. As CRITI families in transition begin to engage in these programs, results should follow quickly.

Healing from trauma takes a village. We’re proud to support CRITI and families experiencing homelessness here in Chattanooga.

Kickstart at Orange Grove Center | Operation Get Active

Established in 2009, a long-term vision for Chattanooga Football Club was to have a foundation to serve the Chattanooga community and enrich the lives of children and families in economically or culturally challenged neighborhoods.  Enter Operation Get Active. So far in 2019, which includes Spring and Summer seasons and the new pilot program, Kickstart, they have served 1,350 kids from 24 schools and 10 YFD centers.

Kickstart was launched in response to a critical need for adults with disabilities to have access to team-based, socializing sports activities to improve their health and well-being. People with disabilities are at a much greater risk for serious health problems associated with a lack of exercise or physical activity. Adults with disabilities were twice as likely to be physically inactive than those without due to a number of barriers, including personal ones such as pain, a lack of energy, or the perception that exercise is impossible, or environmental ones, such as a lack of access to a safe space, transportation, or mobility equipment.

Following Kickstart’s successful summer pilot, the plan is to expand the program to include services at Orange Grove Center for 30 participants in Spring 2020. Participants will work closely with a team of coaches to learn the rules of soccer and how to engage with the game in a friendly and cooperative way. Activities will take place once a week for eight weeks and include warm-ups, team-building, socialization, and of course, soccer. Additionally, they will provide a social outing for all participants to attend a Chattanooga Football game.

UNFoundation funding will go toward soccer equipment, jerseys, field rent, marketing, and salaries.

PLAY Chattanooga: Police and FIrefighters Coach Flag Football

PLAY Chattanooga discovered that by changing the relationship between law-enforcement and inner-city youth through sports, we can transform lives in Chattanooga. With several events under their belts they applied for a grant to fund a Spring Flag Football league. Lead by our local police officers and firefighters, kids will be lead to make great life choices, develop leadership characteristics and transform the perception of law enforcement in their communities.

What will the money go towards? PLAY Chattanooga plans to use the money to pay their dedicated coaches and referees. Funds will also be used for equipment such as cleats, league apparel, and travel to compete with out-of-town teams. Our $1,500 grant was matched 50% (another $750 for you math challenged friends) by Causeway, so in total the impact for PLAY is $2,250. Want to help? You can! DONATE HERE. 

Deep Creek Climbing Routes March 2012

Recipient: Michael Wurzel

Chattanooga is a well known climbing mecca. New and old climbing areas draw locals and road trippers alike to enjoy the high quality, southern sandstone Chattanooga has to offer. The Unfoundation funded motivated individuals to go climb, develop, and bolt new routes at Deep Creek and other legitimate areas. They put up nearly 30 new trad routes and sport climbs, improving and promoting Chattanooga as an innovative outdoor city.

Youth Basketball Uniforms February 2012

Receipant: Chattanooga Elite Basketball

The Chattanooga Elite Basketball league was the recipient of our February grant. Kathleen Hunt, a volunteer, applied for a grant to cover a set of 100 uniforms for their players. Wee granted Chattanooga Elite Basketball $1,700 for the purchase of uniforms, and they came out great. Reversable, and reusable for seasons, these Jerseys were high quality.  The UNFoundation felt that crisp uniforms would make youth feel like they are a part of a team; a part of something worth working for.  Sometimes the only after-school activity available, this program leverages the youth’s excitement about basketball to promote teamwork, leadership, and academic skills.