MaliVai Washington Kids Foundation

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MaliVai Washington is a former professional tennis player who created the MaliVai Washington Kids Foundation in 1994 to "teach achievement and positive life skills through the game of tennis". The foundation is not just a tennis program, however. Washington explained, "In reality, we're now 40 percent tennis and 60 percent homework assistance, life skills programs, mentoring, tutoring."

In 1996, the foundation broke ground on a 9,700-square-foot Youth Tennis and Education Complex in Durkeeville. According to Terri Florio, executive director of the foundation, about 1,000 youngsters participated in the program annually before the new facility opened. That has doubled to almost 2,000. ^[1]