Special Olympics New York

Founded in 1969, Special Olympics New York provides year-round sports training and authentic competition in a variety of Olympic-style sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, giving them continuing opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy, and participate in a sharing of skills and friendship with their families, peer athletes and the community. Through their participation, athletes gain confidence and build a positive self-image, which carries into the classroom, the home, the workplace and the community. Today, Special Olympics New York is the largest program in the country, serving 41,000 athletes with the support of over 12,000 volunteers.

The vision that sports will open hearts and minds towards people with intellectual disabilities and create inclusive communities throughout New York so we can reach more of those who need us.

Goal One: Enhance: Increase depth and quality opportunities for existing athletes and stakeholders.

Goal Two: Expand: Grow our reach and participation.

Goal Three: Empower: Achieve organizational excellence that is core to enhancing our mission and securing our future.

Team Leadership Training - A course offered to guide teams and/or programs to top performance. Assisting to learn ways to work cohesively as a team and gain more confidence and competence as leaders.

Special Olympics New York has a critical mission and strong brand. We have a broad range of programs for athletes of all ages, community partners who open their hearts and minds to a wider world of human talent and potential, and a committed and experienced leadership team. While we are proud of our progress and the resilience we have demonstrated, we know that we can do better. Some of the challenges we faced included: tapered growth, the need to maximize our capacity to digitize the movement and reach more of those who need us. With the development of a 3 year strategic plan we are making great strides toward our ambitious goal of increasing our saturation rate by more than 3% over the next three years, reaching at least 13% of eligible New Yorkers with ID – or 71,500 athletes – with our programs by 2025. Expanding our presence in New York City, where the need for our program and our movement is most urgent, has accounted for significant growth. We continue to focus on building a more inclusive New York through these strategic goals: 1.) Enhance the quality of service to current athletes and other stakeholders while also reconnecting with those we lost during the pandemic; 2.) Inspire greater participation with a more diverse community of athletes who have yet to experience the benefits of Special Olympics, particularly in underserved communities; and 3.) Renew our commitment to organizational excellence.