News

(Vista, CA) – As communities continue to grapple with COVID-19 restrictions, skatepark advocates across the country further their charge to bring accessible alternative recreation to their communities. Facing municipal budget… Read more

The Tony Hawk Foundation has announced a change in name, but not in focus. Now known as The Skatepark Project, the organization continues its award-winning work to support community skatepark projects across the U.S., and skatepark-based programming internationally.

Black Lives Matter. The Tony Hawk Foundation stands with protestors in opposition to the brutality committed against black Americans by police and to the historic systemic and institutional racism inflicted on black communities across the U.S.

With a matching-grant deadline looming, the Find Your Grind (FYG) Foundation has stepped up during an extremely difficult time for fundraising and combined resources with the Tony Hawk Foundation (THF), to support the Chandler Park Skatepark project in Detroit, Michigan, ensuring Detroit kids there will have a free, safe place to skate once the COVID-19 crisis has passed.

The Tony Hawk Foundation responded to the Coronavirus threat by relocating staff to work from home more than a week before local authorities issued directives to do so. As America shut down, THF staff reached out to skatepark advocates across the country to check in, offer support, and assess what they planned to do in light of the challenges posed by the worldwide shut down and economic crisis. THF is also continuing its Skatepark Grant program, and has announced ten new grant awards to projects spanning the breadth of the Lower 48.

A first-of-its-kind study of skateboarding culture reveals that skateboarding improves mental health, fosters community, and encourages diversity and resilience.  The study, conducted by the Pullias Center for Higher Education at USC’s Rossier School of Education and USC’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, also showed that gender and race do matter within the skateboarding community.

Right now we are working with dozens of groups in the United States that are pursuing new skateparks in their communities. Together, we know that conversations lead to commitments, so how we talk about skateparks will be the biggest factor in getting someone’s interest and earning their support.

We spend a lot of time thinking about the state of skateboarding and skateparks. There’s no greater time for reflection than the end of a decade. A lot has changed since 2010 for skateboarders everywhere, and those changes suggest that things are going to get even more interesting as we head into the Twenties.

Even though it may seem like it’s always been there, the skatepark down the street didn’t materialize from thin air. No angels gently lowered into place from the heavens above. It was not even the product of some bureaucrat’s inspired vision. The skatepark didn’t start out with a plan or a team.

From Anchorage, Alaska to Port Chester, New York, the Tony Hawk Foundation announces the latest recipients of its skatepark grants. Since 2002, THF has been assisting local leaders and community groups in the planning and funding of their free, public skateparks, and these latest grant recipients represent not only geographic diversity, but include everything from a rural village to a major metropolis.

The Tony Hawk Foundation spends a lot of time studying skateparks. One thing that we’ve noticed is that the size and density of a community has a big impact on what kind of challenges a skatepark group is likely to face there. 

Tony Hawk Foundation staff are introduced to a lot of skatepark projects and have a sense of an average “community skatepark effort.” While every project is unique, the sequence of challenges remains more or less the same.

With well over 600 skatepark projects awarded grants across the nation, the Tony Hawk Foundation has developed a deep understanding about what works in skate places.

USC’s Pullias Center for Higher Education, in conjunction with Annenberg School for Communication and the Tony Hawk Foundation, launched the second round of a national surveyon skateboarding, schools, and society in June.

The benefits of a skatepark are complex; there is the undeniable physical activity, and also the social interactions between people of different backgrounds and neighborhoods.

San Diego, CA – The Tony Hawk Foundation Is Pleased To Announce The Activision Presents: Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 20th Anniversary Celebration Featuring Bad Religion Benefiting The Tony Hawk Foundation… Read more

It’s well known that certain parts of the country are famous for their multitude of great skateparks. But did you know which regions are skatepark deserts? Or that the most populated cities in the U.S. have less than 25% of the skateparks they need? (We’re looking at you, Los Angeles and New York City.)

Your town doesn’t have to be a Metropolis to need a skatepark. The Tony Hawk Foundation has understood this since it began its work in 2002, assisting communities large and small to create free, quality public skateparks throughout the U.S., and helping fund them through the foundation’s Skatepark Grant Program.

At the Tony Hawk Foundation, we spend most of our program time helping communities solve their skatepark issues. We hear from folks everywhere about skatepark efforts. Through these conversations we’ve seen that fundraising remains the single largest challenge to public skatepark development.

Every day Tony Hawk Foundation staff take questions from people interested in a new local place to skate. Some of these calls and e-mails are from folks who are having difficulty with the skatepark-development process and need assistance, but many of them are from people just starting out.

The Tony Hawk Foundation and Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation bring public skateparks to two more cities. Buffalo, NY (December 7, 2018) — Launched earlier this year, the Built to… Read more

Currently live on eBay, the annual THF Holiday Auction at www.THFauction.org features a curated selection of unique art, collectibles, and items for yourself or someone else. And even better—they all benefit the foundation’s mission to enrich the lives of youth through skateboarding.

$50,000 grant from champion skateboarder’s charity to support youth in Cambodia, South Africa, and Afghanistan. Vista, CA (October 10, 2018) — The Tony Hawk Foundation has awarded international youth charity… Read more

After sixteen years of helping create more than 500 skateparks nationwide, the Tony Hawk Foundation is looking to build on its success of serving youth. In order to do so, the organization has awarded a $264,000 research grant to the University Of Southern California’s acclaimed Pullias Center For Higher Education to conduct a study about the youth who use skateparks, and what they may need to advance their education or career choices.

There are hundreds of communities across the United States working to create their first public skatepark. Each of these projects is facing its own unique challenges; from noxious NIMBYism and… Read more

Skatepark grants available for projects nationwide, with a special opportunity for Southeast Michigan and Western New York.

In southeast San Francisco there is a neighborhood called Hunters Point. Historically, this area was home to African American families employed at the Hunters Point naval shipyard during and after World War II.

The Tony Hawk Foundation is pleased to announce the first recipients of its 2018 Skatepark Grants.