July 27, 2026
Dear USC Friends, I am excited to share an important milestone in Urban Squash Cleveland’s history. Effective July 1, 2026, Urban Squash Cleveland (USC) and Urban Community School (UCS) have entered into a Collaboration Agreement.
This Agreement strengthens Urban Squash Cleveland by lightening our administrative load, and allowing our team to focus even more deeply on what matters most: helping Cleveland’s young people thrive. At the same time, it advances Urban Community School’s mission to support the whole child and expand their high quality out-of-school opportunities. At a time when enrichment activities are harder and harder to access for Cleveland’s young people and families, the two organizations are formalizing their alliance to ensure that our Cleveland youth receive invaluable and impactful opportunities.
What This Means for Urban Squash Cleveland
Running a small nonprofit is a labor of love and an enormous logistical challenge. Every hour the Urban Squash Cleveland team spends on payroll, bookkeeping, insurance, and facilities is an hour not spent coaching a student-athlete or planning the next enrichment opportunity. Urban Community School, our longtime thought partner and close ally on Lorain Avenue, has the organizational infrastructure to absorb many of these administrative functions, and they have agreed to do just that.
What Is NOT Changing
The most important things remain exactly the same. Urban Squash Cleveland remains an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit under the umbrella of Urban Community School with our own Board, budget, and donor relationships. All gifts to Urban Squash Cleveland continue to support USC programming directly. Nothing changes about how we raise funds or how these funds are used.
Our mission remains unchanged: serving Cleveland youth through year-round squash and fitness programming, academic support, enrichment, and mentoring. We will continue serving students from schools across Cleveland – not just Urban Community School – and we will continue to be an affiliate program of the Squash and Education Alliance. We will continue serving our student-athletes through high school, college and beyond.
Our leadership team remains the same. I will continue serving as Executive Director, Erica Moorer as Manager of Education and Family Engagement, and Ray Chan-A-Sue as Squash Director. USC will continue to offer affordable squash memberships and programming to the community-at-large through Cleveland Community Squash, and strengthen relationships between its members and our student-athletes.
What Is Changing
Urban Squash Cleveland employees are now employees of Urban Community School while still assigned full-time to Urban Squash Cleveland. We will be able to direct our full energy toward our student-athletes who count on us every day, while also gaining the benefits of joining a larger employer.
Urban Community School will now provide their expertise in administrative and operations areas including: Fundraising – grant writing, our annual appeal, donor database management, acknowledgments, and event planning including Cocktails on the Courts (Oct. 2!) Finance – bookkeeping, budgeting, accounts payable and receivable, audit preparation, and our annual IRS Form 990 filing Operations – payroll, human resources, employee benefits, legal support and compliance Facilities – day-to-day maintenance, vendor management, snow removal, and event support
Thank You! We are deeply grateful for your continued belief in Urban Squash Cleveland and the remarkable young people we serve. Your support has made this next chapter possible, and we are excited for what lies ahead.
Finally, I hope you will join us for our annual fundraiser, Cocktails at the Courts, on Friday, October 2, from 6:00-8:00pm. This special evening celebrates our student-athletes and the community that makes their success possible. You’ll receive your invitation in the mail soon, and we look forward to seeing you there!
As always, if you have any questions about this collaboration, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
With gratitude,
Jean M. Koehler
Executive Director