TeamFAME at the International Tennis Hall of Fame
TeamFAME Afterschool Program Assessment
Summary
For every child in an afterschool program in Rhode Island, three more are waiting to get in. Started in 2018, TeamFAME: Future Aces Modeling Excellence, a National Junior Tennis & Learning (NJTL) chapter at the International Tennis Hall of Fame (ITHF), provides afterschool tennis instruction, homework support, and enrichment activities to help local elementary, middle, and high school students in Newport, Rhode Island and neighboring towns learn new skills, achieve their goals, and change their lives on and off the court.
The NJTL network includes more than 250 nonprofit youth development chapters that provide free or low-cost tennis and educational programming to more than 160,000 under-resourced kids throughout the United States. With 63% of public middle school students in Newport at or below poverty level, TeamFAME exemplifies the power of tennis and sports-based out-of-school-time (OST) programming to drive personal growth and community impact.
In 2024, Root Cause partnered with TeamFAME to help evaluate the impact of its afterschool program and document its value proposition as an out-of-school time program. In 2025, Root Cause is working with TeamFAME to both create and help implement a 3-year strategic plan.
Goals & Results
Phase I: Evaluation of programs and impact report (March 2024-July 2024)
Root Cause conducted a landscape analysis and researched best practices for OST programs that use sports to engage youth. We reviewed TeamFAME’s afterschool program to understand impact, strengths, and recommendations to consider in strategic planning and developed an impact report for key stakeholders, including community partners and funders.
Phase II: Development of a strategic plan (August 2024-March 2025)
The learnings and recommendations from the Phase I assessment served as the foundation for a strategic planning process for TeamFAME, which will include planning for the afterschool, summer, and high school programs.
Phase III: Implementation of the strategic plan (April 2025-September 2025)
Root Cause will provide leadership coaching to help TeamFAME implement the strategic plan’s Year 1 action plan, design a structured data inventory to track program outcomes, and develop an updated impact report for 2024-2025.
About the Partner
TeamFAME at the International Tennis Hall of Fame
TeamFAME provides out-of-school-time activities to help underserved elementary, middle, and high school students in Newport, Rhode Island and neighboring towns reach their goals, learn new skills, and change their lives on and off the court. As one of the youth programs within the International Tennis Hall of Fame (ITHF), TeamFAME contributes to the ITHF’s vision for youth programming, which is to inspire the next generation by connecting youth to tennis history, its legends, and the values of the game, while fostering skill development, personal growth, and a lifelong passion for the sport.
