Special Olympics

Health workdespite severe need and higher health risks, people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (idd) are often unable to access the quality care that they need to maintain optimal health. Special Olympics health programs proactively address the health risks and barriers that individuals with idd face, through programming that is operationalized through four foci - prevention, assessment, training, and health systems strengthening (the p.a.t.h to health equity). In each area, Special Olympics has expanded existing programming and resources, integrated recent technology and innovations, and garnered support for continued growth. Within the area of prevention, over 256,000 children with and without idd, benefitted from the young athletes program in 2023. This early childhood development program improves motor skills and social and cognitive development. In addition, a resource of year-long lesson plans was developed and piloted for young athletes, filling a much-needed gap in kindergarten curricula. To complement these efforts, the young athletes app underwent a round of enhancements and launched in six languages within google play and apple app stores globally. Over 7,800 family members and athletes participated in 67 family health forums where they gained valuable health education from subject matter experts on a range of topics including nutrition, diabetes, mental health, and healthy relationships. Special Olympics fitness, which engages athletes in ongoing physical activity, nutrition, and hydration programming, continued to grow substantially and reached over 300,000 participants in 2023. This intervention continues to help many athletes achieve physical activity levels greater than the general population, reduce their blood pressure levels and weight, and adopt healthy behaviors. Within the domain of assessments, a revision to screening protocols in 2023 ensured that the healthy athletes program remains abreast of clinical advancements and now includes questions from national health surveillance instruments. In addition, 93,928 screenings were conducted with 61,000+ individual digital records captured to aid tracking follow-up care, monitoring improvements in health outcomes and support surveillance and advocacy efforts. Over 5,500 pairs of prescription eyewear and 1,500 prescription goggles were provided to correct athletes' vision, while 300 and one individuals had their hearing restored through hearing aids provided by partner, starkey cares. Developing a workforce equipped with the appropriate knowledge, skills, and attitudes to provide quality care to people with idd is critical to reducing health disparities for this population. Within this area of training, over 14,000 clinicians and students gained practicum experience as part of the healthy athletes program in 2023, while a further 16,202 clinicians and students were trained through online training resources or program-led initiatives. Demand for online training rose significantly in 2023 as the first five modules, inclusive health fundamentals, were upgraded and softly launched in three regions in the final quarter of the year. In this brief period, over 750 students from 25+ universities completed the full set of modules, while health professionals from over 600 unique institutions completed modules through our partnership with healthstream - the largest online training platform for health systems across the us, canada, and the caribbean. Within the domain of health systems reform, Special Olympics continues to build the case and tools for inclusive health systems and is a key player in disability-inclusive health. In 2023, Special Olympics began work on a multi-year, multi-country project known as the rosemary collaborative which will give rise to the first ever global report on the health of persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities, to be launched in 2025. Coupled with the 2,500+ unique partnerships being nurtured at local and country levels, and the growing cadre of over 1,000 health messengers who served as vocal advocates for health equity in 2023, Special Olympics is well positioned to ensure that the health needs of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities are etched within the global health agenda. The 2023 Special Olympics world games served as a fitting backdrop for the 2023 global golisano health leadership awards event. This event honored the remarkable work of seven individuals and organizations from across the globe that have served as champions of inclusive health in their countries. These individuals actively improved access to quality services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. In addition to awarding accolades, Special Olympics was the recipient of the sharecare emmy award for the second consecutive year for the video, "school of strength: class is now in session." The sharecare awards program inspires and uplifts individuals and organizations who utilize media to empower people worldwide in leading healthier lives. In addition, Special Olympics received the 2023 pardes humanitarian prize in mental health bestowed by the brain & behavior research foundation. This award recognizes Special Olympics' contributions to advancing the understanding of mental health and improving the lives of people who are at risk of or living with mental illness.

Sports training and competitionin 2023 Special Olympics hosted its flagship sport event, a post pandemic celebration of global sport and competition, the 2023 Special Olympics world games. The movement's sport partnership work offered unprecedented support and involvement from international sport federations at the world games. Many of the movement's sport federation partners assisted with the recruitment of technical officials, storytelling, and facilitating connections between national federations and local Special Olympics programs to support the training and preparation for the world games. At the berlin world games, Special Olympics signed new partnership agreements with the international table tennis federation foundation, the international cycling federation, the international hockey federation, and renewed its partnership with the international volleyball federation. Special Olympics continued its efforts in developing sport partnerships as a strategic approach to sport development. Special Olympics renewed its agreement with the international basketball federation and worked closely with many partners on various initiatives to increase and enhance the quality of sport training and competition for Special Olympics athletes. In 2023, the sport partnership survey showed over 1,200 partnerships at the national, regional, and international level, worth over usd$7.32 million in value-in-kind across the global Special Olympics movement. E-learning almost 10,000 coach certifications were completed in 2023, representing a 37% increase in the number of coaches certified by our e-learning platform in 2023. Gallagher coach development initiatives across 11 local Special Olympics programs in asia pacific region (japan, malaysia, pakistan, samoa, australia, new zealand) and africa (kenya, nigeria, south africa, ghana, burkina faso) 39 partner organizations engaged 88 coach developers educated coach mentorship program in Special Olympics pakistan with coach+ (junior and senior coaching program) 84% mentors reported significant learning and mental growth 91% of mentees agreed that their mentor was a perfect match 87% mentees felt they had significantly increased their professional skills 92% of mentees felt they received quality feedback they could use in their coaching 57 coach seminars, 917 new coaches trained, and 595 coaches received their recertification certificates 1,654 online coach certifications completed "i was welcomed into a warm and supportive community of coaches, mentors and mentees who share an unshakeable commitment to inclusion and empowerment through sports. The program's structured curriculum, expert guidance, and collaborative atmosphere gave me unparalleled opportunity for growth and learning" (mentee) 2023 coach webinar series (cws) supported by gallagher 3 webinars, 8 languages, 3 athlete leader hosts from 3 regions highest attendance- coaching motor activity training program (matp) athletes (483) 3,398 registrations representing 1,529 unique coaches from 142 countries over 800 individuals from 113 countries attended and those unable to attend received links to the recordings 20% of attendees were coaches outside of Special Olympics 60 social medial posts; 295,130 impressions women in sport webinar series (wis) sponsored by aerie - 2 webinars - 8 languages, 2 athlete leader hosts from 2 regions the webinar series now has collectively over 11,000 youtube views with the 2023 cws and wis series accounting for almost 4,000 of these nike project overview 5 local Special Olympics programs (chile, guatemala, serbia, namibia, kenya) developing unified football leagues for female footballers 726 athletes and 524 unified partners engaged 329 coaches engaged - with 144 of these new female coaches - received training in coaching football and unified sports over 200 matches played and over 3,000 training hours across all 5 Special Olympics programs, engaging 50 community and school organizations and sport clubs sport assistants with idd pilot 2023-24 adaptation of the level 1 sport assistant curriculum (first step on coaching pathway) was piloted with aspiring coaches with idd. Special Olympics programs from north america, latin america and africa piloted the course, sharing feedback and recommendations. The course is now in design and will be reviewed and updated for formal launch later in 2024.

Public education and communicationsat the end of 2023, 151 countries had adopted Special Olympics school programming across seven global regions, with 41 country programs receiving direct grant-funded support from Special Olympics headquarters. This funding was thanks to the backing of significant contributors such as the stavros niarchos foundation (snf) and his highness sheikh mohammed bin zayed al nahyan, president of the u.a.e., ruler of abu dhabi, supreme commander of the u.a.e. Armed forces (mbz), along with partners like hasbro. Within the united states, unified champion schools (ucs) began its 16th year of partnership with the office of Special education programs at the u.s. department of education, and at the end of 2023, Special Olympics north america was poised to surpass its 2024 target of 10,000 schools, pre-k through college, engaged across the country. Over one million young people have participated in inclusive experiences through ucs aimed at promoting social inclusion through activities affecting systems-wide change. In 2023, ucs received the esteemed academy choice award from hundred, a global leader in education innovation. Hundred annually recognizes the top 100 educational innovations from around the world, and the academy choice award is presented to the top innovation of the year. Special Olympics also organized a groundbreaking global youth leadership summit in berlin during the 2023 world games, marking an historic milestone as it was entirely organized and led by the global youth leadership council, comprised of young leaders with and without intellectual disabilities from across the world. This event united over 100 young leaders, culminating in the implementation of 45 youth-led projects and 12 youth leadership summits spanning over 40 countries. The culmination of the lead to include project, made feasible through the generous support of lane global youth leadership, was celebrated as it wrapped up its final year, engaging over 110 Special Olympics programs through 350 youth leadership summits and over 600 youth-led projects focused on fostering inclusion throughout its five-year duration. In addition, at the 2023 world games, Special Olympics ukraine signed a partnership with project management institute educational foundation (pmief). Special Olympics ukraine will work with an organization named reigniting inclusion across ukraine during the three-year grant to train and develop coaches and athletes on program management and rebuild inclusive youth programming across ukraine. Special Olympics is a global thought leader within inclusion and education. The Special Olympics global center for inclusion in education was founded in 2019 by a generous gift from his highness sheikh mohammed bin zayed al nahyan, president of the u.a.e., and serves as a platform of best practices for unified champion schools. The center has launched a global research collaborative, comprised of 33 global scholars and athletes. In its second year, the research collaborative developed a set of key research principles, parameters, and themes that serve as the foundation for publishing and executing a consensus research agenda to advance research, practice, and policy related to inclusion in sport and education contexts. The center has continued two important partnerships with renowned research institutions. In collaboration with the easel lab at the harvard graduate school of education, Special Olympics developed a framework for inclusive mindsets and behaviors and several important resources for developing next generation programming, including a theory of change, research brief, draft measurement tool, case study vignettes, and easy-read one-pagers. In partnership with northwestern university, the organization began its third and final year of an evaluation of ucs across six countries, conducting pre/post surveys and focus groups with educators, students, and families to learn more about program impacts on social and emotional well-being, social inclusion, and school climate and safety. Because of these efforts, the center has been recognized with the access, diversity, and inclusion silver reimagine education award.