Technological advancements have touched every aspect of our lives.  From how we shop for groceries, how we consume media, how we travel, how we play—technology has profoundly reshaped our world. 

But are we using that same power to protect kids in school districts, sports leagues, and youth-serving organizations?

We believe that advancing technology in background screening is key to creating safer environments for children.

JDP’s background screening solutions are powered by technologies designed to improve accuracy, reduce turnaround times, and offer a seamless experience for both employees and volunteers.

1. Biometric Verification: Integrates advanced biometric tools like liveness detection and facial recognition to verify identities in real-time, ensuring every volunteer and coach is thoroughly vetted.
2. Digital Credential Wallet: Portable, verifiable records that move with individuals across roles and organizations to provide on-the-spot proof that everyone on the field or in the facility is vetted, trusted, and safe.
3. Deep Learning Image Analysis: Uses sophisticated deep learning models to identify inconsistencies and potential signs of fraud in identity documentation, protecting against tampering and attempts to circumvent protection protocols.

These advanced technologies have helped us protect over 10 million kids annually with our background checks across youth sports leagues, schools, and youth-serving nonprofits. But we know it takes more than background screening, it takes a commitment to building a safe culture.

Build more safety and trust in your youth-serving organization’s culture.

The Abuse Prevention Toolkit was developed to help support our Every child. Every day. initiative to help bring more cultural change to organizations caring for children.

Get the FREE Abuse Prevention Toolkit here.

Jerry Arrington, Fort Belvoir’s Youth Sports Director, has quietly built a nearly 30-year legacy rooted in mentorship, inclusion, and giving military children a place to grow. With a warm smile and unwavering conviction, he has shaped lives far beyond wins and losses.

Arrington’s journey began with a football scholarship to the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. He later served seven years in the Army and gained sports management experience in Frankfurt, Germany. He joined Fort Belvoir’s Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) team in 1995, leading Adult Sports. But in 2003, he found his true calling—Youth Sports—starting a remarkable chapter that reshaped the community.

Shifting his Focus
In those early days, Fort Belvoir’s sport offerings catered mainly to adults. Fields were prepped by hand, and volunteers filled gaps. But as the installation transformed into a family-centered post, Arrington met the moment.

“If the Soldier’s kids are taken care of, the Soldier can take care of the mission,” Arrington said. “That’s always been my guiding principle.”

Starting with two staffers and three sports—basketball, baseball, and soccer, Arrington cultivated a thriving youth program. It now includes seven employees and a robust lineup of clinics, leagues, and physical education initiatives. Field support, fitness instructors, and creative offerings like competitive cheer and preschool targeted Start Smart were added, helping children at every stage.

Meeting Kids Where They Are
More than a director, Arrington is a mentor to his largely young, developing staff. His assistant director, Rishad, has worked alongside him for nearly 19 years.

“I teach by example. I’ve done every role on this team,” Arrington said. “I want my staff to be well-rounded, understand the job, and be good people—in the office and out in the world.”

Leo Duran, Fort Belvoir’s Child and Youth Services Program Operations Specialist, said Arrington’s influence expands far beyond policy or playbooks:

“For over two decades, Mr. Arrington has built more than sports programs, he has built character, teamwork, and resilience in every child enrolled in Fort Belvoir CYS,” Duran said. “His legacy goes beyond sports programs that he manages, as he continues to impact countless lives. He leads with heart, honor, and commitment to our families.”

Growing a Program for Success
That philosophy drove one of his most inclusive offerings: Homeschool PE. Recognizing not every child wants to compete on a team, Arrington introduced age-specific sessions blending movement and play.

“We disguised physical activity as play,” he says. “They’re doing fitness, they just don’t know it.”

His advice to parents is simple and heartfelt: “Don’t force your child into a sport they don’t want. Just give them a chance to belong.”

Arrington’s legacy is woven into Fort Belvoir’s evolving identity—from a soldier-focused base to a vibrant family community. His compassion remains in the friendships nurtured, the families supported, and the leaders he has mentored.

George Dickson, MWR director, said Arrington stands out for his enduring contributions.

“Jerry Arrington has been a dedicated sports and fitness professional for over four decades working both in adult sports and Child and Youth Sports over the last two decades. He works tirelessly ensuring that every child has access to a high-quality sports experience that promotes growth, teamwork, and resilience,” Dickson said.

“Jerry has ensured Fort Belvoir’s Youth Sports have become a model of excellence for military-connected children. Jerry’s favorite line is, ‘it’s all about the kids.'”

Lakarie Swanigan set goals for herself this spring. She wanted to improve her time at the 4×400 meter and 4×800 meter relay events.

But one thing she didn’t have to think about? Her shoes.

That’s not always been the case for the track athletes at Purdue Polytechnic High School, coach Nicole Schadek said. Not long before Swanigan joined the team, Schadek kept a container of spare, used shoes for some of her athletes. Some on the team would trade pairs with one another before events so they had the specialty spikes they needed to be competitive.

That’s why the contribution of a growing central Indiana nonprofit has been so valuable, Schadek said. When New Shoe Day learned of her team’s needs, the nonprofit stepped up with dozens of new pairs of shoes — including Swanigan’s spikes.

“They feel different. It’s lighter than other shoes and it makes you go faster,” said Swanigan, who just finished her second year on the track team. “I’m grateful that we have New Shoe Day, because I probably would not have gotten that pair of spikes.”

New Shoe Day, which grew from an idea in 2020, has donated more than 7,000 shoes to kids and teens across central Indiana.

The goal is to make it easier for youth to get active, especially if they wouldn’t be able to participate otherwise. They also center mental health in their conversations with school groups and sports teams.

But, for its leaders, New Shoe Day is more than a social service provider. It’s a movement.

“It’s a gateway to so much for a kid,” co-founder Casey Crouse said. “It empowers them to participate in gym class or physical education-type activities or sign up for that team or, we say, ‘just be a kid.’”

New Shoe Day started with random acts of kindness

New Shoe Day launched out of a challenge made by a group of Indy-area runners in the summer of 2020: Run 10 miles for 100 days, each in a different Indianapolis neighborhood.

Their purpose was to show community strength in response to social distancing during the pandemic and to the civil unrest that followed the murder of George Floyd.

They documented their runs on social media and added in random acts of kindness along the way — small gifts, like a water bottle with a note and a little money, for people who they encountered on their path. They called those days with gifts a “new shoe day,” after the confidence and joy a runner feels when they break in a new pair of shoes.

As the group took to Indy’s streets, neighbors began to notice — and some asked how they could help. Though not an initial goal of the group, the runners began accepting donations through a GoFundMe account, and those donations started to add up.

At the end of their 100 days, the group wrote a $4,500 check to Beyond Monumental — the nonprofit arm affiliated with some of the city’s largest distance running events, such as the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon. But, the running community that came together through the new shoe days remained.

So, with time, Crouse and some leaders of the group established a nonprofit to continue the runs and to keep giving back.

Each partner comes with a different need

New Shoe Day doesn’t just partner with schools and athletic teams; the nonprofit also partners with community groups.

The Latinas Welding Guild, for example, needed work boots for its youth summer camp last year. Girls Inc. needed footwear to help stock a new community closet.

New Shoe Day started out using what’s called a dropshipping model, meaning the nonprofit doesn’t warehouse the shoes. Instead, New Shoe Day takes requests from community partners and works with a third-party retailer for shoe orders and direct delivery.

Most of the work is led by New Shoe Day’s volunteer board — a passion project that the team coordinates outside of its regular work hours. And, many of the group’s partnerships have grown organically through referrals or relationships in the running community.

There’s also been happenstance meetings. That’s how Broad Ripple Middle School physical education teacher Trenton Vickrey and Crouse connected.

Shifting to shoe banks

The two had met once before when Vickrey worked at another school. But, when Crouse stopped in last winter to the Athletic Annex store where Vickrey worked part time, the two reconnected.

Vickrey told Crouse about his classes. Some of his students, he told Mirror Indy, had to sit out of P.E. at the start of the year because they didn’t own the right shoes. He recalled one week last fall when five kids showed up wearing Crocs or boots.

“Initially I thought, ‘You knew you were coming to P.E., why didn’t you come prepared?’” Vickrey said. “Through talking to them, I realized these are the only shoes they had.”

Vickrey told Crouse about the small shoe bank he’d tried to start on his own. He collected just four or five used pairs from other runners he knew and let his students wear them for gym class. By the spring, New Shoe Day provided him brand new shoes in all the needed sizes.

The sets were so nice that even kids with the proper footwear were asking to use the new shoes. He said the experience has normalized changing shoes before class so no one student feels like they stand out.

“No matter what, they can exercise now,” Vickrey said.

Visions for the future

And, with each new partnership, the word is spreading.

Vickrey said he wants to help coordinate other shoe banks in Indianapolis Public Schools.

New Shoe Day, which is based in Carmel, has already launched 11 shoe banks across central Indiana and another in the Evansville area. The nonprofit also hired its first full-time employee last month, and is working to further organize its volunteer efforts.

It’s part of a long-term vision Crouse sees as taking the New Shoe Day model statewide.

“We are trying very hard to scale this to do well beyond what you see it as today,” Crouse said. “I’m just super motivated because I can see the potential of what we can do.”

In Indianapolis, the nonprofit’s work is already making a difference. Schadek, the coach at Purdue Polytechnic, said she’s been able to grow her team since New Shoe Day stepped in. She went from having about 11 athletes on her team to fielding a full roster.

“If I didn’t have shoes to provide to them, they wouldn’t be able to do it or they wouldn’t have a good reason to feel like they’re a part of anything,” she said. “To have shoes for each of them is just a huge blessing.”

Mirror Indy, a nonprofit newsroom, is funded through grants and donations from individuals, foundations and organizations.

Mirror Indy reporter Carley Lanich covers early childhood and K-12 education. Contact her at carley.lanich@mirrorindy.org or follow her on X @carleylanich.

Related

ABILENE – Abilene Christian volleyball was honored for its success in the classroom with the American Volleyball Coaches Association Team Academic Award, sponsored by INTENT, the organization announced on Monday. It marks the 15th time the Wildcats have received the accolade, dating back to 2008.

The AVCA Team Academic Award is presented to college and high school volleyball programs across the nation for maintaining a year-long grade point average of at least 3.3. For the 2024-25 school year, 1,450 teams were honored for their players’ academic success.

“Our program verse is Colossians 3:23: ‘Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord and not for man,'” head coach Ijeoma Moronu Alstrup said. “Our girls were able to exemplify that by the work that they put into the classroom, and I could not be more proud of each team member’s individual efforts to accomplish this award.”

ACU has collected the AVCA Team Academic Award in all but two of the past 17 seasons and has twice been named to the Team Academic Honor Roll for placing in the top 20% of GPAs for its division. 

“It is very exciting to see that the record-setting, on-court successes during the 2024-25 season have extended to the classroom,” AVCA CEO Jaime Gordon said. “The fact that more programs earned the Team Academic Award than ever before is evidence of how committed our coaches are when it comes to helping their players reach their goals as both students and athletes.”

The Wildcats saw 13 student-athletes earn Academic All-Western Athletic Conference recognition this past school year for holding at least a 3.2 GPA and competing in a minimum of 50% of team contests. ACU led the conference in Academic All-WAC recipients, and eight such honorees return for the 2025 campaign.

Four Wildcats went on to garner Academic All-District distinction from College Sports Communicators, including returners Hannah Gonzalez, an accounting major, and Alexis Strong, studying government. They met the criteria of holding at least a 3.50 GPA and competing in 90% of team matches or starting in at least 66% of matches.

ACU kicks off its third season under Moronu Alstrup with the Wildcat Classic at Moody Coliseum on Aug. 29-30, facing the likes of Missouri State, Incarnate Word and Oklahoma. The Wildcats will play 11 regular season matches at home, including six WAC contests, before hosting the conference tournament on Nov. 20-22.

ACU will prepare for the regular season with the Purple and White Scrimmage on Aug. 15 at Moody Coliseum before meeting Angelo State in an exhibition match on Aug. 23 at the Dodge Jones Youth Sports Center (AYSA).

The 2025 Printscape PONY League World Series is proud to present PathWays of Southwestern Pennsylvania Youth Night, taking place Tuesday, Aug. 12, at Historic Lew Hays PONY Field in Washington, Pa.

This special event is dedicated to celebrating and empowering the next generation of athletes, leaders, and dreamers.

All kids age 14 and under will receive free admission to that evening’s games when wearing their youth sports or organization jersey, courtesy of PathWays of Southwestern Pennsylvania. In addition to free entry for youth attendees, the first 500 fans through the gates will receive an exclusive giveaway item, also provided by PathWays.

As an organization that champions youth development, inclusion, and empowerment, PathWays is proud to support this impactful evening. “At PathWays, we believe every young person deserves the chance to realize their potential—on and off the field,” said Eddie Yongo, CEO of PathWays of Southwestern Pennsylvania. “Youth Night is more than a game—it’s about building pathways to the future. We’re proud to team up with the PONY League World Series to help kids dream big.”

World Series Chairman and President of World Series Tournaments, Inc., Nathan Voytek, echoed that sentiment.

“The PONY League World Series is built on youth — on giving kids the stage to shine,” said Voytek. “Thanks to PathWays, Youth Night will be a celebration of what’s possible when kids are given opportunities, encouragement, and a community that believes in them. This is what baseball, and the PONY experience, is all about.”

This Aug. 8-13, the world comes to Washington, Pa., for the Printscape PONY League World Series, a celebration of elite youth baseball and unforgettable community moments. At Historic Lew Hays PONY Field, history is made one pitch, one batter, and one out at a time. Youth Night exemplifies that spirit, shining a spotlight on young fans and giving them a glimpse of where the game, and the right support system, can take them.

For more information, please visit plws.org.

Printscape PONY League World Series

The Printscape PONY League World Series is an international youth baseball tournament played annually at Historic Lew Hays PONY Field in Washington, PA. The World Series annually attracts over 30,000 fans and contributes over $6.3 million to the regional economy, with all games livestreamed domestically and internationally. The tournament represents PONY Baseball’s 13- and 14-year-old age division. PONY has over 500,000 players ages 3-23 in more than 50 countries. More information is available at plws.org.

(KNSI) — Following the conviction of state Senator Nicole Mitchell on felony burglary charges Friday, Senator Aric Putnam (DFL-St. Cloud) is joining calls for Mitchell to follow through on her promise to resign from the Minnesota Senate.

“Senator Mitchell repeatedly asked for due process and the opportunity to defend herself in court. She received that through a trial before a jury of her peers, and that jury has now delivered its verdict,” Putnam said in a statement released after the verdict. “Minnesotans deserve accountability from their elected officials. It is time to move forward and return our full focus to the work we were elected to do.”

Mitchell, a first-term Democrat from Woodbury, was found guilty of first-degree burglary charges and possession of burglary tools for breaking into her estranged stepmother’s Detroit Lakes home in April 2024.

Throughout the legal proceedings, the 51-year-old told her Senate colleagues she would resign if convicted. Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy quickly issued a statement Friday saying she expects Mitchell to follow through on that pledge.

Body camera footage showed Mitchell telling police she broke into the home seeking her late father’s ashes and other sentimental items that her stepmother had refused to give her. Mitchell’s father died in 2023 at age 72 after nearly 40 years of marriage to Carol Mitchell, Nicole’s stepmother. At trial, Mitchell maintained her innocence, claiming she went to the home only to check on Carol, who has Alzheimer’s disease. She testified that she had initially lied to police about her motivations to avoid further upsetting Carol by questioning her competency. However, prosecutors urged the jury to focus on Mitchell’s statements to police immediately after her arrest, when she repeatedly said she was there to retrieve her father’s belongings.

Mitchell’s legal troubles have created tension in Minnesota’s narrowly divided state Senate, where Democrats hold only a one-seat majority. Her potential resignation would trigger a special election in her Woodbury-area district, potentially changing the balance of power.

Throughout the legal process, Democrats declined to expel Mitchell or ask her to step down, saying she deserved due process. However, they excluded her from caucus meetings and removed her from committee assignments. Republicans repeatedly attempted to force her removal but lacked the votes.

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