Residents and volunteers ask commission to fund free Derbyshire community tennis program

Several coaches, volunteers and former program participants spoke during public comment on June 4 to request city support for the Derbyshire Community Tennis program, which provides free coaching to children ages 6–18. Coach Mary McCoy described the program’s mission and requested help covering equipment, court maintenance and coaching costs while stressing the program is volunteer run and free to participants. Multiple past participants and volunteer coaches — including Vincent Avila and Skyler Anderson — described the program’s role in their education, careers and community connections. Commissioners responded with funding moves during the meeting: Commissioner Strickland, Commissioner May and others used bike-week sponsorship funds and mayoral zone support allocations to add $1,000 and other amounts toward the tennis program; staff indicated those allocations will be processed at the next resolution meeting. Parks and Recreation Director Keith Willis-Parson and community partners including Embry‑Riddle and Bethune‑Cookman University representatives praised the program’s outcomes and said the program places students on career pathways in aviation and STEM through related summer camps. What it does not do: the commission did not adopt an ordinance or multi-year funding commitment; allocations were proposed from discretionary zone and bike-week sponsorship funds and will be formalized in a future resolution.