For a Good Cause: Long Beach’s ASK Foundation named a 2026 California Nonprofit of the Year

For 15 years, Actions Sports Kids (ASK) Foundation has been dedicated to providing Long Beach youth with an alternative to the streets and gangs through sports, education, and community involvement.

ASK Foundation has been named one of the 2026 California Nonprofits of the Year by Assemblymember Josh Lowenthal. The nonprofit is one of more than 100 organizations that were honored by their state senators and assemblymembers for their outstanding contributions to the communities they serve, according to a press release.

“It’s an honor to receive this recognition, which we share with the kids we work with,” ASK Foundation founder and executive director Mike Donelon said in a statement. “Through our foundation’s programs, they are empowered to take action to improve their own community and build leadership skills – and that’s the most gratifying part of my work of over 27 years.”

In 1996, Donelon recognized a need for skate parks in Long Beach. Skateboarding continued to rise in popularity among youth, but there were no locations for kids to skate. This meant that kids were skating in neighborhoods, near businesses, and other locations, often leading to conflict with neighbors and serious accidents. Donelon, then a city councilmember, believed that if skaters were provided with an alternative venue to skate, they would take advantage of the opportunity, according to the nonprofit’s website.

Within the three years after the opening of the Michael K. Green skate park in 2003, drug-related incidents dropped 61%, violent crime dropped 30% and overall incidents dropped 23%, the nonprofit said. In 2011, Donelon founded ASK Foundation to provide auxiliary services to at-risk youth and empower them through community involvement. The nonprofit recently held a major fundraising effort in 2023 to revitalize and rebuild the Silverado Skate Park, the only skate park on Long Beach’s westside. The new facility opened in 2024.

ASK Foundation works together youth to help them in three major areas: creating safe environments where youth can focus on positive activities rather than negative external influences; providing events, programs and other resources where youth can showcase their talents; and demonstrating the importance of school, diversity, and the life skills it teaches, so that at-risk youth commit to acquiring an education.

“We are grateful for the work of ASK Foundation and want to extend our congratulations for this well-deserved recognition,” Geoff Green, CEO of the California Association of Nonprofits, which sponsors the initiative, said in a statement. “Nonprofits are among our country’s most trusted organizations and an integral part of civil society. There’s likely never been a more important time to lift up the contributions nonprofits make within the communities they serve.”

Now in its 11th year, the California Nonprofit of the Year initiative provides the opportunity for each California state legislature to recognize a nonprofit organization doing outstanding work in their district, according to a press release. The program culminates with a celebratory luncheon at the Capitol in Sacramento on California Nonprofits Day, which was held on Wednesday, May 20.

View this article at www.presstelegram.com/2026//05/21/for-a-good-cause-long-beachs-ask-foundation-named-a-2026-california-nonprofit-of-the-year/