LAUNCH: Community Through Skateboarding is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization devoted to empowering individuals to better themselves and community through skateboarding. Their mission is to provide an environment that fosters a culture of creativity and self-expression for skateboarders of all ages.

Founded by Executive Director Andrew Weiss, LAUNCH started earlier this year when Weiss, whose passion for skateboarding began after helping to grow and support the local skateboard scene through his skateboard retail store The Market Skateshop for the past fifteen years.

“There is one important thing that skateboarding teaches that often gets overlooked. It teaches an individual the ability to cope with failure. For example, you may try a kickflip 200 times only to land it once….and when you land one it feels so good, you want to land it again only better, cleaner and faster,” says Weiss.

As the skateboarding population grows, more people will see the positive impact skateboarding has on people’s lives. LAUNCH joins other skating-focused organizations like the A.skate Foundation, a pending 501(c)3 non profit that allows children with autism to be a part of our social world through skateboarding, and Skateistan, a Kabul-based NGO and Afghanistan’s first skateboarding school dedicated to forge bonds that transcend social barriers and affect change.

Man, these organizations are diamondz… doing amazing work by utilizing skateboarding as a tool to improve people and their lives.

For more information, check out LAUNCHSKATE.ORG.