On December 11, 2025, Special Olympics Early Childhood Development team leaders successfully completed a 13-week Fellowship with the Georgetown University Thrive Center’s innovation hub. The Fellowship supports mission-driven innovations designed to strengthen the early childhood and education workforce through practical, people-centered solutions. Special Olympics was one of six organizations chosen in this competitive process and recognized for their commitment to promoting the health and well-being of children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and their families.
Throughout the 13-week program, Special Olympics worked closely with Georgetown faculty, local early childhood implementers and national partners to expand the impact and reach of the activities. App for young athletes—a free mobile app for families with children up to seven years old. The app provides personalized, play-based activities tailored to each child’s development, evidence-based health information, and opportunities to connect with other families in their community. At a time when families of children with IDD can face significant challenges, including limited access to early intervention, long waitlists for services and feelings of isolation, the Young Athletes app provides much-needed support to families looking for practical, inclusive solutions that support development from the earliest moments and promote community connection. The Fellowship provided structured opportunities to continue improving the app’s reach and effectiveness through rapid learning, market mapping, strategic vision and co-design with providers and families across the country.
“Participating in the Georgetown Innovation Hub Fellowship has been an invaluable learning experience for our team. The Fellowship gave us the opportunity to deepen our understanding of early childhood systems and explore how we can better integrate the Young Athletes App into those ecosystems. By learning from experts and partners, we have strengthened our ability to reach families earlier and more warmly so they can access inclusive, evidence-based resources that support their child’s development.”
Rebecca Ralston, Senior Director, Early Childhood and Preventive Health at Special Olympics
During the Fellowship, Special Olympics focused on building pathways to scale the Young Athletes App through early childhood and healthcare systems. Key results included: creating a map of systems where families can seek support, developing a framework for engagement with customized messaging and onboarding strategies, testing these approaches with select channels to refine tactics, and developing an implementation toolkit to socialize these changes with dedicated Olympic programs. These steps position the app for broader adoption and system-level impact.
“We meet families where they are, often in moments of concern or frustration, and turn uncertainty into connection and hope. By integrating the Young Athletes app into trusted systems, we can reach families earlier, support them from the start and lay the foundation for even greater growth and impact in the years to come.”
Cassandra Ryan, Early Childhood Project Manager at Special Olympics
Following the Fellowship, Special Olympics will continue to expand partnerships with early childhood systems and programs at the state and national levels to support growth and connection. The experience will also drive the app’s continued innovation and evolution, with planned improvements including personalized health content and deeper integration with providers. Guided by family feedback and insights from the Fellowship, these ongoing adjustments ensure the app remains a dynamic, inclusive tool that builds pathways for inclusion, empowers caregivers, and creates opportunities for every child to thrive.
For more information and to download the Young Athletes app, visit the Apple Store or Google Play.
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