FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) – Basketball standout Ayanna Patterson is partnering with Parkview Sports Medicine for the first-ever “EmPower Forward Weekend” set for July 28-30 in the Summit City.

Patterson, a Homestead High School graduate, is in her freshman season playing for national powerhouse UConn. She was named a McDonald’s All-American her senior year in high school and won Indiana’s Miss Basketball Award in 2022.

The weekend’s schedule will focus on empowering female athletes and supporting people with autism – a cause close to Patterson’s heart, as her nephew has autism. Proceeds from the weekend will support the Autism Society of Indiana.

The schedule includes a basketball camp for grades 6-12 and a 3-on-3 basketball tournament for all ages at SportONE/Parkview Fieldhouse. There will also be a banquet at the Memorial Coliseum Expo Center, where Ayanna will present two new awards for northeast Indiana – The Women’s Athlete of the Year Award & the Female Athletics Advocate of the Year award. The latter award will be given to an outstanding community member or coach in the the area.

More details on the EmPower Forward Weekend will be released later this year.