The high school drop out rate for black males across the country gives the appearance that they don’t have an interest in education. Some may think they aren’t smart, but I think it’s because there’s something missing; something that’s not keeping them connected and interested. Something is keeping them connected and interested, however, in crime and avoiding education.

Our country spends millions of dollars on the incarceration of young black males; even to the point that municipalities use the third grade reading scores of young, black male students to determine how many jails and prisons to build. Really? Isn’t that sad that in America we’ve figured out a way to determine whether a child is a complete loss to society by the third grade?

In Atlanta, L.E.A.D. has created a way to make sure that every child we serve is an asset to society. With 83% of our young men earning college baseball scholarships opportunities and 100% of them going to college, we’ve created a system that uses baseball as a tool to save those who society deems lost, unsalvageable, and without value.

Why baseball? Because in baseball you succeed by failing and making adjustments; and if you continue to practice and persevere, you can become consistently better over time. There’s no instant gratification in baseball and the same is true for life. Anything that comes too quick won’t last.

So what is the formula for success? I can’t speak for everywhere else, but here in Atlanta it’s:

• L.E.A.D. (Athletics, Academics, Service, Exposure) + Inner City Youth = Success!

Being the CEO and founder of an organization is an important title but at the end of the day, it is hard work. Leadership requires patience and sacrifice. Both attributes are a virtue.

The strength of L.E.A.D. goes beyond CJ Stewart as the CEO and founder.

Every morning I am faced with a choice to lead or leave. I choose to lead every morning. Everyday isn’t easy but I realize that God has me on earth for a reason and I have families and communities counting on me to lead in Atlanta.

There are five things that encourage me to lead L.E.A.D.

*My faith in God
*My family
*My board
*My supporters including friends volunteers
*My love for Atlanta and our assets (young adults)

My pastor always says that “you are only leading if someone is following.”

The road that we travel won’t always be easy but with patience, sacrifice and prayer, L.E.A.D. will continue to lead.

In one scene of the movie “Facing Your Giants”, one of the actors talked about farmers who were experiencing financial hardship because of a lack of rain and it’s adverse effect on crop production. There were two farmers feeling the pressure. One of the farmers decided that he would continue to take care of the field in preparation for rain. He had faith that God would eventually send the rain. The rain will come but will your field be ready?

L.E.A.D. is preparing for rain. In three years, we have done some amazing things, often with limited resources. Nonetheless, we have been blessed in more ways than we could have imagined. What will the next 10 years look like for L.E.A.D.? The future is bright but we must continue to prepare for rain.

Yesterday it was announced in my city that the MLB Civil Rights game will have a new home for the 2011 and 2012 season right here in Atlanta. This game developed to show how baseball was right at the forefront of the Civil Rights Movement. During that time, over 25% of MLB players were African American. In 2010, less than 10% are African American. The L.E.A.D. model has a proven track record of success in Atlanta. Success that equals more African American young men effectively competing in baseball. Success that has yielded 100% of our Ambassadors attending college. Communities are being transformed as a result of our model. After 2012, the Civil Rights game will relocate to another city but the L.E.A.D. model can follow.

I really feel that this game will provide much needed exposure to L.E.A.D. and our success of ushering in a pipeline of L.E.A.D. certified leaders into colleges and the workforce.

The sky is the limit for L.E.A.D. but we must keep preparing for rain!

We use the word discrimination in a negative sense so much that it’s hard to see it that being discriminating is a positive thing. That is, until you’re forced to.

This past week, it’s become harder and harder for my Ambassadors to get games scheduled against competitive teams. At the start of the season, our schedule was stacked, but after a lot of embarrassing losses, teams started mysteriously rescheduling and cancelling games.

By the way, the other teams are white and my Ambassadors are black, so does this means the other teams are discriminating against us?

Yes it does. Not the color of our skin, but the quality of our play.

Competitive teams:

• Will travel to the ends of the earth to play an intense, dog fight of a game, but not to play a team that gives up in the 3rd inning.

• Expect for the opposing pitcher to throw strikes. Notice I didn’t say throw fast (which wouldn’t be bad either), just throw strikes.

• Expect to be challenged.

My boys have had a hard lesson in competition that needed to be learned in order for me and my coaching staff to change the culture of inner city baseball. We don’t need teams playing us out of pity because we’re black, we need teams to play us so we can sharpen their game and they can do likewise.

Discrimination is bad most of the time, but being discriminating is necessary for success.

In the inner city of Atlanta, it looks like there is a baseball diamond on every corner. There are definitely more fields in Atlanta than in the suburbs where I live. The fields are nicer in my neck of the woods, but we still have less.

In the suburbs, you won’t find marching bands practicing on the baseball fields. They aren’t used for parking during football games and it is a crime to practice your chip shot and walk your dogs. But when there are no programs to use the fields for the designed purpose, these things happen to baseball fields in the inner city.

Everything starts as new but it has to be maintained. I hear theories that baseball will experience resurgence in the black community if new fields are built. What we need to do is restore the fields that we have, maintain them and offer strong programs to put them to best use.

On Saturday, July 17th, L.E.A.D. will restore the baseball field at Perkerson Park with Georgia Sports Turf Management Association (GSTMA). The field will be restored by pros and will be just as immaculate as Turner Field. GSTMA will also train the L.E.A.D. coaches and parents on the proper way to maintain the field for sustainability.

L.E.A.D. will continue to offer its program to help inner city males access college using baseball. We have a proven track record; 83% of our Ambassadors have entered college with baseball scholarships and 100% have gone to college.

On July 17th, inner-city middle and high school baseball players will be able to have their cake and eat it too!