Do you assess a company’s mission and value statements before doing business with them, and then reassess on an ongoing basis? We do. We have to. My wife, Kelli and I, co-founded L.E.A.D., Inc. in 2007, and this year we celebrate 10 years of empowering Atlanta’s at risk inner city youth to become leaders. How have we managed to keep going, and have great success?

We found the best way is through servant leadership. I wrote a blog post on L.E.A.D.’s Servant Leadership Role in Atlanta in March 2016. We also found that surrounding ourselves with like-minded people, and partnering with other organizations and businesses whose values align with ours, is key.

Georgia’s Own Credit Union has been a L.E.A.D. partner almost from the very beginning, and over the years has consistently shown us who they are. Through their dedication and commitment to L.E.A.D. they’ve worked to raise money at their Annual Golf Challenge to benefit L.E.A.D. In 2010, L.E.A.D. received $28,000 from the golf challenge. Yesterday Georgia’s Own CEO, Dave Preter, handed L.E.A.D. a check for $100,000 – for the fourth year in a row – from its 9th Annual Golf Challenge. We call that “hitting it out of the Park” for there is no measure of our gratitude.

David Preter the CEO of Georgia’s Own Credit Union is dedicated to the success of Georgia, especially our youth. He is passionate about fulfilling Georgia’s Own servant leadership role in Georgia, and that passion reverberates throughout the company. Our experience is that the entire Georgia’s Own staff shows commitment to serving others. When two organizations collaborate from the same mindset they set a higher tone, which was all too apparent during the recent golf challenge.

L.E.A.D. Ambassadors had the opportunity to caddy for the golfers at the tournament and interact with them on the golf course. We all know how valuable that is. Mountains get moved through conversations on the golf course. Following are the thoughts of two L.E.A.D. Ambassadors who participated this year:

L.E.A.D. Ambassador Antonio Catchings: I am a senior at North Atlanta High School, and also a L.E.A.D. Ambassador. My experience with the golf tournament this year was great. I had a chance to meet new people and play golf, I’ve never played golf before. Golf is a quite interesting sport, it’s very different from baseball. The group I was caddying for actually explained the game to me and was showing me the different shot names. It’s a game of patience and accuracy, and it’s also kind of soothing. I am just thankful for the opportunity, because not many teenagers get the chance to experience this terrific event. It helped me open up more which could help me in the future. A message to the folks at Georgia’s Own who put on the tournament: I love that you guys fed us and had a ceremony for us, for the donation. Thanks again for everything and I wish the best to all of you guys.

Antonio Catchings receiving the ball at 2nd base

Bryce Johnson

I was born and raised in the inner city of Atlanta – a “Grady Baby”, which almost always means you were born Black and poor.

I found hope in five things:

• My School: Atlanta Public Schools (APS) which was led by leaders such as Dr. Benjamin E. Mays and Dr. Alonso Crim;

• My Role Models: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Atlanta’s first Black Mayor Maynard Jackson were APS alums like me;

• My Home: A city that was growing and successful. Atlanta is the home to CNN, the Atlanta Braves (the first pro sports team in the South), and the headquarters of Delta, thanks in part to the work of Mayor Maynard Jackson, who helped build Atlanta’s airport and make our city a gateway to the world;

• My Sport: Cascade Youth Organization, a part of Atlanta Parks and Recreation, gave me and hundreds of other kids a chance to play baseball. National leaders like Maynard Jackson, Andrew Young and Ralph Abernathy had relatives that played at the park as well, so it was common for me to see these giants at the park from time to time. My first baseball coach was Emmett Johnson who was Atlanta Public Schools Board of Education Chairman;

• My Church: I was born into Christianity and Elizabeth Baptist Church which was full of good people, many of them highly educated and bourgeois. Being bourgeois can be good or bad and it depends on your willingness to serve others.

Hope is a gift, but turning hope into reality is a journey. My journey began in school.

C.J. Stewart

The real story, however, is not that APD won the game, but how APD officers and L.E.A.D. Ambassadors are changing the game of life in Atlanta’s inner-city communities, in which they live and work, through the game of baseball.

The Safe at Home Game is all in good fun, but with a profound purpose. It is a self-officiated game played at the end of a series of events that are designed to build rapport between Atlanta’s inner-city kids and inner-city and cops. Our work with APIVEO in creating the Safe at Home program has created opportunities for the Ambassadors and the police officers to interact on a level playing field. As a result, each group has new experiences with the other, perspectives change, and create hope for a better future.

Officer Fletcher – APD Officer

Officer Fletcher has come to know Atlanta’s inner-city youth through his daily patrol of inner-city neighborhoods. As a first-time participant in the Safe At Home program, he has gained a much-needed new perspective on Atlanta’s inner-city youth. Here’s what he had to say after the game:

I am a police officer for the city of Atlanta Police Department. Words cannot express the joy I had in playing in this year’s police vs youth game. I am one of those officers who patrol through a few of the lower income, inner-city neighborhoods on a daily basis. On a daily basis kids and adults yell vulgar language just at the mere presence of a police vehicle, and I can honestly say a lot of times it bothers me.

My wife, Kelli and I have been working over the last ten (10) years to empower Atlanta’s inner-city young black men to become leaders and to lead lives of significance. We have seen young men in our program grow and have great success. However, the underlying problems continue to exist that stifle our ability to significantly alter the narrative of young black men living in the inner-city communities of Atlanta in general. No amount of money or human resources will resolve these problems, change the narrative, or create a positive environment for growth and success until uninitiated adult mentors and failing Black male youth partner in “grit by association”, or are working with relentless determination toward a common goal from the same page of the playbook.

People create problems, and they have the ability to resolve them.

We have problems in the inner city of Atlanta that have been created by people over many years. Jim Crow laws played a big part in economic and social disparity among Blacks and Whites. Although Jim Crow laws no longer legally exist, the inequitable intentions can be seen in redlining, gentrification, negative rhetoric and aggression. They continue to negatively affect poor and Black communities.

For instance, in Atlanta, if you are born into poverty you have a 4% chance of making it out according to the Atlanta Metro Chamber of Commerce. Additionally, too many Black males in Atlanta drop out of high school, are unemployed, and go to jail as a result of the negative cycle of oppression heaped upon the Black community by Jim Crow, and later, laws.

Despite our abilities as problem solvers, these problems persist year after year.

Why haven’t these problems been resolved? It isn’t the lack of money or mentors coming out of non-profit charitable organizations. Georgia has one non-profit charitable organization for every 361 people. It is ranked in the top 1/3 of most charitable states overall. Georgia’s charitable organizations are generous with both their money and volunteers. Then what is the answer?

Resolution of the same old problems plaguing Atlanta – that stand in the way of our progress – will only be solved by educated empathetic people working together within the same context, and with the same grit, passion and purpose. More specifically, it will only work when mentors and mentees attain grit by association. For that to happen, each person first needs to find his or her context.

One of the most intriguing yet impactful moments in a baseball game happens when play is temporarily suspended and the manager walks out to the mound to check on the pitcher’s welfare. I call this suspenseful intervention a Mound Moment. As the manager and pitcher stand eye to eye, onlookers eagerly read body language in a desperate attempt to figure out what may happen. “Maybe it’s just a pep talk, maybe they’re talking strategy or maybe the pitcher is going to be relieved.” No matter the

outcome, one thing is certain— the manager is in complete control of the pitcher’s fate. Now that my playing days are behind me, my Mound Moments are a clear case of life imitating sport. From baseball diamonds and classrooms to dangerous street corners and living rooms, I’ve stood eye to eye with hundreds of black boys and had thousands of Mound Moments. The only difference is my discussions aren’t about balls and strikes, they’re about success and failure.

Black boys come up to bat with two strikes. Strike one is being Black. Strike two is being male. Stereotypes and cultural biases dramatically shrink Black boys margins for error. Because of their skin color, they’re often presumed guilty until proven innocent. Born into the 0 – 2 count, Black boys face enormous pressures that force them to defy nature and live their lives from the outside in. My purpose is to meet you at the mound and reveal the three steps necessary for Black boys to make it to the big leagues in life and baseball, despite immeasurable odds.

#1 Self-Confidence

Most inner-city Black boys grow up prematurely navigating experiences that make it nearly impossible for them to build self-confidence. This partially explains why they swing and miss the White-Is-Right pitch and consistently underperform when the stakes are highest. There’s an undeniable connection between socioeconomic status and the amount of trust one has for his own abilities and judgements. Since self-confidence is not inherited, the simple remedy for Black boys is to own their reality and use adversity as a tool for building confidence. The concept of learning from losses transforms their thinking and propels them to win. The height of self-confidence in baseball is striking out and expecting to hit a home run the next time you’re up to bat. The height of self-confidence in life is when your self-talk is stronger than everyone else’s talk.

#2 Self-Discipline

Once self-confidence is established, the next natural step is to take action. Knowing what needs to be done and failing to act is the equivalent of expecting to hit a home run, standing at the plate and never swinging your bat. Skill building in any undertaking requires a mix of action and discipline. Although the idea of self-discipline is simple, the execution is often crippling. In order to dispel the myth that Hope Is Enough, Black boys must confidently take uncomfortable and inconvenient actions that move them toward their desires. The secret to overcoming weakness and mastering self-discipline is to gain control of your feelings, prioritize your needs and resist any temptation to abandon your goals.

#3 Self-Awareness

The application of sustained self-confidence and self-discipline brings out subtle shifts in traits, behaviors and motivations. As Black boys realize they exist separately from their environment, confusion, complaints and excuses get “thrown out” and focus, gratitude and accountability get called up from the bull pen. Black boys newly found sense of self-awareness give them permission to explore their individuality and find comfort in their uniqueness. Ultimately, winning is redefined as mastery of self.

Success in life and baseball is both simple and fundamental. The height of your success is determined by the speed of your adjustments. The next time you’re desperately trying to read a manager’s body language at the mound, rest assured he’s either boosting confidence, sharpening discipline or raising awareness.