By Kelli Stewart, co-founder, L.E.A.D. Center for Youth
If you’re born into poverty in Atlanta, you have a 4% chance of breaking free. My husband CJ is part of that tiny percentage of people who were able to break the cycle of poverty. Now, as the Chief Visionary Officer of our nonprofit organization, L.E.A.D. Center for Youth (Launch, Expose, Advise, Direct), it’s his mission to use the sports of baseball and tennis to teach Black youth how to overcome three curveballs that threaten their success: crime, poverty and racism. At L.E.A.D., we’ve seen firsthand numerous times how participation and access to Sports Based Youth Development programs (SBYD) can change lives.
CJ is proof that SBYD can break the cycle of poverty
CJ, just like 4 out of 5 black children in Atlanta today, was raised in a poverty-stricken Northwest Atlanta neighborhood. Up until eight years old, CJ wasn’t playing organized sports. But having spent time bonding with his grandfather, watching baseball on TV with Harry Carey announcing, CJ’s mom signed him up for baseball. Playing baseball changed everything for CJ.
CJ’s first coach was then-chairman of the Atlanta Public Schools Board of Education, Emmett Johnson, Sr., a game-changer for a child coming from poverty. Access to people of influence at an early age gave CJ access to power, something that he still benefits from today. Unlike many of the other children in his neighborhood, CJ had access to mentors and coaches that changed the trajectory of his life.
CJ had his first workout with the Chicago Cubs when he was14 years old. They drafted him as a senior in high school. He’d also gotten a scholarship to Georgia State University, which he ultimately decided to pursue before playing for the Cubs minor league—all things that would never have been possible had his mother not signed him up for that first baseball program.
L.E.A.D. Center For Youth develops major league citizens
In addition to access to mentors and coaches, you may argue that CJ broke the cycle of poverty because he had talent. Fair enough. But my argument is that as the founders of the L.E.A.D. Center for Youth, we’re using sports to transform the lives of Black boys and girls and making them leaders of the future. We’re converting their talent into skills to competitively play sports, AND developing their social and emotional capacities so they develop the 21st-century skills needed to work in the front office of any sports organization and be a leader. We are developing Major League Citizens.
Numerous studies have shown that SBYD programs change lives, resulting in:
- Improved classroom behavior, an increased ability to manage stress and depression and better attitudes about themselves, others and school. (Journal of Child Development)
- Positive impact up to 18 years later on academics, conduct problems, emotional distress and drug use. (CASEL)
- Decreased likelihood of living in or being on a waiting list for public housing, receiving public assistance, or having any involvement with police before adulthood, and ever spending time in a detention facility. (American Journal of Public Health)
- Long-term success in reducing poverty and improving economic mobility. (American Enterprise Institute and Brookings Institution)
The writing is on the wall. Providing access for economically disadvantaged youth to participate in SBYD needs to be a community-wide initiative. At L.E.A.D., we’re working every day to develop Black youth into Ambassadors who will lead their City of Atlanta to lead the world. We’ve seen over 5,000 participants apply the leadership skills learned in baseball to life. But we can’t do it alone.
We have some amazing partners, some whom have been with us for many years, including the Atlanta Braves Foundation and Georgia’s Own, along with newer supporters including the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta and Google. In addition to supporting programs, these partners in particular reinforce our efforts at a capacity-building level that allows us to creatively plan future initiatives and hire and retain quality staff to provide meaningful experiences for our youth that lead to transformative outcomes.
We are so grateful to our current partners and we’re always drafting more to be on our team. According to a study conducted by Columbia University, every dollar invested in SBYD results in an $11 return to our nation’s economy. There’s no better investment than in the leaders of our city’s and country’s future. Visit our website to get in touch to learn more and join us in using SBYD to break the cycle of poverty for youth in Atlanta.
Kelli Stewart and her husband CJ are the co-founders of L.E.A.D. Center For Youth in Atlanta, a sports-based youth development and education organization that partners with donors including the Atlanta Braves, Kroger and Mercedes Benz. Through the programs at LEAD Center For Youth, participants have achieved a 100% high school graduation rate, a 93% college enrollment rate, a 90% scholarship rate, and complete 3,500 community service hours annually. Kelli serves on the board of the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta.
