Kelli Stewart Saving At Risk Black Boys with Baseball

Kelli Stewart

Sports are part of the culture of every country. Here, in the U.S., baseball is our "national pastime". Kelli Stewart and her husband, CJ, decided to use the tool of baseball to teach disadvantaged and at risk young Black boys essential life skills. Founders of the LEAD Center in Atlanta, GA Kelli and CJ have grown a program that reaches at risk Black boys in middle school and high school and helps them create positive paths for their lives.

When Kelli and I spoke one of the things that struck me was her commitment to engaging with the kids that most people don't want to engage with. Not the high achievers who were doing well in school but the boys who were on the edge of being thrown out of school, thrown out of society.

What Kelli and CJ have created is practical and inspiring and made me look at the possibilities of sport as a tool for building productive, engaged citizens in a whole new way. She also tells a great story about a baseball game between the Black boys in their program and Atlanta police. 

Have a listen, I think you'll find this as affirming of what's possible when we get creative, as I did. Kelli and I also talk about Serena's retirement from tennis and how we're both pretty sure that we're related to her.

About Kelli:

Kelli Stewart was born in Atlanta and raised in Crawford, Georgia. Under the protective and nurturing guidance of her grandmother, Amy Lou Faust, she learned about work ethic and service. Kelli earned a bachelor's degree with honors in business from Kennesaw State University in 2011. In addition to her degree, Kelli holds a wealth of knowledge regarding sport Kelli's based youth development (SBYD) as a resource for social justice, and the impact sports has on the social emotional development of youth. She is a co-founder of the LEAD Center for Youth in Atlanta, an organization that uses the tool of baseball to help inner city Black boys develop the skills they need to succeed in a world that presents them with obstacles every step of the way.

For a written transcript of this conversation click here.

Kelli's Action Items:

1) Support SBYD (Sport Based Youth Development) where you live. It's a form of youth development that's different and specific in that it focuses on delivering a sport in a trauma informed, healing centered way. So it's not just for the sake of winning trophies, it's sport to help children who are living in very difficult situations, cope with those situations, and develop the SEL (social emotional learning) skills and the executive functioning skills that they need to cope.

2) Follow the LEAD Center on social media (see links below).

3) Become a recurring donor to support LEAD. I mean, $5, $10, $15, $20 a month, it really goes a long way. Those smaller amounts, they make a big difference. I can hear people saying, what can you do with that? Haircuts, transportation for MARTA, our public transit system here, it can go a long way. Meals for families who are experiencing food insecurity, it can really go a long way.

Connect with Kelli:

Website: Lead Center for Youth

Instagram: Lead2Legacy_Atlanta

Credits:

Harmonica music courtesy of a friend.