We choose to fly stealth

L.E.A.D. has successfully used baseball to afford several inner city Atlanta males the opportunity to access college but we continue to fly stealth. Baseball hasn't become totally relevant in the inner city yet.

Today will be the last day of signing week as our six partner middle school LEADers sign their L.E.A.D. scholarship. Coach Kelli Stewart, Kerwin Giles, Crystal Giles and I will be at John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. Middle Schools today.  This signing experience plants the seed for them to sign a baseball scholarship on National Signing Day of their senior year of high school.

Their are currently less than 6% of African-American males competing in baseball at the NCAA level. The numbers are so low because it cost thousands of dollars annually for a high school baseball player to compete for limited college baseball scholarships. If you don't have the money, you don't get the exposure.  Period.  Every problem presents an opportunity which is why L.E.A.D. has a .890 batting average. Check out our stats!

On Friday, March 23rd, you will hear the drums of the Atlanta Braves and Booker T. Washington High School drum line playing during Atlanta's first inner city baseball pep rally at Booker T. Washington High School. Our student-athletes in L.E.A.D. are assets to this city as well as celebrities. Come join us as we make a big deal out of youth baseball in Atlanta.

I have a little time left to write so I will tease you about our upcoming 2nd Annual Inner City Youth Baseball March that will celebrate the legacy and future of baseball in the inner city of Atlanta. Did you know that 1969's MLB World Series MVP Don Clendenon (NY Mets) graduated from Atlanta's own Booker T. Washington High School and enrolled in Morehouse College before a successful professional baseball career? Did you know that 100% of L.E.A.D.'s Ambassadors graduate from high school and enroll in college while 89% receive baseball scholarships? Check out our events calendar so that you don't miss an opportunity to march with us.

I love being able to make authentic impact daily through L.E.A.D. That commitment has developed young men that are civic minded change agents in Atlanta. We choose to fly stealth but we won't be under the radar in America for long.