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CINCINNATI — For nearly a decade, the P&G MLB Reds Youth Academy is known as a beacon for getting more minority and inner-city boys and girls involved in baseball and softball.
However, he always stood for more than that.
“We didn’t come here to build a private baseball and softball practice facility,” said Charley Frank, executive director of the Reds Community Fund. “We purposefully moved to an urban community within a city to partner and be part of what is hopefully a continued renaissance of the Reading Road corridor and neighborhoods that have had difficult decades. We don’t want to hide in our academy facilities and ball fields.
That point was underscored Thursday, when the Reds Community Fund and Freestore Foodbank worked to provide 2,500 complete Thanksgiving meals to families in need at the academy. Cars were lined up for blocks in the Roselawn neighborhood as Reds broadcaster and former pitcher Sam LeCure and front office members filled the cars with food and supplies.
This was the fourth year in a row that RCF hosted the Freestore Food Bank for meal distribution, the largest single-day event hosted by Freestore in the region.
The Youth Academy, which will celebrate its 10th anniversary in August, also hosted, among other events, a fantasy camp for players from the Miracle League, an Ohio suicide prevention foundation featuring outfielder Jake Fraley and community council meetings in Bond Hill and Roselawn neighborhoods.
At least a dozen Reds players, including Joey Votto, participated in various events throughout the year. Several of the club’s younger players, such as TJ Friedl and Will Benson, also made appearances.
“Members of the baseball team are also there to tell the guys, ‘Hey, this is part of your culture. When you’re in the big leagues with the Reds, this is our community home,” Frank said. “You’ll have a lot of menu options on how to get involved, but we really want everyone to have the feeling that it’s part of the Reds’ experience.”
A significant effort of the Reds Community Fund at the academy is its scholarship program for 250 high school student-athletes, grades 9-12, already enrolled in the RBI baseball/softball program.
The Scholars Program, which offers a year-long immersive program, offers not only athletic development, but also courses in leadership, financial literacy, character building, nutrition and college preparation.
“We’re Major League citizens,” Frank said. “We’ll have kids come out of here and hopefully get drafted every now and then. We’ll shout from the rooftops when a young kid comes through the academy, signs a professional contract and signs with the Reds, breaks through a path into the Reds system and play in the major leagues. It would be a dream come true. But it will happen once every 10 years if we’re lucky.
“Every year, we want to give children the resources they need so they can continue their high school education with confidence. They can graduate, receive scholarships, and have the opportunity to transition to college, trade school, military service, or the workforce. “It’s something every day, every year. We really try to be great at both things.”
Meanwhile, the Red Community Fund and the Youth Academy remains committed to cultivating baseball talent and success. His eldest RBI Team reached the Nike RBI World Series in Vero Beach, Florida, for the third time in four years. The Reds RBI Softball Club competed in its fifth consecutive Nike RBI World Series.
In September, softball legend Jennie Finch concluded an eight-city pitching clinic tour of all MLB academies with a stop in Cincinnati.
The Reds Academy is putting the finishing touches on a $500,000 renovation program to its outdoor fields. It just completed converting its stadium surface to a synthetic infield, giving all four baseball and softball fields a synthetic infield.
While everyone would prefer to play on natural grass and clay, it was more of a priority to simply play in the spring, when rain and bad weather play a significant role.
“It’s a game changer for us,” Frank said. “The turf and dirt have cost us a lot of games in the spring because they flood and create a lot of stress for the Reds grounds crew who help us maintain the facility.”
The Reds Community Fund also continued its efforts to improve ballfields outside of the Youth Academy. In June, at the Leblond Recreation Complex in the East End and with support from the MLB/MLBPA Youth Development Foundation, the club organized volunteers to upgrade PNC Field. A new synthetic softball field was installed by Playground Equipment Services.
The P&G MLB Reds Youth Academy and Reds Community Fund will continue to focus their energy on both baseball and softball, as well as social programs.
“Everything is important,” Frank said. “But it’s critical to really create that mission clarity as we enter our second decade here.”
