The American League Champion Cleveland Indians are honored to announce the recipients of $1 million in grants from The Larry Doby Youth Fund.
The fund was created by manager Terry Francona and members of the 2016 American League Champion Indians, who encouraged the entire roster, coaches, clubhouse support staff, front office and general public to donate to the cause. In addition to team owner Paul Dolan and minority owner John Sherman providing contributions, the Indians organization also donated monies raised from the 2016 Postseason Watch Parties to reach the goal of $1 million raised.
The Larry Doby Youth Fund was created to support Northeast Ohio community organizations that provide educational assistance and resources to help curb youth violence.
"We are very fortunate to be a part of Major League Baseball," Francona said, "and we accept the social responsibility that comes with that - to use our resources to directly make an impact on the underserved youth of our community, and to make our community better."
Larry Doby, for whom the fund was named, was the first African-American player in the American League and the second to break the Major League Baseball color barrier. Along with those feats, he was a seven-time All-Star and the first African-American player to hit a home run in the World Series.
"He endured many unfair hardships and challenges, and handled everything with the professionalism and grace that defined him," Francona said about Doby. "It is in Mr. Doby's spirit we created The Larry Doby Youth Fund."
The Larry Doby Youth Fund is administered by the Cleveland Foundation. The foundation helped review and manage grant proposals with a committee of Cleveland Indians management, Francona and select members of the team.
"The Cleveland Indians organization has demonstrated inspiring generosity and commitment to our community through the personal donations of the entire franchise," said Ronn Richard, President and CEO of the Cleveland Foundation. "Thanks to these hometown champions, $1 million has now been invested in 18 terrific Cleveland nonprofit organizations, all focused on helping our youth thrive and prosper."
For the Indians, The Larry Doby Youth Fund comes on the heels of decades of support for youth baseball and softball programs in partnership with the Cleveland Metropolitan School District and the Cleveland Baseball Federation. Along with athletics, the Indians have also supported a variety of educational programs at the Boys and Girls Clubs of Cleveland.
"Community engagement is what makes the Cleveland Indians a special organization," said Paul Dolan, Cleveland Indians owner, and vice chairman of the Cleveland Foundation's board of directors. "We have a great roster and staff who care about making the community better, and I am excited to see how our fund will support those agencies and organizations that are already making a difference."
2017 Larry Doby Youth Fund grant recipients
· America SCORES Cleveland: After--school soccer and journal writing
· Negro League Baseball Legends Hall of Fame: League Park Baseball History youth programming
· Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Cleveland - Bigs in Blue: Mentoring relationships with 4th District police and youth
· Big Brothers Big Sisters Clubs of Cleveland: Building bridges between youth and law enforcement
· Cleveland Peacemakers Inc.: Mentoring relationships for youth with police officers
· Cleveland Police Athletic League: Activities that engage police officers and youth
· College Now Greater Cleveland Inc.: College and career advising program for 600 John Adams High School students
· East End Neighborhood House Association: My Brother, My Sister Cleveland Chapter - after-school program for 7th and 8th graders
· Esperanza Inc.: Mentoring programs
· Friends of Breakthrough Schools: Support for 11 high-performing charter schools
· Golden Ciphers: Out of school time programs
· Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry: Health and crime prevention education programs
· Ohio Guidestone: Youth and Police development programming
· The NewBridge Cleveland Center for Arts & Technology: After-school youth arts programming
· Partnership For A Safer Cleveland: IMPACT 25 Youth Commission
· Providence House Inc.: Emergency shelter for children in crisis
· University Settlement Inc.: SmartY's program
· Youth Opportunities Unlimited: Summer job program for youth
Cleveland Indians announce 18 recipients of Larry Doby Youth Fund Grants
$1 million raised earmarked to curb youth violence in Northeast Ohio.
April 14th, 2017