Although Covid-19 has been putting a stop to gatherings, Friends of Baseball saw this as an opportunity to get creative. Rather than cancelling a night full of recognition and celebrating resilient communities within Portland, we converted people’s homes to be at the center of our appreciation through our very first Virtual Gala! 
Through the support of our community, we were able to push out a handful of programs to help brighten the lives of young ball players around the Portland area. These programs were created with the idea of bringing joy and healing to families in our community. Although these programs were designed for ball players to come out to get some batting or fielding practice, we also saw parents light up at the sight of their children enjoying an outdoor activity for the first time in 6 months. 
Thanks to the support of the community we were able to provide the following programs this fall:

• Full Count Virtual Enrichment Classes and Online Lessons at multiple school sites, with coordinating equipment distributions throughout the Fall Term. 
  
• “Play Catch With A Coach” safe in-person mentoring sessions for young ballplayers
  

• Play Ball Fall Classic Weekend, with multiple distribution sites in the Portland Metro area to distribute free baseball/softball equipment and youth “swag bags” to 1000 local youth. 
  
• Virtual Film Screening/Zoom Discussion - The Other Boys of Summer, designed to educate Portland youth about the legendary players of the Negro Baseball Leagues, and to celebrate the Centennial Year of the founding of the Negro Leagues.
  

We hope to see you very soon in the safest way possible!
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We stand with Black Americans protesting police brutality, and the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and the horrifically long list of Black men, women, and children who have been killed by police officers and racist vigilantes.

We stand with Black ballplayers in MLB, Minor League Baseball, college baseball and softball, and recreational baseball and softball who are told in myriad ways to “play the game the right way” — a pervasive spoken and unspoken code to exclude them from the fruits of their hard work, dedication, and joy on the field. A message that is so loudly heard on fields across our nation where one can visibly see the children, who are missing from our baseball and softball diamonds.

At Friends of Baseball, our mission is to enhance children’s lives through baseball’s power to teach. And there is no greater lesson needed in America right now than the one that Black Americans have been trying to tell us in the face of denial, contempt, and brutality at the hands of community members and government institutions.

We are committed to continuing and deepening our ongoing commitment to using a racial equity lens in our planning, decision-making, and how we operate. Unfortunately, we can’t in one statement, say all of the action we need to take that we have too many times hit the snooze button on — a powerful metaphor we recently saw on the sign of a young black activist.

So, in the spirit of not hitting the snooze button, here is what we are doing right now:

• Requiring anti-racism training for all levels of our organization (Board of Directors, Leadership, and Staff). All staff will receive this training prior to restarting programs for youth and drafting new program documentation to improve our anti-racism practice in our program partnerships with schools and community organizations.

 

• Using our platform to highlight injustice in youth sports and education with a specific focus on elevating the voices of Black athletes and activists.

 

• Reviewing our vendor and partner selection and developing a policy to hold us accountable to reinvestment of resources to BIPOC businesses and firms.

 

• Our staff, on their own, have begun an anti-racism book club to develop a shared language and framework for working together and to put explicit anti-racism practices into our curriculum. Our Board is currently scheduling a follow-up session to our anti-racism training last December to actively put these learnings into our practice.

 

• Our leadership are working in partnership with staff to review our programs to ensure that activities and longer term strategy supports our long-held goals of increased access to the game at all levels for Black youth and youth of color.

To say that we believe baseball is for everyone is not a platitude, it is Friends of Baseball’s mandate. Yet we say that with the knowledge that we have not always demonstrated clearly or spoken out effectively on our commitment to this mandate, as it specifically applies to the Black families we have served from the beginning.

The nonprofit industry exists entirely due to the existence of inequity. Friends of Baseball exists because of racial and economic inequity that we have allowed to subsist. As an organization funded by community support, we believe we must repay the debt our community owes to families whose communities have been historically underinvested in for decades in Portland and in Oregon. This means that when we open new after school and summer programs that we make sure these programs are running at school communities serving youth whose families have disproportionately experienced the devastating impacts of gentrification, multigenerational poverty, housing instability, poor air quality, lack of access to healthcare, and over policing. Just like with education and other enrichment activities, there is a direct line that connects the experiences of racism (e.g. exclusion, barriers to access, prejudice, bias) in baseball and softball to the lifelong and disparate impacts, we see for Black Americans across all determinants of health, wellbeing, and financial opportunity.

8%. Just 8% of all Major League Baseball players are Black. After steadily increasing after Jackie Robinson faced down racism and segregation in baseball to break the color barrier in 1947, the percentage of Black players in Major League Baseball reached a plateau in the 1970s of around 18%.

If you are someone who supports Friends of Baseball’s work in the community, we are so grateful. When you give us that praise, know that you are lifting up a deep bench of Black community leaders, moms, dads, high school leaders, youth, and businesses who have trusted us not only with their time and resources, but also with the gift of helping us understand where we have fallen short, what work we have to do, and when we need to get out of the way.

We won’t be satisfied until we stop hearing the phrase, “Baseball is a white sport” explicitly, implicitly, or because of how it feels for a Black youth or youth of color to participate in it. Hold us to that.

Following our newly awarded affiliation with Major League Baseball’s RBI Youth Initiative, Friends of Baseball will open six new after school programs in the area.
 
Six new school communities in N/NE Portland and East Multnomah County will have the opportunity to swing for the fences after school with Portland Diamond Project’s investment in Friends of Baseball (FOB). A nonprofit in the Portland Metro area, FOB received their official affiliation in February through Major League Baseball’s (MLB) Youth Initiative for their award-winning baseball-inspired after school and summer enrichment programs. FOB was awarded the affiliation with Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI), MLB’s youth initiative to provide young people from underserved and diverse communities the opportunity to play baseball and softball.
 
Full Count is Friends of Baseball’s after school and summer youth program that, since its founding as a one-week summer program in 2015, has grown to serving 12 communities in four school districts in the Portland metro area, providing after school enrichment for more than 600 students. More than 80% of the youth who participate in Full Count are youth of color and 75% participate in the free or reduced-price lunch programs.
 
Portland Diamond Project, the group working to bring Major League Baseball to Portland, is underwriting a position with Friends of Baseball through Up2Us Sports, a sports-based youth development organization that trains and places coaches in nonprofits across the country to support and mentor youth.
 
“Central to PDP’s mission is a commitment to making baseball more inclusive and accessible for everyone in Portland,” PDP founder and President Craig Cheek said. “Friends of Baseball has been a fabulous partner, sharing the love of the game and bringing high-quality enrichment programs to youth throughout the metro area. They are a shining example of how Portland is better with baseball and we are proud to support their effort.”
 
The hiring of this new Program Mentor position will allow Friends of Baseball to open programs in six new school communities serving a high percentage of youth of color and low-income youth in 2019. This position is an AmeriCorps service term of one year for 900 hours and total compensation starts at $15/hr.
 
Details on how to apply for the Up2Us Sports AmeriCorps position funded by Portland Diamond Project can be found at the Friends of Baseball website: https://www.friendsofbaseball.org/we-are-hiring.html
 
“We are working hard to keep up with the demand for our Full Count program. This support from Portland Diamond Project makes it possible for us to be more responsive to this need from our partners and accelerate our progress toward our goal of being in 20 schools by 2020,” said Executive Director Nova Newcomer. Newcomer will be a featured moderator at the RBI Institute being held in Birmingham, Alabama over the weekend (March 14-17).

Wow! Our kids asked, “Can I Play?” And you responded with a resounding “Yes!”
Just 4 months into our $100,000 campaign to open up 10 new Full Count programs, our scorecard shows you have helped us raise through donations and grants a total of $59,300 toward our goal of opening up 10 new Full Count summer and after school programs. 

Check out our Facebook gallery below of some of the fun we had at our “Can I Play?” Gala helping to bring the life lessons inherent in the game of baseball to underserved youth!

​Stay tuned for the launch of our new website and fun, easy ways to say “Yes!” to our kids.
In the meantime, you can help us toward our goal of funding 5 more programs by donating to our Can I Play? campaign.

A BENEFIT FOR FRIENDS OF BASEBALL’S FULL COUNT AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAM
Last year, when we celebrated our 10th Anniversary with nearly 300 community members, we asked the group to dream with us, “If Only…”
If Only our kids played on safe fields. If Only coaches were provided with the training and resources they needed. If Only families didn’t have to worry about affording that glove. If Only every child had the chance to play.
On Friday, September 23, 2016 at Oregon Golf Club, we will convene again to show you what is possible when we answer, “Yes” to this question for the most underserved youth in our community.
Like last year, we will have an engaging program and live auction with “can’t get anywhere else” items and bring together hundreds of business and community leaders to support the engagement of our youth through baseball– inspired educational programming. But this year, our vision is bolder. We want to launch Full Count in 10 new schools this Fall and Winter.
Our youth are asking, “Can I Play?”
Please answer “Yes” with us and join us at this inspirational event.
Play Ball,
Nova

HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM FRIENDS OF BASEBALL
When MLB Com­mis­sioner Rob Man­fred issued his let­ter around this time last year, we were so inspired and moti­vated to learn that his pri­or­i­ties for Major League Base­ball aligned so well with our pri­or­i­ties to Keep Kids on the Field of Play.
He said, “Base­ball is a game firmly rooted in child­hood expe­ri­ences, and its vital­ity and growth rely heav­ily on giv­ing young peo­ple from all back­grounds the oppor­tu­nity to play and watch baseball.”
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That’s why we were hon­ored to have Com­mis­sioner Man­fred par­tic­i­pate in our 10th Anniver­sary Gala from afar with his spe­cial video mes­sage and con­grat­u­la­tions not just to our Founders, but to ALL OF YOU who have been there along the way to help us help more kids.

2015 HIGHLIGHTS and MORE TO COME…

• In 2015, we TRIPLED the num­ber of schol­ar­ships we pro­vided to boys and girls to play base­ball and soft­ball across Ore­gon and SW Washington.
• Hosted our 9th Annual Coaches Clinic with over 200 coacheswith ses­sions by Dave Gasser, Kevin Gun­der­son and guest trainer, Steve Ban­dura of the Ander­son Monarchs
• We launched our Full Count After School and Day Camp pro­gram and are expand­ing to 2 MORE SCHOOL COMMUNITIES this win­ter!
• We cel­e­brated 10 Years of Friends of Baseball’s work in the com­mu­nity at our Novem­ber Gala where we raised over $35,000
• And we have so much more to come this year…stay tuned!

Today, it’s the first day of  2016. You know what that means. A new sea­son ahead…

PLAY BALL,
Nova and Ben

10 YEARS KEEPING KIDS ON THE FIELD OF PLAY
The Seat­tle Mariners sent us a spe­cial hol­i­day thank you video mes­sage to our part­ners and sup­port­ers who have done so much for youth base­ball and soft­ball over Friends of Baseball’s decade of service.

At our Gala in Novem­ber, we raised a lit­tle over $35,000 to help fund our new Full Count pro­gram to bring more youth to the game. We are proud to part­ner with the Seat­tle Mariners to build com­mu­nity through base­ball and have their sup­port at our 10th Anniver­sary celebration.

Enjoy this spe­cial mes­sage from the Mariner Moose and his col­leagues and our front office friends, Gina Has­son and Bob Hellinger.

And remem­ber base­ball is always just around the corner.

To a fun and mem­o­rable 2016 year and season!
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Your fans at Friends of Baseball

Base­ball doesn’t have to end with the post-season…
​Get your Gala tick­ets today and hear from the “Keeper of the Flame” Roberto Clemente Jr.Bid on Dream Base­ball Expe­ri­ences in our Live Auc­tion including:

• Seat­tle Mariners Suite for 20
• MLB Stu­dio Tour and lunch with Harold Reynolds in New York
• Lunch at the Mult­nomah Ath­letic Club with Major League Base­ball Umpire Jim Joyce
• Pri­vate Tour of Hall of Fame in Cooperstown
• 2016 Chicago Cubs Week­end and tick­ets for the Giants, Pirates, Yan­kees, and more…

​Golden Tick­ets also avail­able for pur­chase to “steal home” for an auc­tion item