Portland Diamond Projet Funds Friends of Baseball Program Expansion

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).