YDF provided over 100 children with either full or partial scholarships to play, who otherwise would not have had the opportunity to due to financial hardships. This grant also allowed Jackson Parks & Recreation to purchase much needed player, umpire, and field maintenance equipment that has helped the quality of the league and provided the local community with more resources.
In partnership with the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation, YDF unveiled the 100th Youth Development Park at Reedbird Park in the Cherry Hill neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland. The multi-use field supports baseball, softball, and other youth sports next to a fitness and wellness center for the community to make playing more inclusive and equitable.
Through a YDF grant, Journey House transformed a dilapidated, urban baseball playing infrastructure into a beautiful, state of the art baseball complex, creating a neighborhood anchor and catalyst for continued development for Journey House’s urban youth scholar athletes participating in the Felix Mantilla Little League program.
YDF partnered with Roundabout Theater Company as their Lead Sponsor of the production of Toni Stone in 2019. This compelling work told the story of the first woman to play professional baseball in the Negro League, using Toni’s remarkable life to explore the later years of the Jim Crow era. The production was created to ensure that Toni Stone is no longer a footnote in history after her time with the Indianapolis Clowns in 1953.
With the support of YDF, the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation built three Dodgers Dreamfields in Gonzales Park. These fields revitalize green spaces to help re-energize the community’s involvement in baseball and softball, while also boosting the safety of local parks, providing a place where neighbors can gather, exercise and play, and serving as resource hubs for communities to get the resources they need to live healthier lives.
Funded in part by YDF, Inglewood Baseball Fund opened a batting cage facility and training center at Darby Park in 2018 with a high-grade artificial turf surface designed for durability and playability. This new facility increased their programming hours exponentially by giving players the opportunity to do more hitting and baseball specific training in a safe and weather resistant environment.
