BARNSTORMING 2023 TOUR
A L.E.A.D. Ambassador exhibition game tour to foster community engagement, increase awareness of systemic racism, and celebrate the sport of baseball.
LEADCenterForYouth.org
Baseball is America’s pastime and one of our nation’s greatest cultural assets. At its most traditional, it is unlike any other sport, built upon the principles of teamwork and fair play that balance the specialization required to field a position with the universality of everyone getting an opportunity to bat.
The field itself is a sacred space, a mythical land of opportunity to partake and perform and be treated equitably, ultimately to be measured with the clarity and consensus of the numbers on the scoreboard. This is why baseball has long been a literal diamond in the rough—a sanctuary of fairness and idealism often surrounded by a reality of turmoil, racism and inequity.
But it wasn’t always that way.
For many years, baseball was just another victim of fear, of the belief that “separate but equal” was an acceptable standard for what it meant to be an American. And yet, within those constraints, the sport found a way to flourish as many of the greatest athletes of the 20th century, Black athletes from every corner of the country, found a way to play baseball. And through their resilience, persistence, and love of the game, legends were born.
These were the Negro Leagues—the version of our pastime that was a historic consequence of Jim Crow’s separation of one set of Americans from another—a sacrilege of the fairness that the sport embodies, but one that could not contain the greatness that would emerge.
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INTRODUCTION
History serves as our greatest window into what it means to be an American by revealing, in hindsight, how we fell short of our constitutional ideals and why we must continue to aspire to them. The lessons of the Negro Leagues are most notable for the achievements of the men who played the game and were never given their full due, not just as sports heroes, but as inspirational examples of America at its best.
This is why the Negro Leagues were also baseball at its best, as a path to pride, community, and athletic achievement.
In honor of the Negro Leagues, in the spirit of community, and with the mission to elevate the understanding of this most important part of our cultural and social history, we introduce the L.E.A.D. Barnstorming Tour.
In the Summer of 2023, the L.E.A.D. Ambassadors—an aspiring team of Atlanta Public School student athletes—will travel across Georgia to take part in the sport they love. At each stop along the way, the program will include L.E.A.D.’s Breaking Barriers clinics, where the Ambassadors will have a chance to share their knowledge of baseball and instruct younger local children on the skills and nuances of the game. That will be followed by an exhibition baseball game against a local high school team. And then, players, families, friends and fans will enjoy a special screening and panel discussion of the award-winning
documentary, “The Other Boys of Summer”, a film about racism, segregation and civil rights in America, told through the lives of the Negro League baseball players.
As a leading organization in the region, your partnership will support the young men of L.E.A.D. and allow the organization to expand and include many more student athletes in their yearly academic, athletic, civic and commerce programming. You will have access to hundreds of attendees, and tens of thousands of viewers who will learn of the Tour through local media coverage that will deliver hundreds of thousands of impressions. And as a platform that will be aligned with your brand and values, you will have a chance to match your belief in the virtues of diversity, equity, and inclusiveness with actions that are delivering a meaningful positive impact to the next generation of young Black men.
We welcome your thoughtful consideration of this opportunity.
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The title L.E.A.D. Ambassador is not given, it can only be earned. L.E.A.D. has stood the test of time, and over the past decade has delivered stats for the youth in Atlanta that are second to none.
Austin Evans
2015 L.E.A.D. Ambassador Alum 2022 adidas Honoring Black Excellence Honoree
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THE ORGANIZATIONAL COMPONENTS
L.E.A.D. CENTER FOR YOUTH (Launch,
Expose, Advise, Direct)
With 15 years of experience, L.E.A.D. has provided year-round leadership programming to over 4000 Black boys in Atlanta Public Schools (APS) and over 350 boys each year. L.E.A.D.’s mission is to empower this at-risk generation to lead and transform their city of Atlanta. L.E.A.D. uses the sport of baseball to help Black boys overcome the “three curveballs” that threaten success: crime, poverty and racism.
L.E.A.D.’s Pathway2Empowerment has generated outstanding outcomes for our select group of high school participants, known as the L.E.A.D. Ambassadors. To deliver these results, L.E.A.D. works closely with administrators and teachers in Atlanta Public Schools (APS) to engage students who need additional support to improve and maintain their grades, attendance and behavior. L.E.A.D.’s year-round programming is structured around the following four pillars of excellence:
• ATHLETICS – Providing professional instructions in the skills, values and principles of baseball.
• ACADEMICS – Partnering with APS to keep student-athletes on track toward graduation.
• CIVIC ENGAGEMENT – Organizing and implementing regular community engagement activities.
• COMMERCE – Establishing corporate shadowing opportunities and a pipeline to future careers that will lend to leadership roles.
L.E.A.D.’s positive results are both quantifiable and qualitative: the organization has succeeded in transforming the lives of hundreds of young men, while delivering a broad positive impact.
100% of L.E.A.D.s young men graduate from high school
91% are accepted and enroll in college
91% receive some form of a college scholarship
Additionally, the L.E.A.D. Ambassadors have accumulated a total of over 2500 hours of service to the community.
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The L.E.A.D. Barnstorming Tour (LBT) is structured around the convergence of four highly successful components and their organizations.
THE ORGANIZATIONAL COMPONENTS
BREAKING BARRIERS INSTRUCTIONAL CLINIC
The Breaking Barriers camp offers young baseball players an opportunity to build and enhance their baseball skills and fundamentals on the field and develop character and leadership skills off the field.
The camp is hosted by L.E.A.D. Co-founder and former Chicago Cubs outfielder C.J. Stewart and student-athletes from Atlanta Public Schools who are members of the L.E.A.D. Ambassador Program.
The camps take place each summer, offering each participant group instruction by skill level to reinforce and build upon existing baseball-specific skills. The curriculum focuses on hitting and fielding, instructional competitive games, and critical thinking skills training. For more advanced players, the curriculum includes a focus on proper pitching mechanics as many of our players transition to “kid-pitch” in their leagues.
During each week of the camp, L.E.A.D. coaches will use baseball to teach leadership skills that will translate off the field. The ultimate goal is to empower the younger players (the camp participants) with skills while building on the children’s passion and love of the game. The camps are the proven model of the on-site clinics that will take place prior to the exhibition games along the tour.
THE OTHER BOYS OF SUMMER/ TUMBLEWEED PICTURES
Led by Lauren Meyer, an Emmy nominated director with over 20 years in the business. Lauren’s passion for sharing personal stories and shining a spotlight on the underdog was acknowledged with a 2017 Emmy Award nomination.
Her work has aired on dozens of TV networks, cable channels and digital platforms. Lauren began filming The Other Boys of Summer as a passion project in 2007 when she realized if she didn’t go and interview the players now, their personal stories would be lost forever.
In a time where civil rights are in headlines daily, Lauren is more determined than ever to show a different perspective to civil rights in America. The Other Boys of Summer is a triumphant story focusing on how, with perseverance and grace, these unsung American heroes changed baseball and changed America.
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THE ANNUAL SAFE AT HOME GAME
Now in its 8th year, the annual Safe at Home Game brings together Atlanta’s inner city high school baseball players (the L.E.A.D. Ambassadors) with officers of the Atlanta Police Department, Atlanta Public Schools Police Department and Georgia Tech Police Department, and Deputies from the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office for a 7-inning, selfofficiated baseball game. The purpose is to create an environment of competition, trust and respect between two communities who often struggle to find common ground, and to open lines of communication where they are most needed.
The Safe at Home Game is an annual event for the community that has proven to be more than just a game. As envisioned by its founders, the game has succeeded in opening lines of communication, fostering mutual understanding and establishing individual bonds between the L.E.A.D. Ambassadors and Atlanta’s law enforcement on AND off the field.
PARTNERS & SPONSORS
Bally Sports South (BSSO) is the exclusive media partner for the Tour. BSSO is an American regional sports network owned by Diamond Sports Group and operates as an affiliate of Bally Sports Networks. The network carries regional coverage of professional and collegiate sports events from across the Southern United States along with other sporting events and programming from Bally Sports. Bally Sports South is available on cable providers throughout Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. It is also available nationwide on satellite via DirectTV.
adidas, a long time high-value corporate partner of L.E.A.D., has committed to serving as a presenting partner and official apparel supplier for the L.E.A.D. Barnstorming Tour. They will be collaborating on content creation and social media promotion, utilizing their assets, including selected college and professional athletes to promote the Tour and its important messaging. This active and ongoing support of the Tour will deliver additional visibility to our host cities and our other sponsors, expanding the reach of the Tour’s messaging and engaging tens of thousands of people within a diverse target demographic.
Cheryl Preheim is a weekday morning anchor on 11Alive Morning News. As a journalist, Cheryl is a strong advocate for strengthening our communities by directly addressing and overcoming the barriers of systemic racism. She has been honored with the prestigious National Edward R. Murrow award three times for individual work; and twice for her part in team coverage. She has received 18 Emmy Awards, including Emmy Awards for the Southeast’s Best Anchor 4 consecutive years: 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020. Cheryl and 11Alive will be providing feature and streaming coverage of the L.E.A.D. Barnstorming Tour, which will emphasize the importance of community partners in their coverage.
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THE BARNSTORMING TOUR – CONCEPT
The Tour will take place in early July of 2023 and include three major components at each stop along they way and a fourth stop in August:
• A Breaking Barriers Day Camp (Clinic),
• An exhibition game against a local high school team
• A public screening of The Other Boys of Summer followed by a panel discussion
• The L.E.A.D. Safe at Home Game (August 2023)
The Ambassador team will travel by school bus across Georgia, making a total of four overnight stops. Their experience will include onboard lesson plans describing what it was really like to be a young talented Black professional baseball player traveling through the mid-century American South. They will stay in local motels and dine at local restaurants and on box lunches—a shoe-string budget experience emulating some of the experience of their Negro League predecessors.
In August, they will experience a luxury charter bus ride where they will be accommodated at a downtown Atlanta Hotel prior to playing their final exhibition game on the Tour in a professional or Division 1 college stadium
(most likely Georgia Tech). That evening’s contest will be L.E.A.D.’s annual Safe at Home Game between the L.E.A.D. Ambassadors and the local Atlanta Police Department baseball team.
The transition within the Tour from school bus/motel accommodations to charter bus/ luxury hotel will be a surprise to the young men, and a reminder of what it might have felt like to Jackie Robinson when he broke the color barrier, entered the Major Leagues and gained the greater recognition that he and so many others had long been denied and so deeply deserved.
Their arrival will be celebrated and honored with significant media coverage as they are introduced and take the field that final evening against their APD opponents.
Each game will be followed by a screening of The Other Boys of Summer. The stops prior to the final game will include a 90-minute program that amplifies diverse voices and is designed to bring people together and create a space for a shared experience that sparks meaningful conversation.
The screening includes the critically acclaimed film (42 min.) followed by a panel discussion. Additional tools and content provided for the screening include a discussion guide, poster/ logo/art files for promotion, a resource list, filmmaker bio, sample run of show, tech specs and more.
The screening program has provided tangible results for team building, creating allyships and providing a space for powerful conversations around race, equity, social injustice and cultural competency. The documentary introduces viewers to civil rights pioneers who changed America by pursuing their dreams—a triumphant story of resilience in the most unlikely of situations. The Other Boys of Summer is an original program that motivates and inspires.
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TOUR STOP SUMMARY
While the timing and scope of activities may be adapted slightly based on the needs of each host town, our planned run-of show will generally be executed as follows at each stop:
Time/Duration Activity Participants
10:00am – 11:00am
11:00am – 12:00pm
12:00pm – 1:00pm
1:00pm – 2:00pm
2:00pm – 3:30pm
3:30pm – 4:30pm
5:00pm – 6:00pm
6:00pm – 7:00pm
7:00pm – 9:00pm
Ambassador Breakfast and arrival at Field
Warmup & briefing on day’s events
Breaking Barriers Clinic
Pre-game ceremonies / remarks
Breaking Barriers Exhibition Game
Box lunch for players/ Set up for Screening
Ambassadors and Tour organizers
Ambassadors, Tour organizers, Local organizers
Ambassadors, Local children (pre-teens) & their families
Honorary managers/sponsors/local leaders to speak
Ambassadors vs. Local high school team
Ambassador & Local Team / Event organizers
Screening of The Other Boys of Summer Tumbleweed Pictures and local organizers
Moderated Panel Discussion
Dinner for Ambassadors/Return to Hotel
Local leaders, managers & Civil Rights advocate(s)
Ambassadors and Tour organizers
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MEDIA ASSETS AND PROMOTION
Bally Sports South will serve as the L.E.A.D. Barnstorming Tour exclusive media partner, with the allocation of the following assets to the Tour:
Top level sponsors will be provided exclusive opportunities to be mentioned or showcased within these assets, expanding the reach of their commitment to the tour to include over 400,000 impressions.
TOUR MAP
The Barnstorming Tour will make multiple stops through Georgia. Our preliminary plan envisions stops at three of the four communities identified below.
Forsyth County (Host – Former Lt. Governor Geoff Duncan)
Kennesaw (Host – Kennesaw State University)
Carrollton (Host – University of West Georgia)
Atlanta
Safe at Home Game at Georgia Tech or other venue
Actual tour stops are subject to change
Macon (Host - Mercer University)
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Platform Asset Duration Guaranteed Impressions Atlanta Braves Broadcast Live, Non-Skippable :30 June – July 142,857 Sports OTT Non-Skippable :30 June – July 160,000 – Atlanta Market Atlanta
Feature Pre-Game
August
To be determined Social Media (Twitter @BravesOnBally) 2x Posts July – August 120,000
Braves
& one Game
(Timing based on Safe at Home Game)
PROGRAM GOALS
The L.E.A.D. Barnstorming Tour will deliver on three primary goals:
BREAK BARRIERS – Foster direct engagement between young Black men of Atlanta and the local children and their parents in communities that currently lack higher levels of multi-racial exposure and experience. With greater engagement comes increased familiarity, less fear, deeper understanding and more empathy that will ultimately strengthen communities across the region and inspire the next generation to overcome stereotypes and meet the challenges of the future together.
INCREASE AWARENESS OF SYSTEMIC RACISM,
PAST AND PRESENT – Provide a historical understanding of the systemic racism of the past and its role in limiting opportunities for our most at-risk young men in the present. Through the cultural artifact of the Negro Leagues, we can acknowledge and process the injustices of the past and be inspired to properly address the limitations they impose to all of us in our shared community. This goal aligns with L.E.A.D.’s Know Your Truth programming component, which takes the people, places, things, ideas and concepts that are intentionally left out of K-12 education and brings them to life through baseball.
CELEBRATE THE GAME OF BASEBALL AND THE TRIUMPH OF THE HUMAN SPIRIT
– The Barnstorming Tour will deliver lifelong memories for our young men by placing them in an important narrative of American history—one that, through the principles and virtues of baseball, exemplifies all that America aspires to be. The Tour will be an American story coming to life, showcasing the athletic excellence, perseverance, commitment, and most of all community—the assertion that America is at its best when we are all able to come together with a sense of decency, civility, respect and love, to achieve our shared aspirations.
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L.E.A.D. CENTER FOR YOUTH is a 501 (c)3 nonprofit organization operating in Atlanta, Georgia. Through sport based youth development (SBYD) programming, we are inspiring and equipping student-athletes with the empowerment they need to live sustainable lives of significance. We use baseball to teach Black boys, and tennis to teach Black girls, how to overcome three curveballs that threaten their success: CRIME, POVERTY, and RACISM.
