TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — A Tampa-based mentorship program is working to make baseball more inclusive and accessible for young minority athletes.
Providing Resources and Opportunities, or Pro Youth Foundation was created 17 years ago, and founded by Chip Lawrence. After finishing his career as a professional baseball player and coming back home to the Tampa Bay area, he realized there was a gap in children accessing the game of baseball.
“The cost associated with playing travel ball is continuing to grow over the last few years, when you factor in the decrease in minorities, especially African American players in baseball, a lot of that is due to the barriers that exist and the main one being the financial barrier,” Lawrence said.
According to USA Today, factoring in the required baseball equipment, lessons and travel teams, families can spend anywhere from $3,700 to $8,000 a year. When it comes to the racial disparity in baseball, according to the University of Central Florida’s Institute for Ethics and Diversity in 2023 only 6.2% of players on MLB rosters were African American, down from 7.2% in 2022.
The foundation fills in that gap by cutting the cost by more than half for local families. Lawrence also spends time educating the athletes about Black History by taking them on various field trips, like to the Negro League Baseball Museum and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s home.
It’s a way Lawrence connects with the athletes on and off the field.
“It’s a game of failure, builds makeup, builds character,” Lawrence said. “We have seen so Florida many of our students go off becoming lawyers, doctors what have you. It’s rewarding looking back and seeing what these young men are doing.”
Pro Youth Foundation has an annual fundraiser called the HBCU Showcase. This showcase exposes the athletes to historically Black colleges and universities and their baseball recruiters.
“It’s a combination of these programs not having the recruiting budgets to go out and see these kids individually, so we came up with the idea of having an HBCU showcase in Atlanta, Georgia,” he said. “It has become one of the largest HBCU showcases in the country.”
The showcase takes place annually in September. The group also goes to the Mentoring Viable Prospects, or MVP tournament in Atlanta, where they can fellowship and learn with hundreds of other players from around the country.
The program has mentored hundreds of athletes over the last 17 years, Florida many of whom are now playing baseball in college and even some have gone pro.
To get your child involved, visit their website.
