For our 5 year anniversary, we are looking to raise $50,000 to spur us into the next 5 years of lacrosse, academic support, and community by asking our supporters to donate $50, $500, or $5,000!
Our mission is to us e the sport of lacrosse to unify the youth of Detroit’s neighborhoods by promoting academic & character education, personal development and pathways to prosperity, instilling the values of the sport: respect, honor, courage, and integrity. We offer both lacrosse and academic programming at low or no cost to our participants.
We envision Detroit becoming the model city for the growth of lacrosse through its community of support, and its development of student leaders who uphold the virtues of the game, on the field and in life. Our youth will be prepared for excellence in every aspect of life - not in just athletic performance - by getting the tools they need to all graduate from high school, compared to the 38% of their Detroit peers that will not cross that stage.
Beyond direct personal impact, we believe that sports create a launching pad for our youth to be successful after they leave our program. Athletics open up the doors for young men and women alike, with recent research done by Ernst & Young showing that over 90% of C-level women (CEOS, COO, etc) are former athletes. We are looking to break down societal barriers to provide the most opportunities possible for our youth to reach this level of success. Lacrosse is a primarily white sport with only 3% of NCAA men’s lacrosse players and 2% of NCAA women’s lacrosse players identifying as black, and lacrosse is also one of largest providers of NCAA athletic scholarships. Over 12% of high school lacrosse players go on to play in college. We are looking to change this narrative by teaching lacrosse to the youth of our community in Detroit to offer more pathways to prosperity for those historically underrepresented in the sport.
The last 5 years by the numbers:
- Reached 2,734 youth between the ages of 3-18
- Provided over 1,000 hours of lacrosse programming
- Over 200 hours of academic tutoring in the last two years
- 100% high school graduation rate
- 24 seniors committed to play lacrosse at the college level
- Provided jobs for 56 high school and local college students
We are looking to raise $50,000 for 5 Years. These funds will go directly towards offsetting programs costs in order to keep our prices at low to no cost for participants. These funds will go towards items like our classroom rental out of Durfee Innovation Society, filling equipment gaps for participants, investment into more robust academic support programming like ACT/SAT prep, and overall academic programming expansion.
Be part of story of the next generation of Detroit lacrosse players, youth that will no doubt change the sport and the world.
