Cleveland - Children who attend a local inner-city school now have a chance to learn and play lacrosse, thanks to a partnership that includes Ohio City, Inc., St. Ignatius High School, Cleveland State University and the Cleveland Municipal Schools.
The sport's governing body, US Lacrosse, chose Urban Community School in Ohio City as a pilot site for the Lacrosse Communities Project, bringing the sport into underserved urban areas.
On Friday, Mayor Jackson was joined by Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, leaders from Ohio City, Inc., along with other school and community leaders for a ribbon-cutting at the site of a new lacrosse field, made possible by that partnership.
580 students joined the mayor for the ceremony, and some took part in a lacrosse clinic led by the Cleveland State men's team and Baldwin Wallace women's team on the school's newly donated, small-sided field.
Steve Stenerson, president and CEO of US Lacrosse told those gathered:
“We believe that lacrosse is a vehicle for enrichment and has the ability to change the trajectory of a child’s life, and we are committed to working with our trusted community partners Ohio City and the surrounding Cleveland region to help grow accessibility and opportunity for kids of all socioeconomic backgrounds.”
A news release issued by the organization says US Lacrosse' North Coast Ohio Chapter has committed $300,000 to the program in local and national funds over two years.
"In addition to delivering ongoing lacrosse programming for youth in the Ohio City and surrounding Cleveland neighborhoods, a portion of those proceeds have funded the development of a small-sided lacrosse field at Urban Community School."
But the money is also being used for a new Lacrosse Manager position for "deployment of lacrosse programming to the Ohio City and surrounding areas, resources to develop lacrosse within school physical education classes and after school programs, equipment needed for boys’ and girls’ lacrosse teams, CPR and AED training, and education on heart-healthy food choices to area youth."
US Lacrosse is a non-profit group of men's and women's lacrosse teams, and which manages the U.S. National Teams Program,
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Photos courtesy of Andrew Bevevino, Martin Davison Public Relations and US Lacrosse