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The Red Sox Foundation is inviting Massachusetts Little League teams to apply for $500 stipends to support their pint-sized sluggers, reversing course after the Herald reported they were pulling the funding in early April.
“With the feedback, what we’ve decided to do is double down our investment this year,” Red Sox Foundation Vice President Bekah Salwasser told the Herald.
In years past, the foundation donated $500 stipends to Little League teams across the commonwealth. In 2019, the foundation sent stipends to 167 teams, totaling $83,500. But in 2021, the group told teams it would reallocate that funding to training coaches and other long-term league development.
Because that change caused confusion among youth baseball and softball organizations, Salwasser said, the foundation will reinstate stipends alongside the new programming.
The group emailed local youth leagues that the stipends were back mid-April, and at least 140 teams have applied for checks, Salwasser said.
“Our support for youth baseball and softball will never go away,” she said. “This is paramount to our organization.”
Previously, a spokesperson for the Red Sox Foundation told the Herald the nonprofit’s fundraising abilities had been hurt by the pandemic.
But Salwasser said coming out of the pandemic, the foundation held conversations with both investors and Little League stakeholders about how to maximize support for youth sports in the area. Funding talks focused on supporting youth coaches with free training — among other resources — in hopes of retaining more kids in sports. The foundation has partnered with the Positive Coaching Alliance, as well as WeCOACH — a group that focuses on developing girls’ sports.
“Coaching is one of the most critical aspects of retention and growing love for the game,” Salwasser said.
But now, ballplayers will get the best of both worlds. Salwasser said the new coaching programs set up by the group aren’t going anywhere — but neither are those team stipends.
“The best money is unrestricted money,” she said, noting that team directors have the ability to apply for a stipend through the Red Sox Foundation website, and use the funds where they see fit for their kids.
The Red Sox Foundation will also continue funding “RBI and Jr. RBI programs,” popular leagues and clinics that cater to about 1,000 kids in Boston. The foundation spends about $300,000 on that programming in Boston, as well as other cities.
Salwasser reaffirmed the organization’s commitment to youth baseball and softball.
“We want to make sure our dollars have the most impact for everyone. We don’t want to ever decrease that,” she said.
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May 18, 2021 at 05:15AM
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Red Sox reinstate direct funding to Massachusetts Little League teams - Boston Herald
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