OREANDA-NEWS. October 20, 2015. Does it matter what sport an inner-city kid plays? Michael Gary thinks it can. While basketball, football and baseball are the most common sports available to these kids, once they move into the working world they may find casual work conversations focused around experiences with more suburban sports, such as lacrosse. Gary wants to give those kids common shared experiences with their future colleagues — and along the way help them learn the value of hard work and dedication.

He founded Inner City Lacrosse, which pairs volunteer Yale University and Trinity College players with middle school students from New Haven and Hartford, Conn. The college players teach the kids lacrosse, free of charge, for seven Sundays through the fall with a final game at Yale or Trinity. In only its third year, the program has had 172 kids participate.

Across the nation, African American coaches and athletes like Gary are helping to create healthier communities by working with at-risk youth. Whether they are providing free and low-cost gymnastics to children in New York City, giving opportunities to kids with disabilities, or training teens to be coaches and mentors themselves through football, they are changing the mindset and the lives of at-risk youth. And by helping children be mentally and physically healthy, these outstanding individuals are inspiring positive changes in their communities.