Baseball Academy for Youth Planned

Major League Baseball officials will join Los Angeles leaders today in announcing plans for a first-of-its-kind youth academy to open next year at the Hansen Dam Recreation Area in the northeast San Fernando Valley.

Hundreds of at-risk young people from throughout Los Angeles will be able to attend the academy each year to learn about and play baseball and softball in a curriculum that will incorporate academic instruction including math, history and science, according to Peter Hidalgo, a spokesman for Mayor Richard Riordan.

“Combining after-school activities with academics is something good for kids that they don’t often get,” Hidalgo said.

The project is a partnership of Major League Baseball, the Dodgers and the Los Angeles Recreation and Parks Department.

The league plans a “multi-million-dollar” investment in building a meeting hall for the students and about four sports fields, as well as a similar annual investment in operating the facility as a cornerstone of its national Urban Youth Initiative, league representatives said.

“It is going to help at-risk kids in a major urban setting,” said Jimmie Lee Solomon, senior vice president for baseball operations for Major League Baseball.

Professional baseball players from the Dodgers and visiting teams will make appearances at the academy, teaching young people the fundamentals of the game as well as providing role models.

Although the initiative provides programs for at-risk youth in other parts of the country, the program does not have a “bricks and mortar” presence anywhere else, Solomon said.

In addition, baseball leagues are expected to use the facility.

A satellite facility will be opened in South Los Angeles.

Officials plan to announce plans for the facilities today at Dodger Stadium.