ExtremeRavens Posted yesterday at 01:00 PM Posted yesterday at 01:00 PM Ravens defensive tackle John Jenkins is both indebted and an exemplar of the promise of youth. Raised in Meriden, Connecticut, a rough-around-the-edges working-class city of 60,000 about 20 miles south of Hartford, his mother, Mary Ann Baker, gave birth to him when she was a young teen. “It was tough,” Jenkins said. “Growing up with that, already the odds are against me in a lot of sense. It was extremely tough.” What made childhood easier, though, was the Meriden Boys & Girls Club where he spent the majority of his formative days. It gave him a sense of purpose, Jenkins said. “A lot of kids who grow up in that type of environment, they always try to find a purpose, try to belong somewhere, whether it’s positive or negative,” he said. “The Boys & Girls Club was that for me in a positive way.” When Jenkins wasn’t starring on the football field for Maloney High School, he was at the Boys & Girls Club, where in addition to playing sports and hanging out with friends, a nascent college predatory program helped set him on his path. He spent two seasons at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College before transferring to Georgia, where he earned second-team All-Southeastern Conference honors before being selected by the New Orleans Saints in the third round of the 2013 draft. “That was a big thing, because nobody really knew college where I was from,” he said of the program. “Everybody got through high school through sports, then went to a community college, failed that and ended up working a 9-5.” Thirteen years and seven NFL teams later, Jenkins still relishes being able to play a game even if he doesn’t know how much longer his career will last. What he is certain about, is the role the new Ravens Boys & Girls Club that opened this past October can play for children and teens in West Baltimore and beyond. The project began in earnest when former Ravens wide receiver Torrey Smith, his wife Chanel and their nonprofit, LEVEL82, along with former NFL linebacker and Baltimore native Aaron Maybin, breathed life into the old Hilton Recreation Center in 2020. Vacant for more than a decade, they brought mental health and academic services and other activities to the facility. Around the same time and coincidentally, Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti reached out to former team president Dick Cass and Ravens vice president of community relations Heather Darney and charged them with finding an after-school space. “He felt like that was just a really important thing,” Darney said. “If we could create a space that kids were excited to come to after school and have their focus be there instead of lots of options they have after school, how cool would it be if we started looking into that.” That’s when the proverbial light bulb went off. With the Ravens already assisting Smith and his efforts, the answer was right in front of them. A $20 million infusion from Biscotti’s foundation, followed by another $16 million raised by the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metropolitan Baltimore, along with a 30-year lease from the city, and, voila. Construction began in June 2024 and 18 months later it is already the largest of the 10 Boys & Girls Clubs in metropolitan Baltimore and one of only a few tied to an NFL team, with the Denver Broncos and Los Angeles Rams being the others with their own clubs. It has already had an immediate impact, too. Neighboring Green Street Academy, founded in 2010, previously had to travel to other areas in the city for its middle and high school games. Now, it uses the Ravens Boys & Girls Club, which has a lighted multipurpose turf field for the charter school and others, a gym designed and funded by Under Armour and christened by NBA star Steph Curry, along with lounges and tutoring spaces, podcasting and dance studios and a game room. “I’ve been in this business 25 years, and I have heard 100 times about the effect that a place like this had on my players — over and over and over again,” Bisciotti said at the facility’s official opening in October. “This type of investment is different,” added team president Sashi Brown. “It’s longitudinal. It’s a deep investment in the community and a commitment from the team.” Jenkins is only one example of its power. Ravens safety Kyle Hamilton spent a chunk of his youth at the Boys & Girls Club of Metro Atlanta. Left tackle Ronnie Stanley went to the Boys & Girls Club of Southern Nevada. The list goes on across the NFL and beyond. “It’s another home base for us to feel connected to and we want the community to be connected to,” Darney said. “Now, we’re gonna show up, we’re gonna come back. It makes it easy for players to say ‘Hey, I have a Monday afternoon free, let’s see what’s going on at the club.’” Though the initial conversations around the design of the gleaming complex were to downplay the connection to the Ravens and feature little branding, Boys & Girls Club president and chief executive Jeff Breslin wanted to “flip that on its head” and lean into the natural connection. “The whole goal is when they walk in they feel like they’re part of the flock, part of the team,” he said. “They see themselves in both the players and the general culture that is the Ravens. It’s hard to put that on paper and measure and say, ‘OK it means this for this kid,’ but pride in yourself, pride in your community and feeling like you’re part of something bigger benefits everybody.” So does the airy, light-filled space itself. The design was deliberately different than many of the brick buildings with small windows of the 1960s the Boys & Girls Clubs had previously renovated. “We could have spent less money and done good enough, but that is not the way the Bisciotti’s operate,” Breslin said. “It sends a message to kids that when you walk in here not only are you surrounded by people that care about you but the building and how you feel in that building means a lot, so you deserve natural light, you deserve high-class furniture, you deserve the best technology. The wonder and the spark of what [the kids] can be benefits all of us.” The hope is the region will benefit, too. With more than 800 students just 100 yards away at Green Street Academy and another 2,000 within a one-mile radius, the high density provides for rich opportunities. The surrounding community was also passionate about the project, said Breslin, whose past work includes helping oversee the Under Armour House at Fayette and time at the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation, among more than 20 years of youth development and philanthropy. “We see this as a disruptor in a good way, a chance to pilot new programs to bring new partners to the table,” Breslin said. “Certainly sports will be a huge piece of it, but then from there our hope is we can demonstrate the power of when groups of people come together. “You never know what can happen.” Just ask Jenkins as well as those he hopes to help inspire. “You deserve this,” Bisciotti said in October as dozens of kids looked on. “And we’re not going to stop here. We’re taking applications for the next one and the next one and the next one.” Have a news tip? Contact Brian Wacker at bwacker@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/brianwacker1. Ravens' owner Steve Bisciotti, left, and former Raven Torrey Smith, take a look at the basketball court at the new Ravens Boys & Girls Club in October. The facility carries special meaning for several Ravens. (Lloyd Fox/Staff) View the full article Quote
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