Serving the community is an important part of the Mariners’ mission. That is why, as Seattle welcomed the baseball world for the 2023 All-Star Game, the organization was excited to create positive, lasting opportunities for youth in the Pacific Northwest.

During All-Star Week, the Mariners partnered with Major League Baseball to establish the 2023 All-Star Legacy Initiative. This initiative seeks to make a lasting impact on the greater Seattle community and throughout the Mariners’ region by addressing equity gaps to expand access to youth baseball and softball.

The Access Innovation Fund was launched as part of this All-Star Legacy Initiative. Established to provide grants to organizations removing barriers to access baseball and softball in innovative ways, the Fund provided a grant to the King County Play Equity Coalition to develop and co-facilitate with the Mariners a new Baseball & Softball Play Equity Youth Council. Young leaders serving on the council will review and approve grant applications for local Nike RBI (Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities) and community league programs committed to providing barrier-free access to baseball and softball.

“We felt that we are able to gather the true feelings of the youth equity council in a judgment-free zone,” said Blair Frederick, co-facilitator and Mariners youth development staff member. “By having more conversations like this, we hope to transform the landscape of youth sports for years to come.” 

The council is made up of six youth softball and baseball players who meet four times a year to learn more about philanthropy and barriers to access. The group will then decide on two grant award winners who will each receive $5,000. The award will be given during a check presentation at a 2024 Mariners game.

The six members of the council are Kaitlyn Washington, King Edwards, DJ Parker, Perry VanderWey, Miles Hagopian and Kaila Ignacio.

“I joined the Youth Council wanting to know more about how I can help my community,” said Ignacio, a Youth Council and Hometown Nine member, following their first meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 14. 

The council's purpose is to incorporate youth, with lived experiences facing barriers to play, into the Mariners’ softball and baseball equity work while empowering them to have a voice and gain leadership experience. 

Along with Frederick, the council is co-facilitated by Cha Cha Sawyer, a member of the King County Play Equity Coalition. 

“I'm excited to support the ignition of youth leaders in softball and baseball equity efforts,” Sawyer said. “They hold important and unique knowledge that is necessary to incorporate when we talk about youth access to physical activity and opportunity. So, it is great to see the Mariners are providing a space for them to speak their mind while influencing the impacts of some of the Mariners’ equity initiatives, such as funding.”

The King County Play Equity Coalition (KCPEC) is a network of organizations dedicated to challenging and changing different systems to shift power and center physical activity as a key part of health and youth development.

The Mariners, along with all the professional Seattle sports teams (Seahawks, Kraken, Sounders, Storm, OL Reign, Seawolves, and Cascades and Tempest), have partnered together to support the KCPEC in a display of the shared values and commitment to equity and access in sport. The professional Seattle sports teams will collectively donate $500,000 over four years to the KCPEC, demonstrating the belief and importance of the work that KCPEC is doing.

The vision of the KCPEC is to have a community where all youth, and particularly youth from historically underserved groups, get to experience the transformative benefits of play, sports, outdoor recreation and physical activity.

“Having the input of the kids from their point of view is so important because at the end of the day, the programs we build in the future are for them, the kids of the community,” Frederick said. “With this in mind, we should listen to their desires and use that insight to build appropriate programming. Throughout our conversation with the youth equity council, we learned that these kids are hungry for skill development, coaches that care about them and access to nicer facilities. With this newfound knowledge, we can now advocate for them and insist that future programming is created to cater to these needs.”

A few of the members of the council are also a part of the Mariners' Hometown Nine program, like Ignacio. In addition, the council will be compensated for their time and efforts. This stipend demonstrates the value the council brings by engaging with communities facing disparities.

“Knowing that we are helping the community that I have grown up in and seeing how programs like these shaped me into who I am today, makes me want to give back and learn more about the ways people can help,” Ignacio said.

The council further creates more play equity in Washington and encourages youth in the community to get involved, learn more about philanthropy and have a voice on topics and decisions that directly affect them.

“The first meeting with the council was a success,” Frederick said. “Within the first five minutes, the kids had formed relationships with everyone in the room, and it led to an extremely fruitful conversation about their experiences in baseball and softball and how we can best fit their needs.” 

After just the first meeting, the council is already making a difference and conducting important conversations that will alter and impact the future of baseball and softball access in the region. 

“I’m really excited to learn more about how I can make my community a better place, provide resources for those who need it and grow the sport of baseball and softball,” Ignacio said.