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May 26, 2023
Major League Baseball (MLB) has launched its new social responsibility platform – MLB Together – to advance its service and community-building efforts. The unified social responsibility brand is a first in the league’s history and emphasizes baseball’s efforts to make important societal contributions through the power of partnership and community. As part of the debut, the platform highlights the league’s new youth-focused mental health and wellness initiative.
“MLB Together represents the very best of what our sport means to our fans and our communities. Baseball’s ability to bring people together through shared values and addressing common causes has helped secure the game’s status within our culture. We look forward to working with our Clubs, partners, players and fans to make a meaningful community impact through the MLB Together platform,” stated Commissioner of Baseball Robert D. Manfred, Jr.
The platform embodies baseball’s guiding principles of community engagement, nonprofit partnerships, social impact and volunteerism. It serves as a call-to-action for everyone across the game, including fans, to get involved in their local communities through a diverse offering of the league’s goodwill, legacy and charitable programs. The platform operates within seven pillars including:
- Youth empowerment: mental health, wellness, bullying prevention, encouraging physical activity and increasing access to baseball and softball, in addition to educational and workforce development support;
- Diversity, Equity & Inclusion: voting education and access and closing equity gaps for underrepresented communities;
- Domestic & Physical Safety: prevention and survivor support in the areas of domestic violence, child abuse and human trafficking;
- Health Research & Resources: addressing causes of cancer and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as “Lou Gehrig’s Disease”;
- Military Family & Veteran Resources: support services and tributes for military families, veterans and active service members;
- Disaster Relief: through the American Red Cross Disaster Responder program;
- MLB Green: environmental sustainability and greening initiatives
Launched during May’s Mental Health Awareness Month in the US, MLB Together also debuted its newest mental health initiative aimed at public awareness, de-stigmatizing conversations around mental health, providing education and resources and interactive support, all with a special emphasis on youth. The overall goal of the program is to encourage those connected to the game (fans, employees, players and team personnel) to ask for help when necessary.
According to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), in 2021 42% of high school students felt persistently sad or hopeless with nearly one-third experiencing poor mental health. More than 22% of students seriously considered attempting suicide and 10% attempted suicide. These statistics highlight US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy’s warning of a mental health crisis in the country and an epidemic of loneliness and isolation among youth, particularly for minority and marginalized young people.
The program will raise awareness by sharing inspiring and powerful stories of baseball players and figures. It launched with a PSA (public service announcement) last week, featuring MLB players Carlos Correa, Austin Meadows, Carlos Rodón, Kenley Jansen, CJ Abrams and Kolten Wong, among others, and will air in MLB ballparks, during national and local MLB games and across MLB media platforms.
The program is offering support in partnership with Crisis Text Line, a free, 24/7, confidential text-based mental health service (text “MLB” to 741741) for anyone in need. It addresses anxiety, depression, grief and self-harm and is available in English and Spanish. Additionally, the initiative offers an online educational course by EVERFI from Blackbaud. The course is for students in 8th – 10th grade within all 30 MLB club regions and consists of six online modules focused on understanding mental wellness.
“MLB Together gives us one platform where we’re able to be laser focused in certain areas where we know the power of our sport can truly uplift communities and make a difference…We consider this the most important work that we do off the field, in the community making change,” stated April Brown, MLB SVP of Social Responsibility on MLB Network’s “High Heat” talk show.
MLB is a Beyond Sport Founding Supporter.
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