The New York Yankees, community members and city agencies celebrated the opening day for the Yankees’ third annual Summer Night Lights program, which features tournament-style baseball and softball games, on Tuesday, July 8, at Elston Gene Howard Field, located across the street from Yankee Stadium.
The Summer Night Lights program is held by the Yankees, in partnership with the New York City Police Department’s (NYPD) Blue Chips Program, NYC Parks, the New York City Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD), the Players Alliance, SCAN-Harbor and LG.
Approximately 500 kids and teens between the ages of 12 and 18 will be playing in tournament-style games every Tuesday and Wednesday night from 3-11 p.m. until the end of August. The nighttime schedule provided by the Summer Nights program is meant to help supplement the limited number of activities available to kids in these age groups during summer evenings.
This program is a collective effort to encourage local youths to take part in baseball-related activities. In addition to serving as a great outlet for recreation, the program also grants these kids social responsibility and healthy competition. With kids from all over the Bronx coming together to take part in this program, artificial and territorial boundaries are shattered in a way that brings communities together.
“This represents access during those challenging times in the summer months,” New York Yankees Senior Vice President of Corporate/Community Relations Brian Smith said. “This is access for local youth to be involved in a productive recreational and mentoring program through the summer. We’re excited to roll out year three this year.”
Smith also emphasized the importance of the partners for this program being heavily invested in ensuring its success. He was very grateful that the partners were also well represented at the opening day, reflecting their commitment to the Summer Night Lights program.
Over 60% of those scheduled to participate in this year’s Summer Nights program are young women. This marks the second straight year that a majority of the participants are young women.
“It’s girls and boys playing baseball and softball, and it’s just a really exciting thing that we do here, right in the backyard of Yankee Stadium,” Yankees Community Affairs Ambassador and Yankees Foundation Director Haley Steinbrenner Swindal said. “Summer can be a crazy time. This keeps kids from doing other things, it keeps kids together and engaged as a community, towards good, towards winning, towards perseverance and a common goal.”
NYC DYCD Senior Director of Strategic Partnerships Jeremy Syrop noted that this year’s program is not just limited to kids from the Bronx. Some of the kids are coming from other New York City boroughs to take part in the Summer Night Lights program. He feels the program’s growth from around 300 kids in its first year to nearly 500 this year reflects just how successful the program has been.
“Young people are competitive and they really want to play,” Syrop said. “We have a majority of young women who want to play baseball and softball. [This program] is an opportunity for all of us to come together, compete with one another and also have fun. This is where the original Yankee Stadium was, where all the greats played at. This [program] helps young people understand that these are also their spaces. These aren’t just spaces of entertainment. They’re spaces that they can interact with and claim their own.”
DYCD Commissioner Keith Howard was very thankful to the Yankees for creating this program, which has become very popular for kids in the area. He is hopeful that, like last year, the championship game can take place at Yankee Stadium.
“This would not have happened if it wasn’t for the partnership with the Yankees,” Howard said. “It is one of the most supportive programs and partnerships that we’ve had in DYCD.”
Many of this year’s participants are returning after taking part in at least one of the previous Summer Night Lights programs.
“The experience [last year] was pretty good. It was a bunch of fun playing here, especially at night, because it’s always a better vibe at night,” Summer Night Lights program participant Xavier Izquierdo said. “[The program] makes it so that I’m always active. I always have something to look forward to on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, so I’m not always at home. I come out here and it’s fun. It’s always a great opportunity.”
“[Getting to play today] was amazing. We were active and all the teams came together and were working hard together,” Summer Nights program participant Ashley Torres said. “We were very supportive of each other. It was a great opportunity getting to play here.”
