There are kids in North Charleston's Chicora neighborhood who want to play baseball. The problem isn't talent or interest. It's that there's literally nowhere to play.
The local magnet high school doesn't have a baseball or softball field. The southern end of the city has historically lacked investment in recreation infrastructure. If you're a kid in this neighborhood and you want to pick up a bat, you're pretty much on your own.
That's about to change.
The Deal
The City of North Charleston, The Sandlot Initiative, and the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation are partnering on a $4.5 million youth baseball and softball complex on Carner Avenue in the Chicora neighborhood. The city has committed over $1.25 million, with the partners fundraising the balance.
The facility plan includes a lighted regulation-size baseball field, a 12U softball field, and an open-air training center.
Here's the part that makes this different from most facility deals we cover: everything is free. Programming, coaching, equipment. All of it. No registration fees, no gear costs, no paywall between a kid and a diamond.
"This is our way of bridging that gap," said Andy Brusman, founder of The Sandlot Initiative. This is the organization's first project, and Brusman is designing it as a replicable blueprint for other underserved communities.
The Ripken Foundation's Playbook
The Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation (founded by Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. and his brother Bill, named after their father) has deployed its Youth Development Park model in more than 100 parks nationwide. The model goes beyond field access. It wraps in mentorship, character development, teamwork, and communication programming through the foundation's National Youth Mentoring Initiative.
"It's not just the sports," said Scott Swinson, the foundation's director of development. "We're about developing these kids from the inside out."
That 100+ park track record matters. It means the design standards, programming frameworks, and operational playbooks already exist. This isn't a one-off community project hoping it works. It's a proven model being dropped into a neighborhood that needs it.
Why the Location Was Chosen
The Chicora neighborhood site was selected for a few specific reasons. It's within walking and biking distance of several schools. It's close to residential streets. And it sits next to two other recent community investments: a senior center that opened in December 2024 and a community wellness center being built by SC Ports that's expected to open soon.
That clustering is intentional. It's the same "corridor revitalization" logic that drives sports tourism complexes, just applied to community development instead of economic development. Stack enough assets in one area and the neighborhood starts to change.
Why This Matters in the Youth Sports Landscape
Most of the deals we cover in this newsletter are about tournament venues, PE exits, and platform plays. This one is different, and that's the point.
Youth sports is increasingly splitting into two tracks. On one side, you've got destination tournament complexes built to drive hotel nights and economic impact (like Owensboro's Bluegrass Fieldhouse). On the other, you've got equity and access facilities designed to remove barriers for kids who've been priced out or locked out of organized sports entirely.
Both tracks matter. And for investors, the access side of the equation is worth watching for a few reasons. The Ripken Foundation's 100+ park model has franchise-like replicability. Organizations like The Sandlot Initiative are building blueprints designed to scale. And the demand is massive — millions of kids in underserved communities have the interest but not the infrastructure.
The business opportunity may not look like a traditional deal, but the philanthropic capital, public funding, and corporate partnership structures that fuel these projects are creating a growing ecosystem of their own.
What to Watch
Two things will determine whether this project delivers on its promise. First, fundraising pace. The remaining capital needs to be raised before construction begins, and that's where community facility projects tend to stall. Second, operating sustainability. Free programming is powerful, but it requires durable funding for staffing, coaching pipelines, and ongoing maintenance. The build is the easy part. Keeping it running is the real challenge.
The Sandlot Initiative is calling this a blueprint. If it works in Chicora, expect to see it replicated. The model, the partnerships, and the need are all there.
