Loading...Cincinnati, home of the Reds, was the first city in America to form a professional team and this summer is the host city for the 2015 MLB All-Star Game. The tradition of baseball runs deep in Cincinnati, but in recent years there has been a decline in interest of the city’s youth when it comes the Great American Pastime. The Cincinnati Reds saw a clear, new mission: reignite an interest in youth baseball and reignite a passion for the game for years to come. So, when the Reds vision materialized was a $7 million, multi-field facility, dubbed The Urban Youth Academy in Roselawn Park, they looked for local partners to help make it a reality – enter the NECA/IBEW Team. A couple years later, and a couple hundred thousand dollars or more worth of donated time and material, the new facility is open for play. It includes outdoor fields and 33,000 sq. ft. of indoor training and classroom space as a crowning achievement for the Cincinnati Reds and their ongoing outreach program for baseball in the city. Besides learning the skills of the game, it is a place to help kids break trough social barriers of all kinds, blending the urban and suburban communities, utilizing a shared interest in baseball to bring youth of varying backgrounds together to work as a team.