CJ Stewart

Introduction and the Role of Culture

Taryell Simmons: Welcome ladies and gentlemen to another episode of Rise Urban Nation. I am your host Taryell Simmons, back in the building with a special guest: the one, the only, Mr. CJ Stewart from Atlanta. How are you doing today, sir?

CJ Stewart: I am great. I am excited to be here with you to learn about you, educate, and empower you and your listeners.

Taryell Simmons: I appreciate that because you are doing big things in Atlanta. What are your thoughts on what Deion Sanders has been able to do, not just for HBCUs, but for young men?

CJ Stewart: First, I serve as our co-founder and Chief Visionary Officer, and my wife Kelly is our Executive Director. She handles a massive workload that requires immense skill. Where Kelly focuses on our mission—the right now—I focus on our vision for the future. Regarding Coach Deion Sanders, beyond the Xs and Os, culture is more important than coaching. As Chief Visionary Officer, my job is to ensure the culture is strong so that all our work gets done.

The Mission of LEAD and Overcoming Adversity

Taryell Simmons: You run a sports-based youth development and education organization partnering with brands like Adidas, Kroger, and Mercedes-Benz. Walk us through the mission and how that vision came to be.

CJ Stewart: The mission of LEAD is to use the sports of baseball and tennis to help Black boys and Black girls overcome the three curveballs that threaten their success: crime, poverty, and racism. Our vision is that our LEAD ambassadors will lead Atlanta to lead the world. If you can lead in Atlanta, you can lead anywhere. I was born in 1976 in Atlanta as a Grady baby, meaning I was Black and poor. I grew up in a working-class family without generational wealth or social capital. There was love in the house, but also trauma exacerbated by poverty. Baseball became my buffer.

Baseball Journey and Finding Faith

CJ Stewart: I started playing baseball at eight years old, dreaming of playing for the Chicago Cubs. In 1984, the Cubs won the NL East pennant, Run-D.M.C. debuted, and Jesse Jackson ran for president. Through relationships with great mentors, I worked out with the Cubs at 14, was drafted at 18, and drafted again at 20 when I signed to play in the Cubs organization. Baseball provided financial and social capital. LEAD is a love letter from Kelly and me to Black youth to give them opportunities to become Major League citizens.

Taryell Simmons: You built your baseball career from the ground up through intentional work. What gave you the mental fortitude to keep putting in the reps to succeed?

CJ Stewart: I established a vision watching games with my grandfather, and I put faith behind it. Vision is what you see in your mind; faith is conviction in what you cannot yet see. Inspired by civil rights figures like Hank Aaron and Jackie Robinson, I wanted to use my success to serve others. I was poured into by three mentors: Emmett Johnson, my first coach and chairman of the Atlanta Public Schools Board of Education; TJ Wilson; and NBA referee Derek Stafford. Having a clear vision and the right people makes success a reality.

Sports-Based Youth Development and Social Capital

Taryell Simmons: How does participating in sports translate to confidence, teamwork, and social-emotional growth?

CJ Stewart: We measure success through social-emotional learning capacities: self-efficacy, self-management, positive identity, social capital, social skills, and contribution. Ninety-two percent of youth in our program show measurable gains in at least three of these areas. Baseball involves significant failure and teamwork, inspiring individuals to strive toward collective goals. A Major League citizen is someone gainfully employed and civically engaged. In Atlanta, a child born into poverty has only a 4% chance of escaping it due to racial income inequality. LEAD provides mentorship, sponsorship, coaching, and advocacy because our youth are often over-mentored but under-sponsored.

Excellence, Representation, and Racial Equity

Taryell Simmons: LEAD boasts a 100% high school graduation rate, a 91% college enrollment rate, and 3,500 annual community service hours. How does that compare to students without this support?

CJ Stewart: Our participants gain clarity and direction, with 70% reporting gains from having supportive adults. In LEAD, youth gain benefit of the doubt, respect, and trust—the context that makes content matter. Many organizations require Black youth to assimilate to middle-class white culture, but at LEAD, they are empowered to be authentically and openly Black while striving for excellence.

The SBYD Coach Certification

Taryell Simmons: It builds two-way social capital where influential partners also learn from the youth and become better allies. How did that begin?

CJ Stewart: In 2007, while Kelly and I were running our for-profit training business—having trained 43 Major League players—a client's father, Stan Conway, challenged me about the decline of Black players in baseball. That conversation incited the creation of LEAD. We prepare our youth to interact with white peers and adults with excellence. We bring white peers into their space during training so our athletes build familiarity, confidence, and comfort competing across racial and economic lines.

Building the Atlanta Baseball Complex

Taryell Simmons: Tell us about the new coach certification program you have been developing.

CJ Stewart: Historically, a coach was a vehicle that transported someone to a destination. In sports-based youth development, coaching requires methodologies, developmental models, and trauma-informed, evidence-based approaches to remove barriers for marginalized youth. Unlike pay-to-play travel ball, SBYD requires well-resourced, quality coaching. Our certification program will recruit, train, and retain coaches globally without needing new physical infrastructure, updating the operating system of youth development everywhere.

Negro Leagues Innovation and Legacy

Taryell Simmons: You are also working on building a state-of-the-art baseball and tennis complex in Atlanta. What is the vision for that facility?

CJ Stewart: I grew up in Bankhead across Center Hill and Grove Park. We are pursuing a public-private partnership with the City of Atlanta to build two baseball fields, including a state-of-the-art stadium, tennis courts, community space, and an indoor training facility. Georgia is a premier baseball hub, and this project will bring the world directly to the Bankhead community. Our teenagers will also coach youth from affluent areas like Buckhead, creating sustainable economic opportunities and philanthropic engagement for local youth.

CJ Stewart: The Negro Leagues proved the power of baseball innovation. Night games, catcher's gear, and modern player movement models were all pioneered in the Negro Leagues. As Kadir Nelson wrote in We Are the Ship and All Else Is the Sea, Black players brought transformative institutional knowledge that made Major League Baseball thrive.

Closing Thoughts and Community Support

Taryell Simmons: That history is vital for everyone to understand our foundation in the sport. What closing wisdom would you share, and where can our listeners find and support your work?

CJ Stewart: You can visit https://LEADCenter4Youth.org and my personal website at https://iamcjstewart.com, or find me on social media @iamcjstewart. Atlanta will never become a world-class city until hundreds of thousands of Black boys, girls, men, and women live sustainable lives of significance. You cannot have fun without funding, so we invite everyone to invest in our youth.

Taryell Simmons: Thank you Coach CJ Stewart for your leadership and dedication. We appreciate and salute you.

CJ Stewart: Thank you so much.