Resources:
Sarah Rigg's Feature Article: Making sports and fitness accessible to Ypsi-area kids is this nonprofit’s focus
Ypsilanti Community—The Village on Facebook
Ypsilanti Community — The Village on X (Twitter)
Ypsilanti Community — The Village on Instagram
Transcription:
Lee Van Roth: You're listening to 89.1 WEMU. I'm Lee Van Roth, and this is On the Ground Ypsi. For many young people in Ypsilanti, access to sports and extracurricular activities can come with financial barriers that make participation difficult. But one local grassroots nonprofit is working to change that by offering free athletic training, tutoring, and mentorship opportunities for area youth. Founded during the COVID-19 pandemic by a group of Ypsilanti High School alumni, the Ypsilanti Community--The Village has grown from a small group of kids meeting on Saturday mornings into a wide-reaching community initiative serving youth ages five to 18. With me today is Village Director Mitchell Long, also known to his students as Coach Mitch. Coach Mitch, thanks so much for being here today!
Mitch Long: Thank you so much for having me! Appreciate it!
Lee Van Roth: So, just to start us off, can you tell us a little bit about how The Village first came together, what, now six years ago, and what sort of needs you were hoping to address with this kind of service?
Mitch Long: Well, I pretty much had started, I coached at some other schools at Huron and Summit and Plymouth-Canton, and I was just taking things from their programs where it's like, "What is something that I can bring back home?" So, I left the nest, learned, came back, was like, "Maybe we can put something together where we can have like something free," because everything has to be charged. So, coming off COVID, families hitting hardship and camps and everything being so high and not able to be affordable, we were like, "Why not we just put something together?" So, me and a couple of my alumni colleagues, we wind up having a talk in the basement, just a regular conversation. And it just went from there. And the crazy part was one of my alumni old coaches came back. So, he stopped coaching, then he came back to coach, which is Dan Brown, who is now the athletic director. So, I felt like it was a blessing because it all worked itself out. It all worked itself out smoothly.
Lee Van Roth: And I know that, just like you mentioned, that a huge part of this whole initiative is making these services and these opportunities free, a lot easier to access for folks in the area, for kids in the areas. And you mentioned part of that coming from the financial struggles that a lot of folks were facing during and right after the pandemic. But were there other factors that kind of led into that being one of the main focuses of The Village?
Mitch Long: Well, the main thing was to get the kids' attention, so I knew it would be sports. So, I'm like, "OK, if I get the sports, then I can get the parents." So, it started off with just six kids. Then it blew up to 60. And I'm like, "Now, we can tap into the academic portion of things." So, I reached out to the Ypsilanti Community Rec Center on Clark Road, and I asked them if there were some spots available. They were like, "Hey, we love this program! We want to be involved!" And ever since then, I host my tutoring there.
Lee Van Roth: Again, like you mentioned, The Village started out with these speed and agility clinics, getting kids moving and finding these opportunities for more sport and exercise has since now expanded into tutoring, cheerleading, specialty football clinics, all of these different kinds of things. What was that process like of expanding The Village from athletics and sports base to being athletic sports and education?
Mitch Long: Well, just pretty much just getting people just to buy in. I think they were just seeing what we had going on. Alumni and people that were just part of the community was like, "Is there any way I can help in any way, form, or fashion?" So, rather, they were a coach or a teacher or something, it's like, "Yeah, we'll find a place for you, you know?" So, it really takes a village. And then, we wind up expanding. Actually, this past year, we wind up expanding to baseball, wrestling, cheer, and basketball. So, we wind up expanding them more, and we're still expanding. I still have the golf coach, the soccer coach calling me, the swimming coach calling, and they just saying like, "Yeah, we want to be part of this opportunity where we can give free opportunities!" And I'm like, "Awesome! Cool!"
Lee Van Roth: So, obviously, I don't need to tell you this, but a big part of the sports coaching and things of that nature is a lot of confidence building in the students and the young athletes. How has that piece kind of folded into the whole message that The Village has? I know there's a big of that that's kind of a "no child left behind" kind of philosophy.
Mitch Long: Absolutely!
Lee Van Roth: And making sure that all the kids feel welcome, but how do you continue to build from that?
Mitch Long: Well, again, it's just receiving the kids' trust. So, I mean, personally, with a lot of the kids, they trust what I do and the work that's been put in. So, we also help out as far as getting kids to college. A lot of kids, they don't really have the self-confidence where they feel that they can do it or whatever. So, I kind of just, my way, the angle that I give them, I be like, "Hey, you can do A, if you want to go to the next level, but this is the steps you got to do. But if you don't, there's other options where you don't have to go in for sports." So, I made sure to leave that option available for them. And actually, recently, we just wind up having like our first signing day where we wind up signing like 11 kids off to play college football.
Lee Van Roth: Oh wow!
Mitch Long: Then, we wind of having one in the spring where we signed nine kids to go play basketball, run track, and do soccer. So, it's starting to create like a buzz. Like, "Oh, man! What's going on over there at Ypsi or whatnot?" So, it's just been trying to just turn the page. And like I said, the kids are our marketing board. So, they're going to put it on their social media. And then, kids that have left will plan to come back. Like, "Oh, yeah, I want to come back!" So, that's kind of just been the plan and been the objective that I've been trying to do: bring kids back home.
Lee Van Roth: And speaking of all the kids coming back and kids continuing to sing the praises of The Village, I'm sure that you've had some students that you just mentioned signing kids up for college.
Mitch Long: Yup.
Lee Van Roth: What is that process like as the coach, seeing that growth as time goes on?
Mitch Long: It's great! I actually got an example. His name is Atticus, Atticus Caradine. He was one of the first Village kids. So, in 2021, when we first started, again, kind of a rough high school path, had a lot of different coaches or whatever of changes. And he wound up going to Michigan State academic school and got a big scholarship for academics. And he had gave me a call. He was like, "Well, coach. You know, I'm thinking about walking on." And I'm like, "Okay. Well, go for it, man! Chances make champions!" And he actually wound up making the team. So, he wound up being the quarterback, then he wound of getting his position switched to wide receiver or whatnot. But the thing was that just building that bond, that relationship where they can call back and be like, "Coach, I've been feeling this way. What you think I should do?" And then, we just had that casual conversation. So, it was actually great to have an opportunity to have a Big 10 collegiate athlete from The Village, from the program. So, the plan is, like, later on down the road when they graduate or whatever, they'll want to come back and work.
Lee Van Roth: This is WEMU's On The Ground Ypsi. I'm Lee Van Roth talking with Coach Mitch Long from Ypsilanti Community--The Village. So, I know another big aspect to this, and we're talking about accessibility is just participation in sports in general. You know, following the pandemic, there's been a lot of different issues that young people have been facing socially, particularly in these academic settings, which then extends into the extracurricular kind of world. How does The Village and its programs kind of fit into this box of making sure that kids and students feel ready to take on these kinds of challenges and go into these kinds of programs and have that feeling of confidence, as opposed to avoiding those kinds of social interactions?
Mitch Long: Yeah. Well, we definitely got people that's in the program that are in different parts. So, it's not all really just coaches or whatnot. You have some people that, like I said, some of them have played football and went to the NFL. We have some that's played other sports. We actually had the Ypsi rugby team, which was a big contribution to us. They've been with me since 2021 and been helping. You know, I think just the different people that we have and the different coaches, even from different schools where they're from this community, but they coach at different places and whatnot. So, it's not me just speaking the same message.
Lee Van Roth: Sure.
Mitch Long: It's coming from different people in a different lingo or whatnot. Do you know what I mean?
Lee Van Roth: Speaking of this network of coaches and educators that you're working with, what does the level of community, that level of community support that you've received, meant to you as this one of these coaches and for the kids that you are working with?
Mitch Long: A lot of these coaches, some of them coached me as well. So, I think I started with people that I looked up to and that I followed. So, I started with them, the older guys, and then I was able to wheel in other people as well, younger people or whatnot. But, yeah, it's been a great ride! The people that's impacted my life and changed my life, that's what I've been wanting to do for myself as I got older. Like, "Okay, what can I do to give back to my community? What legacy can I leave?" So, that's been the thing for me. And it's just been great!
Lee Van Roth: And for families or community members who maybe want to get involved with The Village in some way, if that's participating themselves, volunteering, supporting the program in other ways, how do they do that? How do they get involved?
Mitch Long: Well, we got a Facebook page, Ypsilanti Community--The Village, or you can go on our Instagram page, YC The Village. We also got a Twitter called YC The Village. Like I said, it's a thing where we're trying. We're still growing. So, it's somewhere. It started off small, and then, it grew so big, so fast. It was like, "Oh, we got to get everything in order!" So definitely, like I said, we started with the paperwork, the social media, and we plan on getting our website and everything up and running as well.
Lee Van Roth: Coach Mitch, thank you so much for joining me today! I know with the weather getting better outside, I know I'm definitely inspired! Hopefully, some other folks are too!
Mitch Long: Yes, yes! Yes, yes!
Lee Van Roth: For more information on today's topic and links to the full article, visit our website at WEMU.org. On the Ground Ypsi is brought to you in partnership with Concentrate Media. I'm Lee Van Roth, and this is your Community NPR station, 89.1 WEMU, Ypsilanti.
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