Sean Kirst tells the story of Avery Brooks and Bettie Graham, two people working to make life better for the children of Syracuse. Brooks teaches baseball, and Graham provides a safe haven:

He and Avery, 77, are stalwarts of the Youth Enrichment Outreach Program. The size and reach of the effort for city children goes in fits and bursts, but it always involves youth baseball in the summer and basketball in winter. Avery held the first meetings for YEOP 20 years ago next month. He admits, in recent years, to sometimes wondering if the program will survive the men who founded it.

This year, he made a new alliance. He began working with Bettie Graham, who operates the Determination Center on West Onondaga Street. At 6 a.m., she opens the doors and takes in little children before they go to school, making sure they get their breakfast and help with their homework, if they need it. Every evening, she provides a refuge for bored teens.

The whole article is well worth the read.

This is not the Avery Brooks who loved baseball so much in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.