Basketball in the Barrio


 

About

Every summer a unique collection of special guest counselors and speakers and friends of our border descend upon El Paso from around the country because they want to be part of a quite powerful event, a game changer in the lives of our city's segundo barrio youth!

“Basketball in the Barrio" was founded in 1992 by Rus Bradburd and Steve Yellen. The camp features the music, dance, storytelling, literature and art from El Paso’s southwest border region.  “Basketball in the Barrio" is under the umbrella of Athletes United for Peace, and operates as a nonprofit through the El Paso Community Foundation.
 
Each camper writes, illustrates and publishes their own children’s book at the camp’s education station, which they usually gift to their Dad, as camp has been held every year in June, the week of Father’s Day! Each camper receives two bilingual children's books from our city’s own Cinco Puntos Press.
 
The guest speakers and counselors and coaches all from diverse backgrounds, inspire the kids to instill a certain pride in our border culture and in our amazing border neighborhoods.

The word pride is not just a well worn homily but a necessary component that makes our city shine. Says this year’s Basketball in the Barrio honored citizen of the year Javier Diaz,
“Our border culture is the dynamic mix of the U.S. and Mexico that merges in El Paso and Basketball in the Barrio inspires our youth not to shun it, but to revel in it.”
 
The camp teaches kids 16 individual Globetrotter ball handling tricks they can perform in front of family and friends and develop confidence.  

The key to helping a kid gain more confidence is being able to show off a skill; this transcends the court into the classroom!  The boys and girls all receive a basketball to take with them and perfect their mini dribbler tricks. They teach themselves that the old written in stone Clair Bee adage is true, “Repetition is the secret to all knowledge."
 
Basketball is simply the hook though, the overarching theme of Basketball in the Barrio is that the kids may hear the words low income border neighborhood but after experiencing camp,  they feel like they are from the city’s wealthiest neighborhood, the metrics being culture, the arts, music and most powerfully, the people. 
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Dear sir or ma'am:
I would like to volunteer for Basketball in the Barrio ( under the fiscal umbrella of El Paso Community Foundation) for The El Paso Giving Day effort where a match of 5 dollars is given for every one hour of volunteer time. Thx! Steve 915-300-5970