Orioles go all in on Harlem Park school, setting the bar for MLB community outreach 

By Ali Halloum
AFRO Intern

“I’ve never worked somewhere where everyone on staff, from the highest levels of the organization to the brand new interns here, from the general manager to the newest player coming on, understands and knows the work that we’re doing in the community, and they are an active participant in the work.”

Baltimore Orioles’ executive vice president of public affairs Kerry Watson said this in an interview with the AFRO, during which he shared that their community service efforts – centered on their campaign to aid Harlem Park Elementary and Middle School in West Baltimore – have the direct attention and involvement of the entire Orioles organization.

The effort is part of Major League Baseball’s Adopt-A-School initiative. While all 30 MLB organizations engage in this campaign, they tend to change schools every year, while the Orioles have homed in on Harlem Park. 

Harlem Park is no stranger to redlining, disinvestment and neglect over the decades, a point not lost on Watson. He believes that as a brand with recognition in the city, the Orioles organization must do what it can to uplift the community.

“The government in the early 1900s created this disparity, and so this community in West Baltimore has suffered,” Watson said. “We have a responsibility to be as impactful as possible, to change for the better communities within the city, and hopefully we set an example for other companies, businesses, organizations sports franchises.”

With the recent ruling by the United States Supreme Court allowing the 47th president’s termination of Department of Education employees, as well as plans to eventually dismantle the agency as a whole, efforts such as those undertaken by the Orioles become lifelines for schools like Harlem Park.

The Orioles organization has, in its adoption of Harlem Park, given gift cards to teachers to purchase school supplies for their classrooms, and invited students and staff to Friday night games, where the team wears its City Connect jerseys and paints the name of the school on the mound.

Pre- and postgame reporter for Mid-Atlantic Sports Network Rob Long has also played a role in these efforts. The West Baltimore native told the AFRO that the organization Orioles and Harlem Park principal Venus Jackson have done great work on this campaign.

According to Long, the buy-in also extends to the players on the team. When catcher James McCann was an Oriole last season, he hosted baseball camps at Harlem Park, conducting drills used at the major league level and guiding kids throughout the process. 

On the current squad, All-Star first baseman Ryan O’Hearn and third baseman Jordan Westburg spend time with students and staff when they come to the ballpark. Players have donated their playoff share from the 2024 postseason to the school, funding which was allocated to the construction of a new classroom.

“The players actually go over to and acknowledge them, and talk to them, have real conversations with them,” Long said. “That’s what gets me: not just baseball conversations, but just real conversation with them. They’re very familiar with the children.”

According to Watson, the extent of the Orioles’ community outreach does not stop at Harlem Park. In fact, their other programs extend to assistance for state and federal employees, veterans, first responders, women of color in the inner city and sickle cell anemia awareness drives.

“Those kids have to go home and still have the challenges that exist in the community, so you have to essentially adopt an entire community,” Watson said. “ listen to the residents, listen to the teachers, listen to the principal, listen to the staff about what the needs are, and what we do is the very best we can to provide those resources to give the kids in that school an opportunity to thrive.”