Established in 2008 - Bridgeport Youth Lacrosse Sports Academy has been committed to increasing awareness and opportunity for urban youth in the sport of lacrosse and beyond. Our mission is to empower youth with self-confidence, discipline and skills necessary to succeed in sports and life. Over the last ten years, BYLSA has grown to become an after-school-based, year-round program that provides academic intervention, behavioral support, mentoring, leadership training and sports instructions to over 250 student-athletes throughout Fairfield County. One of BYL’s biggest goals is to diminish the disparity between the quality of holistic sports programs available to Bridgeport’s urban youth and those offered to their suburban counterparts. Additionally, another significant challenge impacting children in Bridgeport is youth violence. Youth violence is a complex social problem that requires a multifaceted approach of prevention, intervention, enforcement and social- emotional development. For these reasons, BYL has partnered with other long-standing nonprofits that work with children in Bridgeport to develop a plan focused on reducing youth violence while offering quality programming The students in our program have graduated to Denison University, Wentworth Institute, Jacksonville, Villanova University, Williams College, and many more.