This past winter, UMass Boston, one of 218 members of the National Consortium for Academics and Sports (NCAS), received the consortium’s Community Service and Outreach Honor Roll Award. This honor reflects UMass Boston’s commitment to developing leadership in its student athletes and caring for the Boston community, as well the university’s ultimate goal to prepare young people who are not only academically and athletically successful, but socially conscious and aware.

UMass Boston was the top academic institution out of all NCAS members, positively impacting the lives of over 250,000 youth in the Greater Boston community. The University of Nebraska was a distant second, impacting 181,000 youth. Activities hosted by UMass Boston included a baseball clinic for neighborhood youth baseball teams and participation in the Student-Athlete Youth Collaborative Clinic sponsored by the Boston Police Department.

The men’s basketball team paid an annual visit to the pediatric ward of the Boston Medical Center, distributing toys, singing, and playing games with the children. The women’s basketball team ran clinics for area youth, and the school distributed tickets to area youth as social incentives. More than 18,000 game tickets were distributed to attract youth to games as part of the university’s social and academic programs.