LaVonte Stewart: From Prison to Peace | Saving Kids, Building an Economy w/ Lost Boyz Inc.

The True Economic Impact of Mentorship with LaVonte Stewart of Lost Boyz Inc. | Discover how LaVonte Stewart, Founder and Executive Director of Lost Boyz Inc., turned his personal journey of adversity into a powerful, quantifiable engine for social and economic change in Chicago's South Shore community. This is more than a baseball story—it’s a blueprint for violence prevention, youth development, and building a thriving local economy.

In this powerful interview with Eric Etka, LaVonte shares the catalyst behind Lost Boyz Inc. (01:02), a highly regarded Chicago nonprofit that uses baseball and softball to provide mentorship, educational support, and violence prevention. He details the tragic incident that inspired him to create a surrogate fatherhood model for local youth (03:18), leading to a program that has endured for 18 years (08:43) and is now a socioeconomic hub for the community.

The Quantifiable Impact of Lost Boyz Inc.:

LaVonte shares his personal research showing the transformative success of long-term program participants. His data indicates that of the youth who stay in the program for four years or longer, 75% achieve successful lives with positive gains in education and income (12:34). This success translates directly into:
Positive Economic Contribution: Creating tax-paying, home-buying members of the economy, representing a significant net gain for the community.
Cost Avoidance: Saving social services departments hundreds of thousands of dollars that would otherwise be funneled to intervention and support systems.
A Scalable Model: Focusing on a standardized work approach that allows the model to be potentially franchised to other cities (29:17).
Key Takeaways & Chapters:
00:00 - Introduction to LaVonte Stewart and Lost Boyz Inc.
01:02 - The catalyst: A traumatic incident at a youth practice
03:18 - The 'surrogate father' model and personal drive
08:43 - Lost Boyz Inc. celebrates 18 years of impact
12:34 - Quantifying success: The 75% long-term success rate
14:02 - Connecting youth development to economic contribution
18:44 - LaVonte's personal journey: Overcoming incarceration with a background in Computer Science and Public Administration
21:23 - The greatest challenge with unlimited resources: Fixing the non-profit funding pipeline
37:12 - Succession planning and ensuring the long-term legacy of Lost Boyz
Join us to learn how to measure the true relevance and impact of mission-driven work and why investing in youth development is the smartest economic decision a community can make.

Connect with Lost Boyz Inc.: LOSTBOYZINC.org

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