History

Founded in 1969, “The Blazers” began as a youth basketball program providing basketball instruction, academic tutoring, and mentoring for 10 young men from West and Central Los Angeles. From its modest beginnings in a local park, “The Blazers” evolved into a league of 6 teams with 70 members – boys and girls, ages 7 to 17 – who competed across the country and won national titles.

In 1994, the program expanded its vision to include an after-school program and opened “The Blazers Safe Haven” for learning. Located in the urban inner city of Los Angeles, within the 8th Los Angeles City Council District. The Blazer Safe Haven Learning Center has the unique opportunity to reach out and empower the economically, educationally, and technologically disadvantaged youth and their families in its community.
This is accomplished in part by empowering the community’s youth, with the educational tools and support they will need to better themselves, and the communities in which they live.