Marvin Lewis Community Fund :: One Play at a Time

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The Marvin Lewis Community Fund empowers, educates, and inspires individuals in the Greater
Cincinnati region.

MLCF Programs

2008 Programs
Coach of the Year Award Hometown Huddle Learning is Cool Marvin Lewis Coaching Clinic MLCF Scholarship Program Play It Smart Youth Development through Sports	Click here for pictures of all the programs and events

The Marvin Lewis Coach of the Year Award is presented to the top high school football coach in the Tri-State area. 144 area schools may nominate an athlete for this award. The winner is chosen based on their teaching skils, sportsmanship, dedication to players, and commitment to education. The award is handed out at the annual Greater Cincinnati Chapter of the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame Scholar-Athletes Banquet. The 2007 recipient was Kevin Siple of Indian Hill High School.


Hometown Huddle is a NFL/United Way initiative that takes place in every NFL market on the same day. The goal is to ceate a lasting impression in the community and promote volunteerism. This year's Hometown Huddle project will take place on Tuesday, October 7th. Over 200 volunteers and 30 Bengals players joined forces on a rainy day to build a playground and lifetime youth fitness course for children at Seasongood Square Park. The MLCF teamed up with Home Depot, Baker Concrete, Chiquita, OCG, Best Buy, GameTime, Pavestone, the Cincinnati Park Board and several other organizations to make this project come to life. Click here to see last year's project Click here to view past Hometown Huddle Projects


Learning is Cool is a program that will work within the Cincinnati Public School System with students in grades K-8. Currently there are 22,600 students that would be able to participate in the program. In 2005 and 2006 MLCF only included the Youth Football players through its YDTS program. We will now open it up to all students. If they make honor roll they will be included in the Academic Enrichment party where they will be awarded a medal of achievement.


Marvin Lewis Coaching Clinic presented by Ignition with premier sponsor National City was held at Paul Brown Stadium on May 30 and 31. Over 250 youth, junior high, and high school football coaches gathered to learn how to teach the proper football fundamentals from the Bengals coaching staff and the area’s top college coaches. Attending coaches were provided with in-class sessions, on-field demonstrations, and one-on-one conversation during chalk talk. The program porved to be a great success that will impact countless youth football players.



The Marvin Lewis Scholarship Fund was created to recognize and honor outstanding male and female student athletes from our region on an annual basis. Candidates are evaluatted based on a 1,000 word essay, established criteria of a minimum 2.75 grade point average, a proven commitment to the community, need and a varsity letter. In 2008, thirteen student athletes were awarded four-year, $20,000 scholarships, raising the number of MLCF scholars to 13. For more information please visit The Cincinnati Scholarship Foundation

Jaymon Ballew of Princeton High School
University of Tennessee
Major: Pre-Medicine

Click here to see all of the 2008 Scholarship Recipients

Play It Smart. The Marvin Lewis Community Fund is proud to support the NFL Play-it Smart Program. We have teamed up with the Cincinnati Public Schools and will be funding a Play-it Smart Academic Coach for Aiken High School with hopes to get Academic Coaches in more schools in years to come.

Play It Smart is an educational program targeted at high school football players from economically disadvantaged environments where family and community suppot are often lacking. The program, designed to transform student-athletes' passion for sport and intense deication to their team into a force for greater good in their lives, is remarkably successful. Play It Smart participants graduate and go on to college at rates well above those of their peers, all at a cost of less than a dollar per day per student-athlete.

The Six Play It Smart Goals:

Improve Grade Point Average
Increase numbers of students taking the SAT/ACT & improved scores on tests
Increase graduation rate & oppirtunities for higher education
Enhance life skills development
Increase opportunities for community service
Increase parental & family involvement

Youth Development Through Sports, launched in 2006, YDTS expands upon the Inner City Youth Football Collaborative (ICYFC). Using football as its medium, YDTS strives to build leadership and hope for Cincinnati youth while encouraging academic achievement and community involvement.