The Sugar Ray Robinson Youth Foundation is far more than an organization. It is a movement that seeks to build the self-esteem of underprivileged youth and provide them with direction and opportunity to realize their optimal potential.

The Foundation accomplishes this by providing year-round program activities related to sports, fine arts and the performing arts.

The Foundation’s work reflects the vision of its founder, the late prize fighter Sugar Ray Robinson, who deeply believed: "By offering youth opportunities to express themselves through sports, artistic activities and cultural enrichment, we can get to the children who are not reached by other methods and help keep them out of trouble."

Since its inception in 1969, the Foundation has carried forward this vision and now ranks among the nation’s leading juvenile delinquency prevention programs. More than 40,000 disadvantaged youth throughout Los Angeles and Orange counties have benefited from the Foundation’s services. Many of them have excelled to national prominence, most notably Olympic gold medalist Florence Griffith-Joyner.

The Foundation’s mission embodies Sugar Ray’s dream to provide incentives for young people to adjust to the mainstream of society and ultimately serve as positive role models for future generations.