The Black Child Legacy Campaign is the community-driven movement established by the Steering Committee on Reduction of African American Child Deaths, which is working to reduce deaths of African American children in Sacramento County.
Kings and Queens Rise 2025: Season Eight
This year, Black Child Legacy Campaign launches its eighth season of Kings and Queens Rise (KQR) Co-ed Youth Sports and Mentoring League—an initiative to prevent and interrupt violence by engaging Sacramento’s young people through inter-community sports activities. Focused on basketball, cheer and mentorship, this eight-week league will run from June 21 through August 23 and feature 24 teams composed of nearly 400 youth from 4th through 11th grades.
“The start of our eighth season shows just how deeply rooted Kings and Queens Rise has become in Sacramento’s neighborhoods,” said The Center at Sierra Health Foundation Founder and CEO Chet P. Hewitt. “This league is more than basketball and cheer—it’s a proven violence prevention strategy that creates safe spaces for youth to grow, lead and connect across neighborhoods. With trusted partnership from the Sacramento Kings, Black Child Legacy Campaign community partners and hundreds of local families, we’re building a culture of safety, belonging and opportunity that lasts far beyond the summer.”
The Top Leading Causes of Death
In Sacramento County, African American children die at twice the rate of any other ethnicity. The four leading causes of death are perinatal conditions, infant sleep-related deaths, child abuse and neglect and third party homicides. Learn more about this disparity from the Sacramento County Blue Ribbon Commission report and the Child Death Review Team report.
Our Neighborhoods
Seven neighborhoods have the highest numbers of African American child deaths in the county. These neighborhoods are where we focus our work. A Community Incubator Lead organization in each of these neighborhoods has been charged with prevention and intervention efforts to reduce disproportionate African American child deaths in these four causes of death. Click here to learn more about these organizations.
Our Leadership
Leadership on Steering Committee
This movement was established by the Steering Committee on Reduction of African American Child Deaths, a community-driven body of dedicated individuals working to reduce deaths among African American children in Sacramento County. The Committee was established by a resolution of the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors in June 2013. Its ultimate charge is to provide coordination and oversight of efforts, create a strategic plan, monitor implementation, evaluate and report on progress toward reducing the disproportional number of African American child deaths. To learn more about the Steering Committee, please visit the Steering Committee webpage.
LEARN MORE ON THE STEERING COMMITTEE WEBPAGE >>
