Boston Athletic Association enters partnership with Reggie Lewis Center to invest over $1 million in Roxbury facility

The Boston Athletic Association and the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center announced Thursday a multiyear partnership between the organizer of the Boston Marathon and the Roxbury athletic facility, which will see the BAA invest more than $1 million into “the Reggie” at Roxbury Community College in the coming years.

The BAA will provide a direct financial contribution of $700,000 over the next four years while providing entries into the Boston Marathon that the BAA says could see fund-raising totals for the center exceed $1.3 million.

The funds will be directed toward advancing the center’s athletic and wellness programs, including its year-round hosting of youth track and field and basketball events, senior fitness programming, and wellness resources for the community.

“The BAA’s mission focuses on the promotion of a healthy lifestyle through sport, and especially through running,” said BAA CEO Jack Fleming at Thursday’s announcement at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center, also known as RLTAC. “There’s no better way that we can live out our mission … than by putting on good events and channeling that back into the community, and this is a perfect example.”

Fleming was joined at Thursday’s event by RLTAC executive director Michael Turner, Roxbury Community College president Jonathan K. Jefferson, state Representative Chynah Tyler, Suffolk County Sheriff Steven Tompkins, and Stephen Chan, Mayor Michelle Wu’s senior adviser for partnerships.

“So how’s this really going to impact and help us? There’s a 22-year gap in life expectancy for Roxbury residents and neighborhoods just two miles away,” Turner explained. “So [the BAA’s] financial support is going to help us bring fitness classes, mindfulness training, talks on healthy eating habits.

“We’re going to close this gap. That’s our goal. And their support is what’s going to help us do that.”

The event also marked the kickoff of the RLTAC’s 30th anniversary fund-raising campaign, with a goal of raising $5 million to support the institution.

“We know that it’s going to take a village to raise the $5 million that is needed to transform the programs, technology, equipment, and resources available at the Reggie Lewis Center,” said Jefferson, who took over as RCC president in July. “It’s through partnerships like this one that we make real, sustainable change.”

The RLTAC, opened in 1995, is named after former Celtics and Northeastern star Reggie Lewis, who died suddenly while playing basketball in Waltham in the summer of 1993.

The facility has come under some criticism in recent years over its struggles to balance the athletic needs of students from across the state — as it opened as a statewide facility — and those of Boston Public Schools students and its local community.

As the RLTAC seeks to renew its ties with residents of Roxbury and other nearby Boston communities, an infusion of support from one of the city’s biggest sporting institutions is a boost that Turner relishes as he enters his second year as executive director.

“I personally want to thank [BAA chief marketing officer] Scott Stover and Jack Fleming from a personal standpoint,” Turner said in his closing remarks. “I don’t think they know how much this means to me as a person. … Getting time to get to know them, and literally them saying, ‘Michael, we’re here to support you. We believe in what what you’re trying to accomplish, what you’re trying to do. Our visions align, and we’re going to make it happen.’ A lot of people talk the talk, but they are walking the walk.

“It’s not easy to step into this type of partnership, but it’s truly, truly remarkable to put your money where your mouth is, and that’s what the BAA has done.”