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April 8, 2022
As part of the NBA Foundation’s efforts to drive economic empowerment in the Black community, it recently announced 40 new and renewed grants totaling $11 million to tip off its second year of grantmaking. These first grants of 2022 were awarded to organizations focused on workforce development, pathways for higher education, mentoring and entrepreneurship for Black youth throughout the United States and Canada.
Grantees include the likes of Black Girls CODE, a non-profit devoted to introducing African-American girls to computer programming and technology education, Old Skool Café, a youth-run jazz club working to prevent youth violence and provide job training and mentorship, and PeacePlayers U.S., which unites, educates and inspires young people in divided communities through basketball. PeacePlayers was also a winner of our 2020 Sport for Reduced Racial Inequalities Collective Impact Award supported by The DICK’s Sporting Goods Foundation.
“We look forward to our growth in the year ahead and are excited to establish new relationships with non-profits serving Black youth and to further collaborate with the organizations who have demonstrated their impact,” said Greg Taylor, NBA Foundation Executive Director.
The NBA Foundation, created by the 30 NBA teams, funds programs that promote school-to-career employment opportunities including job readiness, skill training, job placement and career advancement that target Black youth, aged 14-24. As it states, “providing Black Americans with access to good jobs with upward mobility is the most important action companies can take to truly advance economic and racial justice in a sustainable and measurable way.”
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, recent job losses as a result of the pandemic have been felt hardest in Black communities, where the unemployment rate (12.9%) remains considerably higher than non-Hispanic whites (7.0%) and the national average (7.9%).
The Foundation is the league’s first charitable foundation committed to driving economic opportunity for Black youth, committing $300 million over the next 10 years to organizations that help Black youth find and maintain family-sustaining jobs.
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