It’s been just over a year since the NBA Foundation was created, a promise from the league to have a lasting impact on the Black community through $30 million in annual funding from the NBA’s 30 teams.
On the one-year anniversary of the foundation’s creation on August 6, they announced 22 more grants, totaling $6 million, would be going out to organizations across the country. The organizations span national and local groups in 10 of the league’s markets (Bay Area, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Milwaukee, Minnesota, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C.), all of which do work with Black youth in various ways.
The NBA also offered some insight into each of the organizations benefitting from this latest round of grants, which brings the total for the first year to $11 million in grants given to 40 organizations across the country.
All Star Code (New York): A nonprofit computer science organization founded in 2013, All Star Code is dedicated to building a sustainable talent pipeline of young men of color ready to enter, thrive and lead in the technology industry. All Star Code creates economic opportunity by developing a new generation of boys and young men of color with an entrepreneurial mindset who have the tools they need to succeed in a technological world.
Black Girl Ventures (National): The mission of Black Girl Ventures is to provide Black and Brown women-identifying founders with access to community, capital and capacity-building in order to meet business milestones that lead to economic advancement through entrepreneurship.
Boys & Girls Clubs of Southeastern Michigan (Detroit): The Boys & Girls Clubs of Southeastern Michigan offer world-class programming which enables youth to become career, start-up and homeowner ready.
The Center For Teen Empowerment (Boston): With a mission to employ, train, and empower youth to create peace, equity and justice in collaboration with adults, The Center for Teen Empowerment (TE) is a critically conscious youth development organization inspiring young people to think deeply about difficult social problems and providing tools and skills to help them use their voices to catalyze significant positive change.
College Possible (National): College Possible makes college admission and success possible for students from low-income backgrounds through an intensive curriculum of coaching and support and commitment to providing the tools, strategies and support that students need to navigate and overcome systemic barriers to college graduation.
DC Central Kitchen (Washington D.C.): As the nation’s first and leading community kitchen, DC Central Kitchen’s mission is to use food as a tool to strengthen bodies, empower minds and build communities. DCCK reverses the traditional soup kitchen model by preparing thousands of daily meals while empowering opportunity youth and adults with histories of incarceration, homelessness, addiction, and trauma to embark on meaningful culinary careers.
Detroit Employment Solutions Corporation (Detroit): Detroit Employment Solutions Corporation is a nonprofit formed to maximize impact and add value to Detroit residents and employers by providing quality services, connecting them via ‘Detroit at Work’ to resources and the support needed to thrive.
Equal Opportunity Schools (National): Equal Opportunity Schools’ (EOS) mission is to ensure that low-income and students of color have equitable access to America’s most academically intense high school programs and succeed at the highest levels. EOS will work in collaboration with Kingmakers of Oakland, a leadership development and systems change organization committed to fundamentally transforming the education system and building the capacity of people to design and sustain thriving and liberated systems, structures, conditions and culture to improve educational and life outcomes for Black young men.
The Hidden Genius Project (National): The Hidden Genius Project is an international, Oakland-based organization whose mission is to train and mentor Black male youth in technology creation, entrepreneurship and leadership skills to transform their lives and communities. Through a student-centered, project-based approach, The Hidden Genius Project invests in young Black men, gives them access to technology training, and plugs them into an ecosystem of innovation and empowerment.
Hopeworks Camden (Philadelphia): With a focus on education, technology and entrepreneurship, Hopeworks provides a positive, healing atmosphere that propels young people to build strong futures and break the cycle of violence and poverty. Hopeworks connects youth to life-changing opportunities where their growing technology skills are utilized for enterprising businesses within the community.
iMentor (National): iMentor builds mentoring relationships that empower first-generation students to graduate high school, succeed in college, and achieve their career ambitions. In a world where talent is equally distributed, but opportunity is not, iMentor is fighting to rebalance the odds and give every young person a fair chance to realize their dreams.
Just The Beginning – A Pipeline Organization (Chicago): With a mission to encourage students of color and from other underrepresented groups to pursue career and leadership opportunities in the law, Just the Beginning – A Pipeline Organization’s vision is a legal profession in which lawyers and judges reflect the backgrounds and perspectives of the populations they serve.
National Summer Learning Association (National): For more than 25 years, NSLA has operated as a national, nonprofit organization whose mission is to combat summer learning loss and close the achievement and opportunity gaps which grows most dramatically between lower and higher income students over the summer months. NSLA ensures all young people in America, regardless of background, income and zip-code, can participate in a high-quality summer learning experience every year.
New Door Ventures (Bay Area): New Door’s mission is to prepare Bay Area transition-age youth for work and life by providing the jobs, training, education and support they need to discover and achieve their potential, and successfully transition to independent adulthood.
Running Rebels Community Organization (Milwaukee): The Running Rebels Community Organization engages the community, youth and families, prevents involvement in the juvenile justice system, intervenes and guides youth by assisting them with positive decision-making, and coaches youth through their transition into adulthood through relationship building and the necessary resources and skills necessary to become thriving, connected and contributing adults.
The Sanneh Foundation (Minnesota): The Sanneh Foundation serves the holistic youth development needs of the increasingly diverse Twin Cities metro area by empowering youth, supporting and promoting educational attainment through in-school and after-school support, improving lives through programs that strengthen physical health and social and emotional development, and uniting communities by advancing diversity, equity and community well-being.
SGA Youth And Family Services (Chicago): SGA Youth & Family Services helps children, families and communities facing great challenges to realize their potential. SGA is replacing the cycle of poverty by using a unique and proven service model, the Cycle of Opportunity®, which focuses on early childhood, parenting, educational supports and workforce development.
Sphinx Organization (Detroit): The Sphinx Organization transforms lives through the power of diversity in the arts, focused on fulfilling that mission through artist and ensemble development, music education, and by creating opportunities to support diverse talent in classical music and the performing arts.
Sponsors For Educational Opportunity (New York): SEO was founded in 1963 as one of NYC’s first high-school-to-college mentoring organizations. Today, SEO has multiple distinct programs that share the mission of creating a more equitable society by closing the academic and career opportunity gaps for motivated young people from historically excluded communities. SEO provides educational and career programs and addresses inequities in education and opportunity that often limit success.
Summit Academy OIC (Minnesota): Summit Academy OIC is recognized as a regional leader in workforce development, educational services and policy innovation. Summit Academy also fundamentally believes that the best social service program in the world is a job.
Women’s Housing And Economic Development Corporation (New York): WHEDco creates and bridges access to resources that create thriving neighborhoods – from high-quality early education and after-school programs to fresh and healthy food, cultural programming and economic opportunity. WHEDco builds sustainable, affordable homes with the belief that affordable housing must be anchored in strong communities.
YouthForce NOLA (New Orleans): YouthForce NOLA is an education, business and civic collaborative that builds bridges between school and work through its network of partner schools, employers, training providers, and community organizations. Its vision is that New Orleans public school graduates will thrive economically as a result of being the most sought-after talent for hiring and advancement in the region’s high-wage career pathways.