The NBA Foundation announces $13.5 million grant as they celebrate their third-year anniversary

Ever since it started three years ago, the NBA Foundation has dedicated its resources to generate economic opportunities for black communities across North America. More than just a mission statement, they’ve stayed true to their cause and have already partnered with a large number of organizations that boost the black youth to help them follow their dreams.

The NBA Foundation Executive Director Greg Taylor guaranteed that they remain close to their principles by delivering hope to communities in need.

“The summer of 2020 was a tumultuous time and I think the NBA asked itself, ‘What role are we to play in this moment of history?’” he said. “The communities we care about looked at the league for leadership and it was an opportunity to step forward and continue our legacy as social justice and civil rights leaders, and out of that was the creation of the NBA Foundation.”

Today, the NBA Foundation has announced 40 former and new grants totaling $13.5 million to help create employment opportunities, further career advancement and drive greater economic empowerment for Black youth.

Learn more: https://t.co/If7jlJDt8K pic.twitter.com/gT7r9EkWmV

— NBA Foundation (@NBAFoundation) August 8, 2023

Since it’s been three years since their started out in August 2020, they decided to award 40 grants that total up to $13.5 million in its most-recent round. The future grantees will be provided with funding to help boost projects that are mostly focused on employment disparities, income and education.

Out of the 23 renewed grantees, one that has recieved great benefits ever since their association is MobilizeGreen, an organization that is constantly creating job opportunities for youth and diverse communities.

“During the pandemic, we were seeing that companies and agencies were dropping their internship programs and it was disproportionately impacting Black kids,” said CEO of MobilizeGreen Leah Allen. “There’s such an experience gap. It almost takes experience to get experience, so we wanted to close that gap and connect Black kids to opportunities.”

The company founder shared that she decided to leave her career in law and goverment to create MobilizeGreen a decade ago, hoping to help diversify the employees who before were scaresely people of color.

“I went to work and started thinking about how to make sure kids of color had access to the opportunities I was seeing come down the pipe,” she said. “I knew I could actually bring those opportunities to them, so I did.”

Other examples of grantees have also contributed to giving new tech opportunities to the black youth

StreetCode is one of those organizations which has truly dedicated its resources to connect communities of color with innovation opportunities, especially in the tech world. Olatunde Sobomehin, the company’s CEO, explained how their “Who’s Next Tour” will reach black communities across 10 cities in the United States to learn more about artificial intelligence.

“The NBA has allowed us to partner with other teams as we travel around,” he said. “The money is great, but you couldn’t do that if you’re not the NBA, and that’s allowing us to expand more rapidly and more effectively.”

StreetCode’s association with NBA franchises has only added more credibility to their upcoming tour and its opportunities, which is concentrated in opening communities of people of color to what the tech world has to offer.

“We’re interested in culture meeting technology and in our community the NBA is synonymous with culture,” Sobomehin explained. “It drives the conversation. It drives our interests. It drives culture. So, to say that we can partner with the NBA and also bring in technology, that’s a dream.”