NEW ORLEANS — A classic summer scene unfolded at the nonprofit’s newest location. The girls’ team won a lively indoor kickball game among young campers. The air conditioning blared. The hit “Dance Monkey” played throughout the gymnasium of the old school building.
Just two years ago, none of this would have been possible at this New Orleans East location.
The Youth Empowerment Project long saw a pressing need to house its afterschool enrichment programs in this historically underserved, predominantly black suburb with high concentrations of children, poverty and violence in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. But YEP couldn’t afford the additional $500,000 in staffing costs for another location, founder Melissa Sawyer said.
That changed with the support of the recently established NBA Foundation.
The National Basketball Association has formalized its giving over the past four years through a new $300 million grantmaking arm that directs flexible funding to nonprofits focused on boosting economic opportunity for Black youth. Recipients report that there are few strings attached and the application process is extensive — a progressive model they’d like to see other foundations and professional athletic organizations adopt.
The end goal is also one that receives little attention from donors: funding specifically to support black people made up about 2% of total philanthropy in the US from 2006 to 2017, according to research group CandidThe climax came after a police officer shot and killed Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.
This story is part of an ongoing AP series examining the impact, legacy and fallout of the so-called Ferguson uprising, which sparked Brown’s death a decade ago.
It wasn’t until the 2020s that many companies increased their commitment to black youth. donations declined in subsequent yearsNBA Foundation leadership believes the organization needs an ongoing presence because of the league’s longstanding commitment to social justice.
“It aligns with the NBA’s values of diversity, inclusion and opportunity for all,” said Mark Tatum, chairman of the NBA Foundation.
“It’s a real need, that’s why we started it,” he added.
The league’s first charitable arm was born out of national conversations about racial inequality following the police killing of George Floyd in 2020. All 30 NBA teams have agreed to contribute $10 million each over 10 years. The money will also reach organizations in cities without a professional basketball team, such as St. Louis. Tatum said the foundation hopes to create “evergreen” support by raising outside money in addition to contributions from team governors.
Critics, however, note that the figure is a fraction of the NBA’s revenue, which now exceeds $10 billion per season. And the league new media rights deal sets records both for the duration and the total value of 11 years and $76 billion.
New Orleans City Councilman Oliver Thomas said communities should expect investment from teams that often build stadiums with public tax dollars. He added that it is especially necessary for them to invest in “neglected” areas that typically don’t get the attention of professional sports.
“The ballplayers don’t live in those communities. The owners don’t live in those communities,” said Thomas, who represents New Orleans East. “But it’s important to see them and imagine them in terms of life.”
Individual teams and some players have long had their own charitable efforts. Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s Civil Rights Activism is well known. Modern stars have led symbolic protests against racial stereotyping and police brutality, wearing hoodies in solidarity with Trayvon Martin and wearing “I Can’t Breathe” shirts to remember The Last Words of Eric Garner.
But the league wanted to make sure everyone was working toward the same goals. The NBA came up with economic opportunity for black youth ages 14 to 24 as an area of focus where leaders felt it had a certain knowledge base.
Proposals are reviewed by grant committees before being approved by a board made up of NBA governors and athletes, including National Basketball Players Association executive director Andre Iguodala and commissioner Adam Silver.
According to Elicia Broussard Sheridan, Senior Director of Social Unification/Youth Sports Development, the NBA Foundation has always welcomed the New Orleans Pelicans’ recommendations.
“Sometimes they’re almost on speed dial,” she said.
Boys Town Louisiana leaders praised the foundation for its “personal” approach. Grantmakers typically require a quantitative report showing the nonprofit’s impact. But Executive Director Rashain Carriere said success can be difficult to measure; Boys Town houses youth who need life coaching as they transition out of some form of incarceration.
A student who flunked a class but turned to Boys Town for help developing a backup plan is still a success in Carriere’s eyes. The NBA Foundation allowed them to share that context via a Zoom interview — the first time Carriere said a grantmaker has given that option.
“For 90 percent of them, it’s looking for that beautiful, happy ending story,” she said. “So it’s a struggle. The NBA Foundation is a new relationship. I found that they look at it differently.”
The investments could have a particularly big impact in small markets like New Orleans, a tourist destination characterized by low-wage service workers who keep jazz clubs, Creole cuisine and lavish festivals afloat, rather than by giants in wealth-generating industries.
Local nonprofits find themselves competing for the same pot. A shrinking population has depleted the tax base. Only one Fortune 500 company calls the Big Easy home. Large-scale philanthropy falls largely to Gayle Benson, owner of both the National Football League’s New Orleans Saints and the NBA’s Pelicans.
“New Orleans is a small, Southern city in a generally rural, Southern state,” said Caitlin Scanlan, the chief development officer for Cafe Reconcile, a recipient of an NBA Foundation grant. “Without national funding, I think a lot of nonprofits would really struggle.”
According to Sheridan, the NBA Foundation has donated more than $5 million to 18 New Orleans-area beneficiaries, with the vast majority going exclusively to local groups, and about a fifth to chapters of national organizations.
Grant recipients praised the NBA Foundation for providing the stability needed to innovate rather than just get by, and for embracing “trust-based philanthropy” that allows nonprofits on the ground to use money in ways they see fit.
Sawyer said YEP could not have fully staffed the summer camp or a job-readiness program at the New Orleans East location without the NBA Foundation’s two-year, $400,000 commitment. The nonprofit reports that 31 participants have taken their career-readiness classes at the new location since last September.
Among them is Ke’Daryl Sentmore, a 17-year-old New Orleans East resident who recently graduated from high school. He has two internships through YEP: one to rebuild homes and one to collect donations at food and clothing banks. Lessons on customer engagement have also piqued his interest in retail.
Sentmore acknowledged that Steph Curry’s three-point range has made him a bigger fan of the Golden State Warriors than his hometown team. Still, he said the Pelicans’ investment “shows people that there is hope for anyone who feels like there’s nothing left for them.” He doesn’t find many opportunities in New Orleans and said he would “find other things to do” without YEP.
Shortly after, with classes over for the week, Sentmore joined in a game of kickball in the gym, laughing alongside his younger classmates.
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Thalia Beaty contributed reporting. Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through AP’s partnership with The Conversation US, with funding from the Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.