If you're an athlete, your skills, drive, and work ethic, not nepotism or insider connections, should define your career path. As a result, you can succeed no matter where you come from. Clint Dempsey grew up in a trailer park in South Texas, where he used to play soccer alongside migrant youngsters from Mexico. With a teen mother and no father, LeBron James shuffled between apartments in Akron's toughest areas as a child. Michael Oher, star of The Blind Side, was in and out of foster homes since he was seven years old, eventually ending up on the streets of Memphis. Their triumphant stories, along with those of many other sportsmen, are essential chapters in the great sport’s mythology. The NBA of our dreams — a league that serves as a conduit for inner-city hoop dreams — did exist once upon a time. More than 90% of NBA players in the 1960s and 1970s were from metropolitan regions. However, as the game developed in popularity and attracted more corporate sponsors, pro teams and colleges increased their talent searches, and suburban (and international) high schools began to strengthen their programs.
As a result, competing at the highest level now necessitates significantly more resources. Not to mention coaches and volunteers, you'll need facilities, equipment, and transportation. Despite that, the NBA is the most primetime minority-dominated sport in America; and a lot of the NBA’s decisions reflect that. For example, Through the establishment of a new foundation finalized by the NBA's Board of Governors and the National Basketball Players Association, the NBA will donate $300 million over the next decade to support economic growth in the Black community.
Brandeis University and Demos have released new research that presents a gloomy picture of America's continuous and rising income divide between whites and blacks. It finds that things like getting a college diploma, working full-time, and living in a two-parent family don't help much to close the gap. Discrimination, institutional racism, and an inheritance gap in which whites are five times more likely to inherit money, giving them a huge head start on wealth creation, all contribute to the gap. What the report fails to mention, and what donors and governments frequently forget, is that white Americans inherit something far more precious than money. They never wonder if they belong in the educational institutions, occupations, and networks that provide comfortable lives and money. This confidence emerges naturally when people are accompanied on their journeys by people who look like them, have successfully traversed a similar path previously, and can offer well-informed assistance and advice. But these hurdles don’t stop these current athletes from giving back to their community.
LeBron James, whose basketball achievements have earned him his own Wikipedia page, exemplifies this dedication to giving back to his community. The LeBron James Family Foundation has raised tens of millions of dollars to help at-risk students in James' hometown of Akron, Ohio, avoid dropping out. James' Foundation just built the I Promise School in Akron, where graduating students with a minimum GPA of 3.0 are eligible for free tuition at Akron University. Even James' tumultuous live TV appearance a few years ago, when he revealed his decision to leave his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers in free agency to pursue titles with the Miami Heat, sparked controversy but raised 6 million for local charities. Kevin Durant, one of the best pure scorers in NBA history, reportedly pledged $10 million to help launch a College Track chapter in his hometown of Prince George's County, Maryland. College Track's nine chapters in California, Louisiana, and Colorado have assisted approximately 3,000 students in completing their education. The program promises to help students for ten years, beginning in the ninth school and continuing until college graduation, by providing financial aid, tutoring, test preparation courses, and other services. The College Track in Prince George's County will be the first of three planned in the greater Washington metropolitan region during the following few years. Steph Curry, the shrewd point guard and two-time MVP, aids both on and off the field. Curry has been involved both in the United States and abroad, consistently ranking among the league's most charitable players. Curry has donated three malaria nets for every three-point shot he has made since 2012, which is fairly impressive given that he is perhaps the finest three-point shooter in NBA history. He took the fight against malaria to the next level in 2016 when he teamed up with the UN and USAID to promote the #CallYourShot social media challenge, which raised funds to protect families from malaria. He recently said that for every signature, he will donate one malaria bed.
Even though these athletes are making millions of dollars every season they still remember where they came from and they still show them that they're still human by creating opportunities for disadvantaged children and for people all over the world. the NBA gives young minority athletes the opportunity to not only give back to their communities but create generational wealth for the black community. During times of social unrest, the NBA's stood alongside Black Lives Matter and George Floyd and protested with uniforms and civil disobedience. The NBA continues to be one of the number-one contributors of generational wealth for the black community.
As a result, competing at the highest level now necessitates significantly more resources. Not to mention coaches and volunteers, you'll need facilities, equipment, and transportation. Despite that, the NBA is the most primetime minority-dominated sport in America; and a lot of the NBA’s decisions reflect that. For example, Through the establishment of a new foundation finalized by the NBA's Board of Governors and the National Basketball Players Association, the NBA will donate $300 million over the next decade to support economic growth in the Black community.
Brandeis University and Demos have released new research that presents a gloomy picture of America's continuous and rising income divide between whites and blacks. It finds that things like getting a college diploma, working full-time, and living in a two-parent family don't help much to close the gap. Discrimination, institutional racism, and an inheritance gap in which whites are five times more likely to inherit money, giving them a huge head start on wealth creation, all contribute to the gap. What the report fails to mention, and what donors and governments frequently forget, is that white Americans inherit something far more precious than money. They never wonder if they belong in the educational institutions, occupations, and networks that provide comfortable lives and money. This confidence emerges naturally when people are accompanied on their journeys by people who look like them, have successfully traversed a similar path previously, and can offer well-informed assistance and advice. But these hurdles don’t stop these current athletes from giving back to their community.
LeBron James, whose basketball achievements have earned him his own Wikipedia page, exemplifies this dedication to giving back to his community. The LeBron James Family Foundation has raised tens of millions of dollars to help at-risk students in James' hometown of Akron, Ohio, avoid dropping out. James' Foundation just built the I Promise School in Akron, where graduating students with a minimum GPA of 3.0 are eligible for free tuition at Akron University. Even James' tumultuous live TV appearance a few years ago, when he revealed his decision to leave his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers in free agency to pursue titles with the Miami Heat, sparked controversy but raised 6 million for local charities. Kevin Durant, one of the best pure scorers in NBA history, reportedly pledged $10 million to help launch a College Track chapter in his hometown of Prince George's County, Maryland. College Track's nine chapters in California, Louisiana, and Colorado have assisted approximately 3,000 students in completing their education. The program promises to help students for ten years, beginning in the ninth school and continuing until college graduation, by providing financial aid, tutoring, test preparation courses, and other services. The College Track in Prince George's County will be the first of three planned in the greater Washington metropolitan region during the following few years. Steph Curry, the shrewd point guard and two-time MVP, aids both on and off the field. Curry has been involved both in the United States and abroad, consistently ranking among the league's most charitable players. Curry has donated three malaria nets for every three-point shot he has made since 2012, which is fairly impressive given that he is perhaps the finest three-point shooter in NBA history. He took the fight against malaria to the next level in 2016 when he teamed up with the UN and USAID to promote the #CallYourShot social media challenge, which raised funds to protect families from malaria. He recently said that for every signature, he will donate one malaria bed.
Even though these athletes are making millions of dollars every season they still remember where they came from and they still show them that they're still human by creating opportunities for disadvantaged children and for people all over the world. the NBA gives young minority athletes the opportunity to not only give back to their communities but create generational wealth for the black community. During times of social unrest, the NBA's stood alongside Black Lives Matter and George Floyd and protested with uniforms and civil disobedience. The NBA continues to be one of the number-one contributors of generational wealth for the black community.
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