#NFLVideos: Creating Positive Impact in Our Communities | Inspire Change

Creating Positive Impact in Our Communities | Inspire Change

Welcome to the NFL’s Inspire change special as we come to the end of the regular season we’re shining a light on all the amazing work from the Inspire change initiative formed during the 2017 season Inspire change brings players owners and organizations together to create positive change in our communities NFL Network’s Patrick

Claybon has more it’s the question that defines our time how do we create change it’s a question many NFL players have been asking through charity work Outreach activism the NFL family stepped up to help find an answer during the 2017 season The League formed a working group of five players and five club

Owners their mission to help support the players’s commitment to addressing social Justice Across America the result was Inspire change a sweeping social justice initiative that launched during the 2018 season and since its Inception this program has showcased how players teams owners and the league are working together to create positive change its

Focus Education economic advancement police and community relations and Criminal Justice Reform the social justice working group provides grants to organizations across the country country since 2017 more than 40 nonprofits have received social justice grants and beginning in 2018 all 32 NFL teams committed to ongoing collaboration with players to support local social justice

Organizations of course those were just the first steps important ones but merely the [Applause] beginning don’t hands up don’t shoot black lives matter black lives matter the summer of 2020 changed all of us including the NFL family the murder of George Floyd and the brutality experienced by so many people of color

Sparked an extraordinary movement Across America that summer the NFL and its clubs committed $250 million over 10 years to social justice causes that Financial commitment was surpassed in 2023 just 3 years after the commitment was made and continues to grow with each P passing year but that pledge extends far beyond

Financial support the NFL continues to prioritize social justice including a commitment to yearr round Inspire change storytelling from NFL media and onfield messaging in in zones on go posts and Via helmet decals from profound storytelling to Grants and policy changes from listening to the community to telling their stories Inspire change

Is a collective effort that aims to answer the question we’re all asking can we create a world that’s Equitable and just for everyone the answer will Define all of us for more on the Inspire change initiative Go to www.nfl.com causes Inspire change in 2017 Anquan Balden and Malcolm Jenkins founded the

Players Coalition an advocacy group working to improve social justice and Racial equality 6 years after its Inception the Coalition has spread to more than a dozen leagues and raised nearly $50 million in cumulative grants and as Task Force member Doug Baldwin explains its impact continues to [Applause]

Grow players Coalition was a response to things that were happening in our society stop police brutality stop police brutality stop police brutality you obviously Colin Kaepernick kind of sparked the conversation and put things to the Forefront but we collectively as a group of players wanted to do something actionable and

Players Coalition was the formation of that my father was a law enforcement officer for 35 years my mother a social activist in our own right was always a pillar of the community worked at the Salvation Army it’s in my Blood what’s up Doug Baldwin one of the greatest receivers you’ve ever See Baldwin makes the catch D Baldwin he is money so I’m a uh a task member which basically means that you know we evaluate opportunities in the community specifically where we’re at but also in a more broader context um and looking at ways that we can plug in to either get

Policy changed um spark conversation to then enact conversations around policy and then bring to light things issues that are going on in our communi you know it’s the the way that we police our citizens um it’s the way that we deal with the War on Drugs um it’s the way

That we treat um our kids in the in the school system when we look at the system the police are the front line the typical question I get is why do you care so much why do you get involved um you know what what motivated you what inspired you to to have these

Conversations to put yourself out there and my answer to you and to the people who ask me that is why not the NFL has a a rich history of players being activists um and utilizing the platform that we get on this National stage uh to talk about things

That are happening in the communities that we come from we’ve been all over the country give you specific examples we supported the Massachusetts student Opportunity Act which infused 1.4 billion dollars in the Massachusetts Public Schools that’s how we’ve been educating ourselves uh sitting down with grassroot organizations learning about what they go through

Being able to also support them um and that’s our plan shout out to De and Jason McCord and Don Harmon and slate the great Matthew Slater you know they were key stakeholders in pushing that through in Philadelphia Malcolm Jenkins Tory Smith Chris long they supported the Clean Slate act that will automatically

Um clear the record uh for anybody who’s had a nonviolent misdemeanor U and and hadn’t reoffended in 10 years um that’s significant because one in three Americans over the age of 18 had as uh some kind of arrest or criminal record Anquan back in uh his hometown effectively opened up early registration

For folks to vote increasing equity and voting in pooki we’re starting to see results of that um and that’s what we’re here to do um to put pressure on elected officials um to give those that don’t have a voice that don’t have a voice we’re here to give them a voice I’ve

Been blessed with an opportunity to work on the pards and clemency board here in the state of Washington I supported I9 40 which effectively reinvested into our law enforcement just to help them get the training that they need to be more effective out in the community and we’ve

Done over 153 events uh whether it’s Community forums meeting with politicians we’ve infused over $9 million of investment into our community players Coalition is not always uh out in the in the public not always out in the news but we’re making a difference in people’s lives the change that we’re

Trying to make and the adjustments that we’re pushing for advocacy for policy we’re not going to measure it we know the impact and my grandchildren will benefit from it coming up a story near and dear to my heart 49ers defensive lineman Eric Armstead fights for a Level Playing

Field for education in California the NFL Inspire change special continues after this well I think of inspir change I think of the next person um that my ACT can have an effect effect on I think of small and big change and how they both go hand in hand and how it takes a

Collective group effort to really have impact and change in Society welcome back to the NFL’s Inspire change special a zip code should not Define student opportunity that profound statement epitomizes the philosophy of 49 four-time Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year nominee Eric Armstead the Armstead academic project is dedicated to ensuring that every student no matter their socioeconomic

Status has direct access to the resources they need to Thrive we come from a place where we get disrespected a lot because we’re from the hood and we just show that it doesn’t matter that we’re from the hood we just show pride in where you’re from when I think of inspired change um I think of small and big change and how they

Both go hand in hand I think of the next person um that my ACT can have an effect on hi so uh I’m Eric Armstead I’m from Sacramento California so not too far from here and I play for the San Francisco 49ers I play defensive line

And I’ve been on the team for 9 years the reason I’m here today is because I wanted to come here today and read with you Guys love being from Sacramento I feel like it’s a great place to raise a family and I take a a lot of pride in being from there there was different times in our family’s lives where you know financially our situation was different we lived in different neighborhoods you know we lived in

Middle class neighborhoods we lived in kind of low income neighborhoods and from an early age I saw the disparities in our country and our education system Eric is known for tackling on Sundays go ners but he’s using his talent to tackle even more profound issues I um a little

Bit different from Eric I’m from a really really small town a lot of farmers my mom’s a teacher my dad sold cars and so family education was very important I did my masters and med school and I chose mental health because I just felt that’s where people are

Stigmatized the most and where I felt like I could make the biggest difference my brother has learning disabilities and it was very difficult to see my mom who was a teacher struggle to get him the appropriate Services people told him he wasn’t going to be able to read and told

My mom he wasn’t going to be able to work and now he does all of those things early in my life I would say I was kind of a below average student reading was where I especially struggled and I felt like that Foundation of struggling with reading

Kind of led into other subjects as well middle school and high school is very important I was getting recruited by the University of Notre Dame for football and I’m I’m on campus and they’re like uh you got a D+ in seventh grade in science what was that about when we

Moved to El Gro I felt there’s a shift in the diversity and so I also experienced you know being looked down upon by some of my teachers and you know not all the way fitting in really I had different experien with the teachers being surprised that I was actually

Articulate and smart I remember when I was in high school my freshman year A teacher told me that I’ll be working for my my classmates one day those type of situations didn’t make me feel good but I had an amazing support system you know our nonprofit brings a lot of that to

The Forefront of of my mind of how many of my kids that I’m seeing are having these reading struggles because of their mental health and how can we help thank you so much for my exultation there a lot of kids around this world that don’t have any Chrome books

Yeah the arms academic project started in 2019 I wanted to even the playing field for disadvantaged youth who have constantly been told that they don’t matter and their education is not important story time with Eric sted in 2020 we focus on literacy with our Young Elementary School students really it was

All about how do I keep kids engaged in school and excited about reading we understand the importance of them reading at grade level by third grade if they’re not reading at grade level the percentages show that they won’t be successful later in life and in

Education so I had the idea of you know maybe I could pique a kid’s interest in Reading if I read with them and laugh with my friends I I still think it was awfully nice to slouch on the couch ah the end the best part of all this is seeing

Them light up and just their whole demeanor change because having someone you look up to take the time out of their schedule to come and see you to come to your classroom that’s saying like hey I matter when I was a kid growing up you know in my remedial

Reading classes I never thought that I would be one day reading to students who were just like me so who wants to tell me what the book was about I think it was about like helping other people it’s not just about being cool and you can be cool just by being

Kind kind acts go a very far away me smiling at someone can brighten up their day and put a smile in their face sometimes I struggle with words and when he was reading it I I kind of feel better when I’m reading to me inspired change is all

About possibility working with the armet academic project and seeing like the statistics and actually being able to meet some of the kids I think it’s very fulfilling but it also opens your eyes to the disparity and inspires more desire to have an impact it’s not easy balancing you know our careers our

Organization our kids and all these all these things but I think it’s all worth it I want to inspire the next generation of people to be the change they want to see in our world we love doing what we’re doing and doing it together next Bears all pro Jaylen

Johnson turns tragedy into inspiration changing lives in honor of his best friend honestly I feel like um we we’re we’re doing what we set out to do it’s just about continuing to let his soul let his Spirit still walk this Earth straight ahead on the NFL’s Inspire change

Special welcome back to the NFL’s Inspire change special kev’s vision is a nonprofit organization founded by bears Walter pton NFL Man of the Year Award nominee Jaylen Johnson the organization honors Johnson’s best friend who was a pillar in the Fresno Community before tragedy changed everything Fresno is a tough place it

Can go two way you can either go about your business and take full advantage of the opportunities that you have or you can get caught up in I would say the drugs the crime the gang banging and things like that for me and some of my friends that we just wanted to really

Just stay focused and to not fall victim to to what was going on around us Kevan and Jaylen met in elementary school I believe they were playing against each other then they came together and played together once they got to Central and when they got together at Central they were locked

In he was the kid that had a deep voice in fifth sixth grade and super athletic eight pack and big arms and legs we just like damn you just like a man child out here and then just of course through Sports as we got older we grew closer

Together they used to call theirself the litty boys and they was just a group of friends who grew up together and started as my students but um over time we became family he was different like he always like man like I don’t want to go to the

NFL like I want to start my own thing like I want to have my own clothing brand he had a very giv soul and he wanted to show that love for for the community and he was talking about yeah bro I wanted start my LLC I want to open

Up this I want to donate to hospitals I’m like yeah bro like let let me help you out like you got a vision and let’s let’s come up with it together I went back and I went to those text messages and looked at all the different things

He wanted to do for the community I’m like we have we have the blueprint right here the things that we’re doing are the things that he wanted to do so we’re just truly trying to execute kev’s vision and that’s the name of our nonprofit he had been out at a

Fundraiser like a foundation thing for his best friend’s father I’m texting with him I’m talking to him like we’re making plans as I look back on his phone records I see where he was being called a lot and his friend was calling him so he went to where his friend was at near

The uh frone state it was a party Kevan gets there Fran leaves him Fran had an altercation with somebody there and they shot Kevan one of the boys from his pop warner team was actually at that party and applied pressure to one of the gunshots and was screaming

And begging for help they left my baby on the ground I immediately run to the hospital when I get up there they walked me around the back part of the hospital put me in a little room by myself and the doctor and a nurse and the social worker

Came in there and says Kev didn’t make it Jaylen calls me one evening and he says I want to start something in kev’s name so we start talking about what that looks like and we just start kind of vibing and bouncing ideas off each other

And so from there like I just be kind of came almost like the CEO of kev’s vision with kev’s vision we’re able to do things that Kevy did Kevy would pop up a table with his friends and they went down and fed the homeless we’re doing that my favorite is kev’s Vision Winter

Wonderland Mom Dad kids everybody gets a gift everybody gets something to eat everybody gets groceries to take home it was wonderful ful I could not do this today and be able to speak so openly without having that type of foundation I think is we get so caught

Up in the physical body and just oh we want to be able to touch and feel somebody but I know if he was still here I don’t think we would be able to impact hundreds and hundreds of kids and hundreds and hundreds of families I’m

Just honored that I can be able to honor him and continue to bless families that need It When we return money talks as Colts linebacker zier Franklin help students in his hometown develop financial literacy Inspire change to me is just to inspire the next generation of leaders Inspire the next generation of community movers and you know continue to lead places better than you found it that’s

Next on the NFL’s Inspire change special welcome back to the NFL’s Inspire change special since 2017 the NFL’s Inspire change social justice initiative has been focused on reducing barriers to opportunity particularly in communities of color and showcasing how the NFL family is working together to create positive change and while that all looks

Great on paper it might be hard to understand the many ways Inspire changes making an impact across the country MJ aosta Ruiz is here to help bring it all down $300 million that’s how much the NFL its teams and ownership have donated to social justice causes since 2017

Surpassing the goal of 250 million they set just a few years ago you might be thinking that’s great but how is that money actually impacting communities Across America good question here’s the answer first that money is divided into three main categories League issued social justice grants team contributions

And NFL Foundation matching grants let’s start with the social justice grants each year the NFL issues these grants to nonprofits picked by a joint player owner social justice working group more than 40 organizations have received these grants so far including groups like peace for DC get schooled choose

180 and year up the NFL also works with the players Coalition an independent nonprofit organization of athletes fighting for social justice and Racial equality the total of these grants nearly $55 million next up team contributions the NFL’s 32 franchises support change-driven nonprofits in their own backyards these donations come from club

Owners team foundations and special player team matching funds the tally on these contributions nearly $250 million that brings us to NFL Foundation matching grants the NFL Foundation offers matching grants to current and former players and teams the grants have funded organizations that support education fight poverty push for Criminal Justice Reform support better

Police and community relations contribute to Economic Development and advocate for racial equality the number on those grants more than1 million now you know where the money is going but these are more than just organizations these are men women and children being positively impacted every day these contributions help provide

Mentors closing the opportunity divide in the workplace changing pre-trial detention policies facilitating safer communities chipping away at racism and inequality changing lives on a real day-to-day basis we have a long way to go but with players leading the way and the leak supporting them we’re making major strides in the right direction

Let’s keep that drive going for more information on how funds donated to the Inspire change initiative are spent visit www.nfl.com causes Inspire change Colts linebacker zier Franklin is dedicated to making an impact in his hometown of Philadelphia through the charitable organization named after his late mother shalice Zer

Works to support young women in their efforts to achieve financial literacy and professional growth one of the many reasons he’s earned his team’s nomination for the 2023 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award from they really appreciate you like you’re a part of their family and if something’s happening they’ll be there for you it’s really about the community we’re all about that like we’re we always have each other’s back where I’m from there’s really nice and respectful people and every holiday they

Will get you something or they will give you a gift as a token of respect everybody on the Block they know each other we go outside go to the park and have fun you can walk down the street and the pizza guy he sees you he’ll look

Out for you it’s a place where people do love one another they’re passionate about their Sports we love food here culture Cuisine it’s a place where people are strong people have grit and determination there’s some aspects about it where people are sad where they’re downtrodden but more more over it is a

Place where people love Philly it means something to be from Philly you want to represent Philly in the right way knowing that you know that’s on your back I’ve grew up in the same places I walked the same streets I did the same things you know I feel like every time I’m doing something I’m

Putting on from Philly I’m doing it for them Z Franklin Conwell Middle School sometimes you just need people that actually know the school know the community like zier does and someone who’s saying you know what I’m going to put my money I’m going to put my value

On something that I know is going to make a difference I heard about selicia’s angel from his green and she told me that Sha’s Angel was a program for girls I wanted to join cuz I thought I could try something new and it would be aspiring and I heard that s Franklin

Was respectful and nice I have been a part of the Business Academy when I first went I thought like I didn’t know nobody the kids was going to be Weir cuz I’m antisocial I don’t really like being around people but yeah but when I got there I boost my

Confidence and I was talking to people everybody was nice it make me feel happy and that we got people coming down and Kiton helping us plan what we want to do when we get older we get to see how people work so hard to get where they

Are today and that there’s always going to be bumps and you just got to go past that like try your hardest don’t give up Chalisa Angels is a nonprofit organization that Focus focus is on young women from tough areas and impoverished communities with the main goal to just give them opportunities and

Experiences that they may not have the opportunity to experience in any other way whether that’s group chip to Google Headquarters in New York City or meeting the front office of the 76ers I’m trying to get the young women to see other women professionals that look like them

That are from similar places that they are because if you can see it you could you can believe it just expands your mind expands your possibility it gives you hope seeing other women like do such good stuff and do what they do so good it inspires me to be one of those women

If they can do it that makes me feel like I can do it I’ve gone to the Google trip where he took us to New York to go to Google Headquarters and you see what their work environment is to see if that might be a interest to you I was so

Happy like you would never say to someone oh I went to Google everybody can be exposed to something but that’s it it’s exposure trips like what zier presents through the Chalisa Angels organization really allows for that they know that there’s opportunities and options I wanted giving back to be the

First thing that I did once I got to the league I thought you know it would be important for me to kind of create an entity to celebrate my late mother honor my late grandmother two women who were just instrumental in my success and my

Life and my vision and my journey I lost my mother and my grandmother when I was 16 uh immediately went from my house of a house of three to almost living by myself from there it was on me to kind of learn the tools to be able to survive

As professional athletes I think it’s easy for us to host a football camp it’s easy for us to you know go into the sports teams and motivate them and Inspire them um because just our presence is an inspiration to those guys and sometimes the young women are the

Are the group that’s most overlooked myself being raised by women man it was just important for me to give back to them I am from Kensington part of Philadelphia bornn and raised in a way it’s you’re beating the odds I’m proud because I’m not going to be one of the

People on the street just slumped over I’m proud that I can say I beat Kensington in a way right here in the heart of Kensington there’s an open air drug Market that’s going on and our kids walk through it every day uh they see folks that are struggling with addiction

But yet my young people are resilient people here they’re a part of a community and they love this community and it’s been over shadowed as a result of what’s going on with the drug addiction we had almost 800 students and as a result of the crime it’s a direct

Correlation that I now have 120 students and we’ve been we’ve been flexible we’re very empathetic to the folks that are struggling with addiction but we really need to be mindful that we need to preserve children and someone needs to advocate for them and I am that Advocate Erica green she does an amazing

Amazing amazing job helping those young women we took a little bit of a financial literacy turn and just started to teach the kids what it means to run a business what it means to be a business owner the message of financial literacy is so important everybody needs to know

How to manage money that is just something that I feel like as a people continues to put us behind the eightball when you finally get some money and then you use it to pay all your bills off just to get more bills the next month that someone who was on welfare I

Understand exactly what that’s like the business Academy for chisa’s angels to two-day program it’s nice because middle schoolers across the city get to participate in the business Academy we always have three business owners from the community come in and speak about the challenges of running a business we

Was working on a business Cafe we had to get the things we needed like the chairs the coffee machine so we had to count and bounce the money I came in second place but it’s cool down as I gr out older um and you know I was going to college

Um financial literacy was something that I had to learn on myself the hard wave you know whether that was gas whether that was getting Chipotle with my my teammates I always thought you know if I could give back and teach some of the young kids some of the tools that I had

To learn you know and maybe if I could just give you a helping hand and give you these lessons in a better way maybe you’ll have an easier path than I did I would like to encourage other young ladies no matter how much a person say

You can’t do something or no matter how much you doubt yourself that you can always do like my mom always says when life gives you lemons you just take them in certain Fields you don’t see a lot of women especially you guys think coding engineering but nowadays because the opportunities certain uh organization

Give like s’s Angels it gives women more power in the long run to do stuff they want to do time and energy those are things that we can’t get back to give that and donate that and spend my time and my love and my smiles and and my

Energy to people and to the community to me that’s the biggest sacrifice that I could give and you know my mom and my grandmother always taught me that you know leave a place better than you found it for me whether it’s you know Indianapolis whether it’s Syracuse or

Philadelphia I just always wanted to positively impact uh the communities that I was a part of thank you thank you thank thank you thank you shala’s Angels coming up next a history Rich Jacksonville Community writes the next chapter of its powerful Legacy still ahead on the NFL’s Inspire change

Special to represent my city and to get people people to love my city the way I do and to see the good in it those are the things that I love about it those are the things that sport does welcome back to the NFL’s Inspire change special the OU East district is

The last historical African-American community in Jacksonville that has not been displaced by gentrification its vibrant history and importance to the city civil rights Legacy formed the basis of this story about Outreach connection and impact with the Jaguar social responsibility team engaging in the community’s present and future we Don’t another when we think about the things that make community and makes communities Thrive a lot of it is acknowledging their history and being proud of it we had hundreds of different businesses here this was a black Mecca for those of you who’ve never heard of the 1960 c ends who don’t know anything about aandal Saturday when blacks and those of us sitting in were attacked by 200 whites with aandal and baseball bats in Downtown Jacksonville being a Jacksonville girl I

Feel like we don’t as a city do a very good job of telling our own story out east is the last African-American community in Jacksonville that has not been displaced by gentrification however this community has also not seen any major infrastructure investment in almost 60 years this is the corridor that our fans

Have to drive through on game day if you don’t have a thriving out east Community we don’t have a thriving Jacksonville I am Suzanne picket welcome out east this east side is special to me because I grew up here in the neighborhood I am the President of historic East Side CDC

And the board Vice chair of lift Jacks I am the housing director for the Jacksonville Urban League I am a mother I’m an activist I am a visual artist I’m a lot of things the murals and the enhancement of our commercial Corridor is extremely important because we are losing our culture

Cultural gentrification precedes gentrification I’ve had a lot of comments that when people drive down AI at rof Corridor that they can’t tell that there are businesses here so from an investor standpoint from my experience it’s been sort of a free-for-all but we invite those developers into the community to come

Partner with us I’m partnering with lift Jacks so they they work in the east side right here out east it’s a really a cool initiative trying to re ize the community our mission is to eradicate generational poverty in Jacksonville at first we were a group of Outsiders that

Came in and we thought that out east would be a great place to work for a couple reasons one really strong Community leadership and then momentum around the neighborhood all the investment we thought there was an opportunity to bring that into the neighborhood in a way that would benefit

Community leaders when we approached Community leaders to ask them would you like to partner back with us the short answer was we don’t trust you we’ve seen a bunch of folks come in create a plan probably pay some Consultants a bunch bunch of money and it sits on the shelf

And we’re left with empty promises when you’re working with a community that has historically been overlooked there is a level of trust that you have to begin to gain historic neighborhoods come with a designation which not only allows a community to be proud of its history but it also opens

The door for state and federal funding the team in 2020 made a million dooll donation to lift Jacksonville bill that went into a couple of key areas one being the rebuilding of Deb’s grocery store the Deb store has been in the east side for 100 years it’s been closed for

10 years the energy and the support that that store brought to the community we want to bring that back into the neighborhood Deb store is one of our first major projects so what we’re going to be doing is restoring that existing structure it’s going to be preserved in

A historical fashion and we’re building on a building right next to it too the bottom floor is going to be access to healthy foods and the top floor is going to be Financial Service services and Workforce Development and so we’ve really worked with the community to understand a series of priorities that

Are important to them and then bring it back at that historic location welcome to the melanin Market everybody melanin Market is one of the Marquee markets that we have each quarter we will have about 200 vendors presenting everything from custom shoes to jewelry to food

Live music art it’s just a day of family fun on the a It started based off of an organization that came into our community to bring a Marketplace to support small businesses in this community and when they came they didn’t include our businesses so myself and my co-founder Angie Nix and we sat on this very bench and said we

Need to do something about that so we called up friends that we knew all over town and set up along this Corridor on the sidewalk and we had more attendees at our little makeshift market and they did at theirs this was the place where black people came and supported one

Another in business we had hundreds of different businesses here on this Corridor so now that all the development is happening blocks away from us and people are really trying to get in and be a part of the land of milk and honey we love our relationship with the Jaguars they’re very supportive like

Right now we have a mural project that’s going on that the Jaguars are helping support they’re very big supporters of the melanin Market they’re always out here each time that we’re having events and they’re a part of our revitalization projects that we have as well the Jaguars have been really great in our

Efforts they partner almost in every aspect of our work in Healthcare Community Wellness long-term economic vitality educ ation and of course arts and culture the part about being from my city and to be able to serve my city in this way has um I’m about to

Cry when I get to walk back into my high school or I get to walk into neighborhoods like Audi’s that really do look a lot like the neighborhood that I grew up in and I get to use the power of the NFL and I get to use the power of

The Jags to represent my city and to get people to love my city the way I do and to see the good in it those are the things that I love about it those are the things that sport does it wasn’t the plan the 20-year plan was to tear it all

Down and we’re going to build from this foundation and make it a better Community my Visions for Audi is their kids have safe parks to play in that they have homes that that they can pass down to the Next Generation that they have access to healthy foods and Health

Care Systems they have transportation that they can get around to the places in our city that they want to get to that they feel safe going home in the evenings a good neighbor is that one that you can knock on the door and like borrow a cup of sugar or that neighbor

Is the one that looks out for you and as an organization as a team we want to be their favorite Neighbor when the NFL’s Inspire change special returns a youth football program in Watts leaves a lasting Mark far beyond the field you know inspired change starts with ownership consistency and being willing to be the voice that’s needed in the moment we’ll be back after this welcome back to the NFL cells

Inspire change special even before the Rams returned to Los Angeles football played a major factor in combating several divides in the city a co-ed youth football program was formed in 2013 as a bridge between the LAPD and the community of watts and this past year they honored the 10-year Milestone

With a game that serves as a powerful expression of their enduring impact and expansion since being recently adopted by the LA Rams who’s house I’m sorry who house every GP up on the game and I’m really trying to strangle the streets got a jaw too many get

Mang today at the Inspire change pool the vision was always to bring together South La and East LA through the Watts Rams and the Lincoln Rams and bring them on the field to have that rery and that companionship and for the Los Angeles Rams to be present supporting both of

Our programs when you go to that game and you see a African-American team and a Latino team not just playing against each other but at the end they’re dapping each other up right you grow up with this historic perspective and philosophy that he doesn’t look like me

I can’t talk to him he doesn’t come from where I come from we have nothing in common but yet to create this space and this environment to have some crucial conversations to talk about and highlight the commonalities that’s the beauty of the wats and Lincoln Rams there were riots that happened in high

School black and brown riots and you had to either be on one side or the other and you had to protect yourselves to get out of those riots but my best friend was a Hispanic dude that lived across the street who we walked to and from school together and I remember having to

Walk in those riots with my best friend and and my back to his and his back to mine to get out of there and and and shield each other from being hit in the community of Watts there’s been so much change as it relates to the

Makeup of the community in the 80s and 90s the public housing developments in Watts were predominantly black now the public housing developments are predominantly Latino often times there’s conflict because they don’t understand one another or when resources come in someone’s worried about the black folks getting more than in the brown folks and

It causes this divide I was once told by a good friend that watt stands for we are taught to survive and I think that speaks to the challenges of Wads but also the resiliency of Wads I playing with the watch F just like the environment is like like all my friends

Is so like joyful nice in 2013 we had police police officers assigned to our community safety partnership program where we placed officers in some of the violent parts of the Watts community and one of our officers said let’s create a football team let’s get kids from the different

Parts of watts to come together and play on one team like a family all the players give out they loved me and all that ever since I joined it’s just like they really family to me like I ain’t never felt this this way like playing football feels good feels like I’m at

Home just another one in talking with Chief T we knew there was something special about this youth football program that was Bridging the Divide between communities of color and law enforcement and really the vision all along has been to expand and she brought Lincoln Heights to my

Attention my name is Joe Casada I’ve been in law enforcement now for close to 30 years I was born in boil Heights and I I was raised in South La I work in the community of boil Heights and Lincoln Heights predominantly Hispanic a lot of Rich history in the community high

Schools that have been there over a hundred years so there’s there’s a lot of Pride it’s a great place it’s a great Community when I first got assigned to the community safety partnership the recruitment of gang members was growing immensely I started looking at what age they were recruiting which is as young

As 13 football helped me that’s what I knew so what better way to run interference than being consistently there building those bridges and developing those relationships with these kids and with their families especially when the kids have buying on the sport families tend to follow shortly thereafter we were the Lincoln

Heights Tigers before and we should have been called The Bad News Bears was just quite challenging every season so when the Rams came along it was just a sigh of relief I learned uh mainly everything I know about football I came here like not knowing how to play football but

They taught me everything and uh yeah they just they just teach me like the right way they just help me in a lot of stuff like they help my mom and stuff with a lot of stuff they take his places and I just like playing Here there is transformational power in the game of football that goes well beyond the wins and losses these kids are also being exposed to leaders like Mark May who has made Youth Development in our inner city his life’s work and today on we have for the Rams I am

Honored to surprise Mark as this year’s Los Angeles Rams inspir change change maker Sports is just a little thing we dangle in front of him to say hey come here come here right but it’s so much more other than Sports you know our five pillars that we really really hammer on

Is academics service life skills the support and safety is another and health and wellness we talked to them about violence in their Community violence in their family we talk to them about etiquette we focus on the whole child to make them better people an individual right that’s African American to be able

To break the barriers with the Lincoln Rams that’s a powerful thing that we get to do this is a generational change he’s the core of this he he keeps his engine running and without Mark May I don’t know where we would be if you come here

It’s going to be awesome like like you going you going to love it like you going to grow I see them as my coaches Mentor people I could talk to trusted adults like that I feel like it’s working on somebody I trust and somebody that cares for me to see the kids from

One side of town build relationship with kids from the other side of town and come together for the love of people and the Love of the Game has been instrumental in change in our communities on a count of three I want everybody here to say Unity 1 2 3

Unity as we’ve seen change is more than a vague concept for so many NFL players it means taking action putting your time resources and platform to use in ways that transform communities these are just a few of the many stories and just a few of the many lives that have been

Changed and as the program grows so will the impact and this is only the beginning thank you for joining Us

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