BEAVERTON, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nike Community Stores across the country are giving back $240,000 to their communities through recent grants by the Nike Community Impact Fund (NCIF). The NCIF is an innovative approach to grant-making that engages a committee of Nike employees and store athletes from across the U.S. to directly impact the local communities where they live and work by awarding grants to organizations that give youth early, positive experiences in sport and physical activity and strengthen communities. Community Stores in Detroit, Chicago, New Orleans, Ivy City in Washington, D.C., the Flatbush neighborhood in Brooklyn and East Los Angeles have awarded $240,000 in grants to 48 nonprofit organizations and schools, in partnership with CAF America, to support projects that build strong communities and give kids opportunities to experience the power of physical activity, sport and play.
Since 2010, the Nike Community Impact Fund has awarded more than 375 nonprofit organizations with more than $3.75 million in grants. With this recent round of grants, the total impact for 2016 is $800,000, including grants in Oregon where NCIF began and the national expansion of the program.
“Our Community Store Ambassadors are passionate about getting involved in their communities,” said Caitlin Morris, Nike’s Senior Director of North America Community Impact. “By connecting Nike’s Community Stores to local grant programs, we look forward to fostering even deeper connections to provide youth with early, positive experiences in sport and physical activity.”
Grant Recipients Reflect the Health and Vitality of Local Communities
At the Detroit Community Store, one recipient for the inaugural grant program is the Boys and Girls Club of Southeastern Michigan. The club is devoted to guiding and supporting children ages 6-18 in five core areas: the arts; character and leadership development; education and career development; health and life skills; and sports, fitness and recreation. With the grant, the organization will create a co-ed basketball league.
Tim Carroll, Head Coach of the Detroit Community Store, oversaw the grant process in his community. “We wanted to focus on organizations that are striving to make physical activity, play and sport a highly valued part of everyday life for our athletes in the Detroit area,” Carroll said. “The Boys & Girls Club of Southeastern Michigan is doing just that through their co-ed basketball league.”
He added, “Our Nike Store athletes already have a strong relationship with the Boys and Girls Club, spending a few days a week volunteering there. During the afterschool program they lead young athletes in games and activities. We’re excited to deepen our connection with them through this new grant.”
“We are very grateful to our local Detroit Community Store, The Nike Community Impact Fund and CAF America for their support of our co-ed basketball league,” said Patrice Dicken, Club Director, Boys & Girls Club of Southeastern Michigan-Lloyd H. Diehl Club. “At the Boys & Girls Club, we want our kids to succeed. Through the co-ed basketball team, we’ll be able to provide even more opportunities for our youth to participate in a structured environment that will help them develop skills, increase fitness, learn strategy and practice good sportsmanship.”
At the South Chicago Community Store, Caitlyn Hickey, Community Store Ambassador, emphasized the need to hire positive role models who want to be part of the local community. “At the Chicago Community Store, we like to be a positive role model in kids’ lives. Having Nike involved at their school is really impactful to these kids.”
Prior to the grant process, the Chicago Community Store was already involved with the Gary Comer Youth Center, where Community Store Ambassadors—store employees that have received training in providing early, positive experiences in sport and physical activity--have been helping kids who may be struggling in physical education classes, by working with them to move to the next level. They also talk to kids about career development, how to develop a resume and do interviews, and what life is like after high school. When the grant opportunity came up, Caitlin Hickey personally went out and helped school administrators through the step-by-step grant process. “It was really rewarding to be involved in that portion of the grant process, helping them apply and eventually get chosen as a grant recipient,” said Hickey.
International Expansion of NCIF
Nike is proud to be expanding the Nike Community Impact Fund to Europe. Nike employees in Nike’s European Headquarters in Hilversum, Netherlands, and European Logistics Center in Laakdal, Belgium, will help direct more than $350,000 (USD) of Nike’s community investments in Europe.
The first round of grants for these cities will be announced in 2017.
Nike Community Impact Fund Awardees
The following 48 organizations received grants from six U.S. Nike Community Stores, through the Nike Community Impact Fund at CAF America:
| Organization | Project Description | ||||
| Brooklyn, New York | |||||
| Address the needs of youth by offering a range of asset-based activities that are important for healthy youth development. Youth programs are designed to help young people acquire the skills they need to stay on track, graduate from high school and pursue a chosen career. | |||||
| Bridge educational opportunities with long-term promotion of active healthy lifestyles. | |||||
| Address health issues concerning young children by helping them develop healthy body awareness, manage stress and increase their confidence and positive self-image. | |||||
| Conduct four events all centered on a physical/sport activity, which will pair local youth with mentors. | |||||
| Address community needs by integrating academics and literacy with daily recreational activities. | |||||
| Integrate STEP into after school programming in under-resourced neighborhoods helping low-income, middle school students achieve academic excellence, social and emotional growth and maintain healthy lifestyles. | |||||
| Develop a weight room for high school students, helping encourage healthy lifestyles. | |||||
| Provide safe, structured play while encouraging teamwork, self-esteem and physical fitness by using basketball, stepping and cheerleading. | |||||
| Chicago, Illinois | |||||
| Develop a “Work to Play” program which is a before and after school health and education soccer program for K-4th grade students. | |||||
| Support an after school program for elementary and middle school girls, focused on different sport, health and leadership topics. | |||||
| Support project H.E.A.L.T.H. (Healthy Eating and Activity to Live Tomorrow Holistically,) which is an after school serving youth ages 6-14. | |||||
| Expand school-year basketball programs into the summer and add a structured summer basketball league to program offerings for high school students. | |||||
| Support a 'Get Healthy' campaign targeting childhood obesity, health and wellness concerns within the local population. | |||||
| Encourage physical activity by providing athletic shoes to disadvantaged youth at an overnight youth shelter for people under the age of 24. | |||||
| Utilize the tools of yoga and restorative justice as a way to work with the young woman both within the community as well as inside the detention centers. | |||||
| Provide a full range of sports and recreation activities in support of physical and emotional well-being of the members. | |||||
| Detroit, Michigan | |||||
| Utilize boxing as a draw for inner city Detroit children to reinforce tenets of athletics including conflict resolution and overall physical and mental health. | |||||
| Teach children to swim and be safer around water that would not otherwise have the opportunity due to finances, pool access or transportation. | |||||
| Create a co-ed basketball league for Boys & Girls Club children. | |||||
| Work to build character in over 12,000 at-risk youth through athletics and leadership, in partnership with the Detroit Police Department. | |||||
| Foster early literacy, healthy activities and pro-social behavior through a program that pairs adult and youth educational learning for local parents. | |||||
| Support the Move-Grow-Eat project that inspires healthy behaviors by linking fitness classes with educational opportunities to help Detroit youth grow, harvest and prepare fresh food. | |||||
| Provide funding for a team neighborhood Flag Football league which includes coaching, transportation, equipment, and facility upkeep. | |||||
| Provide “Local Motion” a fitness program via appropriate equipment along with dance classes in a local elementary school. | |||||
| Los Angeles (East), California | |||||
| Support a grass roots community based soccer program led by volunteers and two coaches who train over 70 children ranging in ages between 7-16, providing a safe playing environment for youth. | |||||
| Provide a Sports4Kids Soccer program in partnership with the American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO). | |||||
| Expand the girls soccer program at Wilson High School (WHS), reaching more Latina youth to foster stronger technical skills and healthier lifestyles in a safe space. | |||||
| Operate programs that recruit youth and families at local schools in Boyle Heights. The programs offer four seasons of sports leagues including: baseball, softball, basketball, soccer, flag football, tennis, gymnastics, and dance. | |||||
| Engage students in the after school Anahuacalmecac Soaring Eagles running program. | |||||
| Support a program at the Boyle Heights Arts Conservatory (BHAC) where the community can learn to use meditation, yoga, and jiu-jitsu, as tools for conflict resolution, anger management, and to develop positive body-image. | |||||
| Provide safe equipment for football players and cheerleaders, which includes updated helmets and mats. | |||||
| Collaborate with a local a local Fusion Performing Dance Studio, to provide dance/aerobic classes for students to engage in choreographed routines that facilitate whole body movement, agility and balance. | |||||
| New Orleans, Louisiana | |||||
| Develop a comprehensive physical education program at a growing charter school in New Orleans. | |||||
| Expand the sports, athletics, and physical activities offered at Esperanza School to promote and encourage healthy physical activity to more students. | |||||
| Provide a fun and safe recreational space for African American males 16- 24 at-risk of involvement or victims to violence. | |||||
| Support change in the lives of New Orleans’ youth through yearlong enrichment programs designed to help children ages 6-18 discover and develop the values that define true victory in the game of life. | |||||
| Implement a monthly girls-in-sports program that promotes sports participation, community service, academic aspirations and empowerment. | |||||
|
Young Men’s Christian Association Of New Orleans Metropolitan |
Support a week-long camp that teaches youth with autism and other developmental disabilities to ride conventional, two-wheel bikes and become lifelong independent riders. | ||||
| Utilize signature recess curriculum to engage youth in safe, meaningful play opportunities. The curriculum revolves around making youth the stakeholders of their play experience by getting to shape and choose which activities are featured at recess through the guidance of their coaches. | |||||
| Support Saturday Training focused on training and preparing 120 participants and 120 adult buddies for the Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon at five regional parks. | |||||
| Washington, D.C. | |||||
| Promote the health and well-being of underserved students in the District of Columbia through a distance running, mentoring, and community-building program. | |||||
| Provide sports programs to children and teens with disabilities, helping participants build physical abilities, social skills and confidence. | |||||
| Engage 20 female NCAA athletes from DC universities to assist in teaching 8-week sports-based sexual health education programs to 100 at-risk young girls in two DC charter schools. | |||||
| Provide youth participants with a structured environment to develop skills, increase fitness, learn strategy and practice sportsmanship through league sports. | |||||
| Help Ivy City children (Northeast Academy Public Charter School) achieve greater levels of physical fitness through participation in the DC SCORES soccer league. | |||||
| Support a sports-based youth development program that works with DC Public Schools and other organizations to empower low-income youth to break the cycle of poverty. | |||||
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Support a program that trains youth in the instruction of step classes, Zumba and tumbling. |
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| Provide nutritious lunches for the participants of Run Hope Work, a program that provides workforce and wellness training to young adults in need. | |||||
About Nike Community Impact Fund
The Nike Community Impact Fund is part of Nike’s Global Community Impact work. Nike believes in the power of sport to move the world and unleash human potential. However, the world is moving less and less, and today's generation of children is the least physically active ever. That’s why Nike works to get kids (ages 7-12) active early and for life, because active kids are happier, healthier and more successful. Together with its employees, partners, consumers and athletes, Nike also supports important causes which strengthen communities across the globe.
About NIKE, Inc.
NIKE, Inc., based near Beaverton, Oregon, is the world's leading designer, marketer and distributor of authentic athletic footwear, apparel, equipment and accessories for a wide variety of sports and fitness activities. Wholly-owned NIKE, Inc. subsidiary brands include Converse, which designs, distributes and licenses casual sneakers, apparel and accessories; and Hurley, which designs and distributes a line of action sports and youth lifestyle apparel and accessories. NIKE, Inc.’s earnings releases and other financial information are available at investors.nike.com. Individuals can follow @Nike for more frequent updates.
About CAF America
About CAF America: CAF America is a 501c3 public charity in the United States that assists corporations, foundations, and individuals with their international philanthropy. They streamline the grant-making process to eliminate risk and administrative burden, and they help donors support great causes by assisting them in making strategic, effective, and tax-advantaged grants internationally and domestically. In the last 5 years alone, CAF America and its subsidiary, the CAF American Donor Fund (CADF), have given more than $400 million to charitable organizations in over 90 countries around the world. Nike Inc. has established the Nike Community Impact Fund at CAF America to help facilitate their grant-making.
