To mark the 60th birthday of NBA legend Michael Jordan on February 17, Dallas nonprofit Beyond the Ball was awarded a community grant by Michael Jordan and the Jordan Brand. And the local nonprofit was just one of dozens across the nation getting such news.
The award to Beyond the Ball was one of 48 community grants totaling $2.3 million given to U.S. grassroots organizations by Jordan and Jordan Brand.
Founded in 2019 by Dallas-based serial entrepreneur Erica Molett, Beyond the Ball aims to prepare Gen Z youth of color to “innovate, lead, and change the world” through STEM, career exploration, and sports intelligence.
“This grant will enable us to take our youth programming to the next level,” Molett, the group’s CEO and executive director, said on Facebook.
Part of a 10-year, $100M commitment
[Video still: Beyond the Ball]
The grant to Beyond the Ball, the amount of which not disclosed, was part of Jordan and Jordan Brand’s joint 10-year, $100 million Black Community Commitment initiative.
The BCC was created in 2020 to encourage “sustainable and meaningful change to directly impact the fight against systemic racism.” The initiative delivers funding from three programs: community grants, institutional grants, and family grants.
[Beyond the Ball video screenshot]
Groups leading ‘sustainable solutions’ are awarded
The 2023 round of community grants includes 43 new organizations, plus reinvestment in five organizations that were awarded grants in 2021.
The one-year Jordan community grants go to groups leading “sustainable solutions” in their communities, according to a statement posted on Nike’s website.
“We believe that these community organizations aren’t just local changemakers, but that they are dreamers, makers of generational bonds, and neighborhood leaders with an authentic understanding of how together they can create transformational change,” Craig Williams, Jordan Brand president, said in the statement.
To be eligible for the Jordan grants, a group must be a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, have an operating budget of less than $3 million, and share a commitment to driving change in one of the BCC’s four “key pillars”: economic justice, education, narrative change, and social justice.
You can see the full list of grant recipients and learn more about their missions by going here.
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