STAR ATHLETES ILLUMINATE
THE PEACE & PROSPERITY MOVEMENT
MSU alumni athletes rally with friends to launch a
community partnership
to help youth in Lansing achieve a brighter future
Link to Video of Event Courtesy of Lansing State Journal
Lansing,
MI (July 11, 2009) – Mateen Cleaves may be best known for leading his Michigan
State University basketball team to a National Championship win in 2000, but
these days the charismatic NBA veteran is more interested in bringing unity to
the community. Cleaves spearheaded a campaign to help improve outcomes for disadvantaged
youth. “I
was determined to give something back to the community that made me proud to be
a Spartan,” Cleaves explains of his desire to support youth programs in Lansing.
“We want to partner with the community for deep impact and lasting change.”
Joining Mateen Cleaves were Plaxico Burress, formerly of the New
York Giants, and Morris Peterson, of the New Orleans Hornets, Thomas
Kelley, Kelvin Torbert, DuJuan Wiley and Andre Hutson.The
Piece of Mine event included a panel discussion, Q&A
session, autograph signing and giveaways.
Piece of Mine is a community
outreach initiative that encourages each one to reach one. It challenges
individuals to understand how easy it can be to make a world of difference for
someone in need. Whether it be knowledge, time, support, advice and
encouragement or more tangible resources such as money, supplies, cloths, food
and shelter — peace of mind and peace in the community can be accomplished when
people give others a piece of themselves. When asked why this event is so
important to Boys & Girls Club of Lansing, Carmen Turner, Executive
Director, responded: “We as a community must understand that our
commitment is to the children. The world and environment
that they live in were not created by them. All of the politics and posturing
has got to be thrown out of the window and real change has to begin. We need
people and local companies to put resources behind community organizations to
make sure that we can continue to be an asset to our community.”
The Karma Foundation and Mateen Cleaves Community
Outreach Foundation are seeking partners to help accomplish Cleaves’ goal with sponsorships,
donations and volunteers. A similar event is being held in Flint, Cleaves’
hometown, the day before. Flint is a community that has similar symptoms of
disparity and recent incidence of gun violence. One Love Global and Boys &
Girls Club of Lansing are the designated hosts and community partners of the
Piece of Mine community outreach initiative.
“We’ve only been in the community
for less than a year, but it has not taken long to identify the spaces and
people that open their hearts and doors to the children and families most in
need,” said Angela Austin, President/CEO of One Love Global. “When we considered who we would want to partner with
for this event and where to pilot social entrepreneurship programs, Boys &
Girls Club of Lansing was top of the list. Piece of Mine is an opportunity to
engage partners and investors in the challenging, but highly rewarding, work
ahead of the Peace & Prosperity Movement. The return on investment will be a
better prepared workforce, young people with a leadership mindset, and
increased collective well-being.”
Peace & Prosperity Movement
cultivates strategic grassroots and community-level partnerships to connect
youth with opportunities geared towards increasing graduation and employment
rates, leadership skills and healthy development. Imagine what would have to
change to assure all young people in Ingham County have the opportunity to
achieve excellence…the Peace & Prosperity Movement is all about building
social capital and resource networks that will support youth in making a
successful transition from middle and high school to higher education and
careers.
With funding from the
Ingham County Health Department on behalf of the Ingham Lansing Community
Coalition for Youth’s Ingham Change Initiative, which seeks to improve life
outcomes for all youth through policy reform, The Peace & Prosperity
Movement recently kicked off the Power of 9 Summer Edutainment Series for youth
and families. A series of nine events is being held to promote violence
prevention, healthy lifestyles, higher education and unity. The events are
being held at various locations in the community that in recent years have been
affected by violence and tragedy, all landmarks of hope and possibility: Hunter
Park, Old Town and The Venue Live. The partnership between Piece of Mine and
the Peace & Prosperity Movement seeks to raise awareness and investment in
innovative solutions to poverty and disparity that will create more
opportunities for disadvantaged youth and older teens. Information about the
Power of 9 Summer Edutainment Series is available at
www.coalitionforyouth.org and
www.oneloveglobal.org.
One Love Global is committed to
revitalizing urban centers and creating sustainable communities where justice,
peace and opportunity are attainable for all children. Through
social enterprise and social innovation, One Love Global seeks to break
transgenerational cycles of poverty and trauma in the African American
community. One Love Global is an internationally-focused 501(c)3 nonprofit
organization with goals to: 1) strengthen community and faith based leadership
2) increase organizational capacity to create sustainable solutions for
community change, 3) create forums for cross-sector collaboration, 4) advocacy
and outreach to funders and policymakers, and 5) to create social change
through social innovation. One Love Global is the creator of and a partner of
the Peace & Prosperity Movement in conjunction with Ingham Lansing
Community Coalition for Youth. The Boys & Girls Club of Lansing is the
designated pilot site for One Love Global social enterprise programs for youth.
The
Boys & Girls Club of Lansing,
which
opened in 1964, is an affiliate of the Boys & Girls Clubs of
America,
the national organization that has developed effective youth programs
for
nearly a century. A wide range of youth activities at the Club help
children
ages 7-17 develop attitudes, behaviors, and skills that enable them to
succeed
in the classroom, in the workforce, and in the world. The Boys &
Girls Club
is open when kids need us most, during the summer and after school,
when they
have too much free time and need a positive environment in which to
-more-
learn and grow. Structured
activities include: Power Hour (a successful
after-school homework program that helps kids with their homework),
Project Learn (a program that hundreds of kids participate in each
year! The
program provides them with incentives to participate in leisure
reading,
creative writing activities, and playing games like
Scrabble that
develop
children’s cognitive skills), Keystone Club
(leadership service club for teens), SMART Moves (Skills
Mastery And Resistance Training), Jr. Staff
(employment program for teens), Physical
Fitness programs that combine daily physical activity with
teamwork, problem-solving and creative thinking, and a state of the art
Computer Lab that incorporates a nationally recognized GET City (Green
Energy Technology) math, science and engineering
program! These programs promote youth development through education
&
enrichment programs.
The Mateen Cleaves Community Outreach Foundation
is a Flint, Michigan-based non-profit organization whose purpose is to
encourage others to use their talents, influence and resources to give back to
where they come from. Influenced by his mother, a courageous community
activist, Cleaves understands that he can’t change the world alone but it’s a
social responsibility for everyone to do his or her part.
The KARMA Foundation is a 501(c)3
non-profit organization whose purpose is to stress the importance of developing
personal accountability and independence to youth and economically challenged
adults in the inner cities. They also strive to create greater knowledge of
career and financial opportunities.
Contacts:
Adell Henderson
KARMA Foundation
adell@getrightgetleft.com818.518.7593
Angela Waters Austin
One Love Global
517.410.1014
angela@oneloveglobal.org