Recap: Project Play 2017

WASHINGTON, D.C., – September 7th, 2017 – Laureus has been a proud sponsor of the Project Play Summit for three consecutive years. This year’s Project Play Summit was another productive meeting of over 400 cross-sector leaders committed to building healthy communities through sport. Together, we discussed challenges and explored new ideas to advance the key findings of the Project Play report.

At the summit, our CEO Benita Fitzgerald Mosley announced Laureus USA’s unprecedented commitment to catalyzing Sport for Good nationwide. Building on our success in Atlanta and New Orleans, we will continue to create locally-driven Sport for Good chapters that facilitate collaboration between programs serving youth in a shared community. We will support the programs as they develop their staff, set shared goals, and expand their programming. Our goal is to have Sport for Good chapters in 20 cities by 2020.

One program alone is not capable of solving the social crises that disproportionately face low-income communities. That’s why we have created a long-term plan that leverages the collective resources, connections and experiences of local programs. Our success with Sport for Good chapters in New Orleans and Atlanta has proven our model. In New Orleans, we have twenty organizations- including non-profits, businesses, and schools- working together to use sport as a tool to reduce violence and obesity. Together, they have reached over 50,000 youth. In Atlanta, we have announced over $1 million of funding to 14 local Sport for Good programs, powered by Mercedes-Benz USA.

We will be launching Sport for Good New York City and Sport for Good Chicago with the support of Nike as our founding sponsor. Alongside our continued expansion, we will be launching an online platform to connect chapter members and advance their impact. The Sport for Good League will launch in 2018, uniting people that are passionate about using sport as a tool for social change. Please sign up here to receive updates.

We believe in the power of teams, and know first-hand that collaboration is a game-changer in the use of sport to address social challenges. We will continue to advance our strategy that unites stakeholders, unlocks new resources, and increases the evidence base that Sport for Good is positively transforming communities across the country. We are confident this approach will maximize the positive, long-term impact of Sport for Good, and help us to reach even more youth and strengthen more communities through the power of sport.

You can rewatch Benita’s announcement here: