Steph & Ayesha Curry’s $50M Drive to Improve Oakland Public Schools
September 15, 2023
NBA superstar Stephen Curry and his wife Ayesha Curry have announced a new initiative through their Oakland, California-based non-profit, Eat. Learn. Play., to raise and invest $50 million in support and resources for Oakland students by the end of the 2025-26 school year. The effort will ensure that all students receive the essential resources needed to thrive, including nutritious meals, literacy support, refurbed schoolyards and increased youth sports opportunities.
“When we launched Eat. Learn. Play. in 2019 we saw the tremendous need that existed in our adopted hometown of Oakland and set to use our platform and resources to work to unlock the full potential of the kids in our community,” said the Curry’s. “Over the years, we’ve been inspired by the impact that happens when a community comes together to make a change, and we are now further invested to meet Oakland kids where they are each and every day, to transform their school experience and create lasting change for generations to come.”
The non-profit exists on the belief that “everyone deserves a chance to live a happy, healthy childhood” and supports children’s well-being through access to nutritious meals, quality reading resources and opportunities to be active. Since 2019, it has raised more than $47 million to serve Oakland kids and families, including delivering more than 25 million meals, investing $6 million in literacy resources and support and revitalizing 12 school and community play spaces. This new initiative looks to enhance the non-profit's three pillars of nutrition, education and physical activity for all Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) students.
Eat. Learn. Play. wants to transform the school experience for a generation of students where they eat, learn and play each day. One of its key objectives is to revamp the school food system to provide healthy, high-quality meals to students - students who often rely on their schools for two or three meals a day. The foundation pledges to make substantial investments over the next three years, which will include support for OUSD’s Central Kitchen, Education Center and Instructional Garden and Farm (The Center) to provide over six million scratched-cooked meals annually to the district's nearly 35,000 students and 85 schools.
Additionally, the non-profit will enhance cafeterias to be engaging spaces for students to learn and socialize as well as eat. The Currys plan to collaborate with the Alameda County Community Food Bank and local Oakland restaurants to provide meals and produce to hungry Oakland kids and families. Research from the Alameda County Food Bank shows that it takes a family of four $92,267 annually to meet their basic household needs in the Oakland metro area, while 65% of their clients have incomes less than $28,290. The foundation will also continue its mobile resource center that provides 25,000 nutritious meals and 100,000 culturally affirming books annually to Oakland youth and families.
In collaboration with OUSD and literacy partners, the foundation will also provide enhanced tutoring for students below grade level. And in the effort to ensure that all Oakland students have access to safe and equitable places to play, the initiative plans to transform 25 school playgrounds and help revitalize school sports programs. Throughout 2023, the non-profit is remodeling six schoolyards at OUSD campuses, which include state-of-the-art multi-sport courts, mini soccer pitches, play structures designed by the kids that will use them, community gardens, outdoor classrooms and reading areas, murals and more. To meet its goal of providing high-quality, free access to sports programming at schools, it will work with partners such as Under Armour and its Curry Brand, Oakland Athletic League, OUSD’s Expanded Learning Program, KABOOM!, Aspen Institute, Oakland Genesis Soccer Club, Oakland Lacrosse, Positive Coaching Alliance and Sport Court.
The Curry’s will continue to cover 100% of the non-profit's administrative and fundraising costs to ensure that the money raised is put back into the community through the foundation’s programming. The groundbreaking effort is a result of a year-long strategic planning process that involved the foundation's Board of Directors, community partners and leaders, issue area experts and focused research and analysis.
Source: Eat. Play. Learn.