FORMER Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake enjoyed her semi-retirement – until she attended the premiere of the Game Change Game documentary at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival.
“I still get goosebumps when I think about sitting in the theater and looking up at these players and hearing basically my voice being reflected back on me,” she told The U.S. Sun.
The four-part series told the story of NBA players joining the push for social justice and racial equality while locked up in the secluded Orlando bubble during the coronavirus-struck 2019-20 season.
Their passion and desire to improve their communities made Rawlings-Blake reconsider the National Basketball Players Association’s approach regarding her potential involvement in the NBPA Foundation from a few years back.
“It hit me, I was like ‘Stephanie, that is the connection. That is what you do,'” the Baltimore native recalled.
Rawlings-Blake was revealed as the NBPA Foundation’s new executive director in November 2022, thrusting her back into a major administrative role after 21 years in elected office.
In her political career, she managed a $2.4million budget as the 49th Mayor of Baltimore between 2010-2016.
She became the first and only black woman to serve as the president of the US Conference of Mayors and gaveled in the 2016 presidential convention as the secretary of the Democratic National Committee.
Rawlings-Blake now wants to use the executive experience and fiscal expertise she gained to take the foundation’s charitable efforts to the next level.
Her goals are to get more players to join the non-profit’s work with the NBPA Foundation offering matching grants of $25,000 for active players and $15,000 for retired stars.
She also wants to encourage the players to join forces on campaigns of mutual interest so they can have an even bigger impact, and to take the organization’s activity beyond the 30-plus countries it’s reached so far.
To make it all possible, Rawlings-Blake hopes to diversify the source of funds with her team organizing the foundation’s first-ever fundraiser – the NBPA Foundation Golf Invitational during the 2023 NBA Summer League.
“I don’t think it is a sustainable model to depend solely on players getting into scuffles during games, right?” she said after delivering the opening remarks at Las Vegas Country Club, adding the NBPA Foundation receives half the money paid by NBA players in fines.
In her speech to the attendees, featuring NBA icons such as Kevin Garnett, Mike Woodson, and new board member Jalen Rose, Rawlings-Blake said the new leadership wants to challenge the status quo.
To show the change in approach, she pointed to the partnership with Team Rubicon, which will provide NBA players with boots-on-the-ground support to boost the efficiency of their disaster relief work.
“When I was mayor, within 24 hours of me being sworn in was Snowmageddon – one of the largest snowstorm blizzards that we had in the city,” she recalled.
“And I realized that we had to think about disaster relief differently.”
Rawlings-Blake also wants to put more spotlight on the players’ philanthropy, hoping their work can be showcased annually at the golf invitational and, potentially, a new signature event during the All-Star Weekend.
She also hopes to put some of the NBA stars’ interest in fashion to good use, targeting a partnership with New York Fashion Week organizers.
All to find new ways to make meaningful change and build on the over $16million the NBPA Foundation has already awarded in grant money.
Rawlings-Blake lauded the organization’s grant program, charitable donations, and partnerships it struck over the years.
“But when you have someone that is focused on reimagining the possible, that’s good – but it’s not enough,” she said.
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