The NFL is expanding its Inspire Change initiative internationally ahead of a season that features a record nine games outside the United States.
The league says it aims to bring its “growing community impact work across global markets under a shared platform focused on creating access to opportunity for underserved youth.”
Since launching in 2017, the NFL has provided nearly $575 million in support of thousands of partners and nonprofit organizations across four core pillars: education, economic advancement, police/community relations and criminal justice reform.
The expansion of Inspire Change internationally won’t impact the league’s social justice work in the United States.
“Inspire change has been a tremendous platform for us in the U.S. for many years, and now we are taking that platform and that brand and we’re taking it global, and we’re doing it with the priority of reaching underserved youth in countries where the NFL is to expanding to, where we’re playing, where our teams are playing, where our teams are setting up roots in the global markets program,” said Anna Isaacson, senior vice president of social responsibility for the NFL.
The league launched a pilot program last season in several countries that hosted games.
“We have decided to unify that work under Inspire Change and just extend the reach,” Isaacson said, adding that teams will build on it through their outreach and work locally. “So the work will come to life across many countries and many regions, but it will all be a little bit different. It’ll be reflective of the country and the city where that work is happening, and who’s bringing it there, whether it’s the league bringing it there or a specific club bringing it there, and so we’re really excited. But again, it shows the unity, I think, across the league and clubs to really expand things that we have tried to do and hopefully been successful at domestically. And that’s really reaching underserved youth and trying to do our best to break down barriers to opportunity for them and take that work across the world.”
The NFL’s first international game this season features the San Francisco 49ers against the Los Angeles Rams on Sept. 10 in the first regular-season game in Australia.
The game takes place on Sept. 11 local time and “Never Forget” will be stenciled in the end zone.
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