CHICAGO — A city basketball league created by the foundation of former Chicago Bulls center Joakim Noah has just tipped off its third season.
The One City Basketball League, as its website states, is a Chicago-based peace league that operates in partnership with 28 community-based violence prevention organizations. It’s one of the core programs of the Noah’s Arc Foundation, which was founded in 2010 by Noah and his mother, Cecilia Rodhe, to provide opportunities for youth from under-invested communities.
The One City Basketball League is for young men ages 16 to 25, offering financial compensation for playing competitive basketball. But in order to compete, players are required to attend off-court programming, ranging from financial literacy, to trauma-informed conflict resolution that focuses on gun violence prevention, to job readiness.
Additionally, the league provides free basketball clinics open to all Chicago youth.
“There’s a lot of violence going on in different parts of the community, so we want to let people know we do care,” Cobe Williams, One City Basketball League co-founder, says. “They’re not alone, and we want them to just know that we really care about them, and we want to build with them.
“We want them mostly to know, just because you have a disagreement, it doesn’t have to lead to violence.”
Nearly 400 players are competing in the One City Basketball League this season.
Click HERE for more information on the One City Basketball League. Click HERE for more information on the Noah’s Arc Foundation.