key players project: the course

why it works

The project works on a number of levels. It helps the community honor quiet leaders who help children and it helps to flip the stereotypical image of men of color on its head. It meets the Celtics desire to be "impactful". By honoring men of color who are making a difference in young peoples lives, and by encouraging them to keep on doing their good work, in a small way we help to strengthen the Springfield community. The program has helped to cultivate better relationships between the members of the Springfield and the Boston Celtics.

The project works for the University of Massachusetts Isenberg School of Management. As title sponsor they too have improved their relationship with the Springfield communities of color. As one community member put it, Key Players has "shortened the road between Amherst and Springfield."

And it works for the students. For some students, the project is a life changing experience. Students are primarily white and affluent. Working in poor communities and communities of color is new for many of them. They confront their own racism and classism. They see and feel the love of the community and reflect upon their own lives, their own communities, and their own fathers. For some students, their first placement upon graduation is with a CR department in a professional sport franchise.

It works because of some guiding principles (or repeated mottos) that shape the students work.

  1. Volunteers get more then they give. This principle is almost a cliché. But students looking to volunteer are still surprised by it. I find it important to keep repeating it early in the semester to make sure students don't go into a setting on the wrong foot (or on a high horse).

  2. Build trust. The town-gown distrust/cyncism is real and the result of a long history of bad experiences. Well-intentioned faculty have a tendency to "use" poor communities for research. But offer little in return. Students need to counter community distrust of colleges and universities. Each year students build trust by being responsible and respectful.

  3. Students (and faculty) need to follow the leadership of people of color. This principle (adapted from anti-racism trainings) is by far has been the hardest and most critical principle to follow. Too often race and class superiority creeps into this or similar community projects. There have been challenging moments when this principle trumped my "gut instincts". But in each case, the wisdom of the community become evident retrospectively. For example, the original intent of the project was to honor all men - but focus our energy on communities of color. Folks of color understood that "unless this project is exclusively about men of color, in three years, it would not be about men of color at all". While it is hard to say who would be honored without this exclusivity, I know that the path of least resistance would have drawn the project away for communities of color.

  4. Amplify community assets (sometimes reduced to "spread the love"). I shamelessly borrow this principle from Kretzmann and McKnight. It is important to the overall program, and for both student's approach to the community and trust building within the community.

  5. Bring institutional resources in to the community. Also adapted from Kretzmann and McKnight, I added this principle to the project after the first year when I realized that the university is a community asset. We have "stuff" to offer. The students enjoy bringing it to the young people with whom they work or bringing the young people to campus.

  6. Sport organizations cannot solve community problems but they are really good at convening people who can. For all the reasons outlined earlier, students often come into the class thinking they can "do good" through sport. But sport is primarily about entertainment (or, putting butts in seats) and a team's core mission is to win games. But teams have wonderful cache. People love to be associated with a team and therefore can pull people together.

  7. Mirror best practices of the Celtics. The Celtics boast of an integrated approach to community relations. Every project, player, sponsorship deal has a community relations component to it. We try to mirror that approach in class.

  8. Exit well. Unless told to do otherwise, students do not leave relationships well. They tend to just disappear. I work with the students to prepare the organizations and the young people for their departure from the community center. This is not only healthy, but contributes to trust building.

For further information or feedback contact Todd Crosset at tcrosset@sportmgt.umass.edu

Austin, J. E. (2000) The collaboration challenge : how nonprofits and businesses succeed through strategic alliances. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers

Burke E. M. (1999) Corporate community relations : the principle of the neighbor of choice. Westport, CT: Quorum Books.

Kretzmann, J. and Mcknight, J. (1993) Building communities from the inside out: a path toward finding and mobilizing a community's assets. Chicago IL: ACTA Publications 

McKnight J. (1995) The Careless Society: Community and its counterfeits New York: Basic Books.

Wagner D. (2000) What's love got to do with it?: a critical look at American charity New York: New Press

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