OVERVIEW: Eat. Learn. Play. is the philanthropic foundation of the basketball star Steph Curry and his wife, Ayesha. The organization supports food systems, education and recreation for Oakland’s underserved children and youth.
IP TAKE: Eat. Learn. Play. is unlike other K-12 funders in that it takes a “whole child, whole school approach,” which includes transforming “the spaces within the school where kids are eating, learning and playing every day,” in addition to giving students the support and resources they need to learn and thrive. The foundation does not accept applications for funding, but it appears to be an approachable and collaborative organization that would likely be interested in partnering with Oakland-area organizations that work with underserved children. One way to gain the foundation’s attention may be to volunteer with one of Eat. Learn. Play’s several signature literacy or food programs.
Eat. Learn. Play. has also demonstrated interest in advocacy for public policy supporting children’s nutrition programs at the local, state and national levels. Expect Oakland to remain a central to the Curry’s philanthropy, something they emphasized in an interview with IP.
PROFILE: The Eat. Learn. Play Foundation was founded in 2019 by the basketball star Stephen Curry and his wife, Ayesha Alexander Curry. A son of NBA player Dell Curry, Stephen Curry was born in Akron, Ohio in 1988 and attended Davidson College. In 2009, he was drafted by the Golden State Warriors and became quickly known as an NBA sharpshooter. He helped the Warriors win the NBA title again in 2017 and 2018. Born in Canada and raised in Charlotte, North Carolina, Ayesha Curry pursued an acting career out of high school. She later channeled her love for cooking into a blog and YouTube channel. Tapped to host her own program on the Food Network in 2016, she has also branched out by authoring a cookbook, opening multiple restaurants and launching a cookware line.
Based in Oakland, California, the foundation seeks to “support children’s wellbeing through access to nutritious meals, quality reading resources and opportunities to play and be active because everyone deserves the chance to live a happy, healthy childhood.” It takes “a whole child, whole school approach” to its efforts that, first, provides school children with the resources and support they need to excel and, second, transforms school spaces into “equitable, dignified, and joyful” places to learn and thrive. The foundation provides support to community organizations in Northern California through grantmaking and signature programs aligning with its Eat, Learn and Play initiatives.
Grants for K-12 and Higher Education
Eat. Learn. Play. supports education via its Learn initiative, which has the goal of “ensuring all Oakland elementary school students have the support and resources to become proficient readers by the end of third grade.” The initiative maintains a strong focus on Black and Latino/a children, less than half of whom read at grade level. The foundation has run signature programs in this area, including:
- Little Town Library to support literacy in “under-sourced areas of Oakland” and help increase access to books for children in these areas.
- Learn. Play Bus, which distributes food, books and other learning materials to children throughout Oakland.
The foundation has so far also made a few direct grants for K-12 education and literacy, having supported San Francisco’s Foundation for Students Rising Above, College Track, The Friends of the Oakland Public Library, Oakland Literacy Coalition, Center for the Collaborative Classroom, Oakland Public Education Fund, and Oakland Unified School District.
Eat. Learn. Play. does not make many grants for higher education; however, support has gone to San Francisco State University, University of Southern California, and the University of Nevada at Las Vegas.
Grants for Food Systems
The foundation’s Eat initiative prioritizes children of color in the Oakland area who are disproportionately affected by food insecurity. The foundation collaborates with the Oakland Unified School District’s Central Kitchen to “provide 6 million+ quality school meals annually to students, while also enhancing elementary and middle school cafeterias to be fun, dignified places where kids can eat, learn, and spend time with friends.”
Eat. Learn. Play. also supports the Alameda County Community Food Bank with more than $6 million in grants, distributes food staples through its Eat. Learn. Play Bus initiative, and partners with No Kid Hungry in its advocacy programs to support and expand programs like SNAP and the Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act.
Grants for Community Development
The Eat. Learn. Play. Foundation’s Play initiative aims to bring “the joy of sports and physical activity to the next generation of Oakland youth” by “providing opportunities and creating safe spaces for all Oakland children to be physically active and participate in youth sports.”
- The Schoolyard Transformation program remodels public elementary schoolyards in Oakland, and the foundation has given more than $3 million to KABOOM! to support this program.
- The Play initiative also collaborates with Oakland’s Parks and Recreation Department to run sports-related summer camps for children and youth. Other grantees include Oakland Lacrosse Club, Oakland Genesis Soccer Club, east Oakland Youth Development Center, Street Soccer USA, and Soccer without Borders.
Important Grant Details:
Grants typically range between $10,000 and $500,000, although they have gone as high as $5 million under special circumstances. The most common amount is around $100,000. The foundation awarded over $7.8 million in grant sin a recent year and held more than $14.5 million in assets.
- The foundation mainly supports organizations and initiatives working with underserved children in Oakland.
- The Eat. Learn. Play. Foundation does not accept applications for funding.
- Grantseekers working in the foundation’s areas of interest may send a message via the foundation’s contact page and sign up for updates and volunteer opportunities.
PEOPLE:
Search for staff contact info and bios in PeopleFinder (paid subscribers only).
LINKS: