Building Bridges with Basketball

This February, the Los Angeles Lakers held their annual month-long Building Bridges with Basketball program. This program serves as an opportunity for members of the Los Angeles Police Department and underserved youth from local community organizations to engage in conversations around dynamic topics. Using the sport as a bridge for these discussions, the goal is to break down barriers and build positive, lasting connections that last beyond each event and permeate the community. This year, the Lakers welcomed community participants from Project Blue, Game Changer, and Anti-Recidivism Coalition (ARC).

To Kick off this program, the Lakers hosted all participating community organizations and the LAPD for a gathering at the South Bay Lakers Black History Month game against G League Ignite on February 4^th.  Participants were able to take photos on the court during half-time and enjoy the nights exciting game.

On February 7^th the Lakers hosted all participating groups for a pre-game reception at Kai’s Table. During the reception an inspirational speech was given by Sean Sheppard, founder of Game Changers.  Following the reception, all guests were able to walk across the street to Crypto.com Arena to attend the Los Angeles Lakers vs Oklahoma City Thunder game where LeBron James broke the all-time scoring record.

The Lakers continued Building Bridges with Basketball with two meetings hosted at the UCLA Health Training Center focused on thought-provoking and stimulating dialogues moderated by Sean Sheppard followed by a basketball clinic. During these meetings, participants held constructive conversations surrounding topics of accountability, respect, trust, integrity, awareness, and relationship building. During these dialogues they also heard from Laker Legends, AC Green and Robert Horry. Participants were able to further bond over their passion of basketball with a clinic including the NBA draft combine test and intermixed friendly and competitive 5-on-5 games.

To finish off the program, participants were able to witness an exciting win against the Golden State Warriors. Building Bridges with Basketball provided a safe space for all parties to openly discuss and overcome biases and roadblocks. Each conversation discussed topics like trust, implicit bias, and integrity. Contributors to the conversations offered both opinions and solutions for current issues, as well as sharing their own personal experiences either as members of the community or as police officers. A common thing amongst all discussions: communication and intentional relationships amongst community members and officers must continue to continue to bridge groups together and create a stronger community.