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Milwaukee Bucks guard Jrue Holiday started a Social Impact Fund with his wife Lauren Holiday. Their goal was to aid black-owned businesses and charitable groups, which were disproportionately affected due to the ongoing pandemic. What exactly pushed the couple to initiate this movement? Here's all you need to know.
Lauren and Jrue Holiday's goals for their Social Impact Fund
Thousands of lives and small businesses across America were adversely affected in 2020 in unimaginable ways due to the pandemic.
Jrue Holiday and his wife Lauren bravely offered to donate the remaining portion of Holiday's 2020 NBA contract in July as a forward-thinking measure to address the systemic racism and socioeconomic inequality that is preventing black communities from making advancements in society.
According to their official website, the JLH Social Impact Fund's goal is to extend a helping hand to all affected businesses. In fact, the couple considers these entrepreneurs as their extended family. They said:
“We look at all JLH Social Impact Fund recipients as part of our extended family and look to our community as a whole to join us in supporting the businesses and non-profits who need us the most."
Since then, Lauren and Jrue Holiday have remained supportive of educational institutions in Indianapolis, New Orleans and the Los Angeles region. They are also involved in community-wide projects aimed at achieving equitable outcomes for black and brown communities.
The four cities that Jrue and Lauren have focused their support and have strong emotional ties to are Milwaukee, where Jrue won the NBA Championship, and Los Angeles, where he was born and raised. The other two cities are Lauren's hometown of Indianapolis and New Orleans, where Jrue Holiday played for seven seasons for the Pelicans.
According to Sports Illustrated, the Social Impact Fund will also help address the black community's banking issues. Apparently, banks give Black-owned establishments less than 2% of bank funds. In fact, most of the time they can't even secure a loan, which Jrue and Lauren find extremely unfair. On this, they said:
“Black-owned businesses get less than 2% of bank funding. They may have an idea and get everything set up, but for them to actually get a loan or be able to get the funding they need is extremely challenging and, I would say, unfair. Jrue and I were like, 'How can we bridge the gap at all?'”
Jrue and Lauren Holiday have collaborated with business mentors and crowdfunding professionals to build a network for their target audience, which includes businesses like The Kinship Advisors, Fund Black Founders and Crowdfund Better. They soon discovered that they were forming a community who shared their desire to assist others.
It's amazing how Lauren asking Jrue Holiday to donate the money he earned during the NBA Bubble turned into a big social movement. We find it very inspiring to see racism being addressed in a more fashionable and reliable manner.
Guess the Lakers players!
