Terrence Crutcher Foundation Receives Support from NBA Foundation Grant

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In their 14th round of grants, the National Basketball Association (NBA) announced that they will be distributing grants to 82 nonprofits across the United States and Canada.

One of the recipients is the Terrence Crutcher Foundation, a Tulsa nonprofit. The organization said one of their programs will be getting a boost thanks to the grant from the NBA.

“We are honored to be a part of this round of NBA Foundation grantees,” said Dr. Tiffany Crutcher, Founder and Executive Director of the Terrence Crutcher Foundation. “This investment represents a belief in the brilliance and potential of Tulsa’s youth. We’re not preparing young people to fit into broken systems — we’re preparing them to reimagine and rebuild them.”

“Very exciting! Very, very exciting,” said Bill White, Director of Cultural and Economic Development for the Terrence Crutcher Foundation. “I mean, it is outstanding what this grant is able to do.”

White said they have partnered with the NBA for years and this grant will help grow Project LEAD, the foundation’s flagship program that supports high school age students.

“We are able to identify kids who potentially need additional services and we provide them with mentorship opportunities, workforce opportunities, and basically exposure to more opportunities that they typically would not experience otherwise,” said White.

He said that exposure is crucial to kids’ development and future success.

“Give them exposure and a different lens on what they typically see and have something totally different they would not expect and we believe that exposure is one of the best things anyone can do for a kid,” White said.

White said with even more businesses and partnerships for kids in the LEAD program, they will have access to new experiences.

“We get to take oftentimes who are labeled ‘at risk,’ and we call them ‘at power,’ and provide them with opportunity and make them workforce ready and have right around mentorship programs as well as mental health programs…to make sure that they’re ready for the next level,” White said.

White said the Foundation is still waiting to find out how much the grant will come out to, but they’re ready to continue their work, nonetheless.

“We are thrilled that our friends at the Terrence Crutcher Foundation are a recipient for this NBA Foundation grants,” said Erin Oldfield, Oklahoma City Thunder Vice President of Community Engagement said. “This is a tremendous boost to their work in the Tulsa community as an advocate and critical resource for youth development and for pathways for success.”