With three core pillars, Stephen and Ayesha Curry’s Eat. Learn. Play. Foundation is creating a brighter future for Oakland’s youth.
The MISSION of the Eat. Learn. Play Foundation is to unlock the amazing potential of every child by fighting to end childhood hunger, ensuring students have access to a quality education, and providing safe places for all children to play and be active.
Why is it important?
Founded in 2019 by four-time NBA champion and two-time MVP Stephen Curry and entrepreneur, host, and two-time New York Times best-selling author Ayesha Curry, Eat. Learn. Play. seeks to unleash the potential of every child and pave the way for amazing kids and bright futures. Rooted in three of the most vital pillars for a healthy childhood—nutrition, education, and physical activity—Eat. Learn. Play. is working to ensure that every child in Oakland has access to the nutritious food they need to be healthy and thrive, resources to become better readers, and safe places and equitable opportunities to play. The organization, which is anchored around the message that children are our future, is committed to developing partnerships and initiatives that make a positive impact for generations to come.
The challenges they face in the foundation’s three vital pillars are astounding. Hunger rates in America have doubled in the past year, with nearly 14 million kids going hungry every day. In Oakland, 37% of kids live in homes that are food insecure with children of color disproportionately affected. After more than a year of distance learning, only 15.4% of Black and 12.5% of Latino/a elementary school students in Oakland are reading at grade level. Lastly, only 24% of low-income youth nationally are involved in youth sports and other organized physical activities, and in Oakland, only 10% of middle school-aged girls and 21% of boys report getting 60 minutes of physical activity daily.
How do they do it?
Eat. Learn. Play focuses on three vital pillars of a healthy childhood: nutrition, education, and physical activity. Their investments meet kids where they are most often - in school, at home, and in their neighborhood.
Eat – Eat. Learn. Play. works on the front lines with community partners to ensure that every child and family has access to the nutritious food they need to thrive every day. In addition, they advocate at the local, state, and federal levels on critical policy issues to address systemic barriers to food security. The Eat. Learn. Play. Bus is delivering 500,000 pounds of produce and grocery staples, and 50,000 restaurant meals to kids and families in Oakland, in addition to a variety of other products and wraparound services.
Learn – Early childhood education is the focus of their “Learn” pillar. Eat. Learn. Play. is working with local community partners in a collective effort to to support stronger reading outcomes for kids in Oakland. Alongside these devoted community partners, Eat. Learn. Play. is delivering more than 50,000 free books throughout the community as part of the Little Town Library program to ensure Oakland kids can read anywhere and everywhere. The Eat. Learn. Play. Bus is also distributing more than 100,000 books and other educational resources to kids and families.
Play – Eat. Learn. Play. is providing opportunities and building and restoring safe and equitable spaces for all Oakland children to be physically active and participate in youth sports. Eat. Learn. Play. is also making high-quality summer camps and after-school programs accessible for all children in our community and is working to help rebuild middle school sports in Oakland that have been decimated by budget cuts. They have supported play in Oakland by rebuilding school yards in elementary schools and providing leadership support as the presenting partner of Ace Kids Golf and Oakland’s summer Town Camps which are major programs of Oakland Parks, Recreation, and Youth Development.
How you can #TravelKindly:
- Choose Eat.Learn.Play as your local charity when booking your hotel through Kind Traveler.
- Make a donation to Eat. Learn. Play and help contribute to their programs geared towards helping kids and families in Oakland.