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About SPP
Mission
Building on more than a decade of experience within the world of professional sports, the Sports Philanthropy Project is a national initiative, funded since its inception in 1998 by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, devoted to harnessing the power of professional sports to support the development of healthy communities across the country.
At SPP, our vision is to create meaningful and lasting change in communities across the country. Throughout our history, we’ve worked successfully,in partnership with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, to bring the resources of professional sports to bear on a variety of critical social and public health issues, from increasing access to free and low-cost health care for uninsured children and their families, to encouraging general excellence in sports philanthropy.
Today, we’re laser-focused on the issue of childhood obesity—our shared goal is to reverse the childhood obesity epidemic by 2015. By leveraging our unique expertise and network, and by identifying, supporting and engaging those who harness the power of sports to change lives, SPP and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation aim to ensure that our next generation of children is the fittest and healthiest of all. Learn more about SPP’s work.
The Challenge: Combatting Childhood Obesity
Childhood obesity has reached epidemic proportions - over the past three decades, obesity rates have soared. Today, more than 23 million children and teenagers in America are overweight or obese – nearly one in three young people. Obesity impacts children as young as ages 2 to 5 – a quarter of children in this age group are now overweight or obese. And among certain racial and ethnic groups, the rates are even higher. The ramifications are alarming: If we don’t succeed in reversing this epidemic, the next generation of American children may be the first to live sicker and die younger than their parents.
Support needs to come from a variety of partners if we’re going to achieve success in combating this epidemic. Professional sports athletes, teams and leagues represent a largely untapped resource - the unparalleled celebrity, public standing, and other resources of professional sports teams and athletes can be leveraged to increase the awareness of the childhood obesity epidemic, and to attract critical public and private resources to address it. And that’s where our work begins.
Photo courtesy Joe Murphy/NBAE/Getty Images
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