The Currys’ Oakland-based public charity is focusing its efforts on improving Oakland public schools to transform the school experience for a generation of students where they eat, learn, and play each day
OAKLAND, CA – SEPTEMBER 6, 2023 – Stephen and Ayesha Curry’s Eat. Learn. Play. announced an enhanced commitment to ensuring that all Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) students are provided the nutritious meals they need to thrive, necessary support to become stronger readers, and great schoolyards and opportunities to be active and participate in youth sports. Eat. Learn. Play. will launch a new movement to raise and invest $50 million in additional support and resources to Oakland students by the 2026 school year. The Currys will continue to cover 100% of Eat. Learn. Play.’s administrative and fundraising costs, ensuring all monies raised are put directly back into the community through the foundation’s programming.
OUSD schools are the system that naturally intersects with each of Eat. Learn. Play.’s three pillars, allowing for maximum impact and reaching nearly 35,000 students where they eat, learn and play each and every day. Alongside devoted community partners, Eat. Learn. Play. is helping to provide immediate and tangible results for Oakland students, all the while advocating for systems-level change to improve the lives of youth throughout the community. Eat. Learn. Play.’s bold new vision is the result of a year-long strategic planning process that involved its Board of Directors, community partners and leaders, issue-area experts, and focused research and analysis.
“When we launched Eat. Learn. Play. in 2019, we saw the tremendous need that existed in our adopted hometown of Oakland and set out to use our platform and resources to work to unlock the full potential of the kids in our community,” said Stephen and Ayesha Curry, Co-Founders of Eat. Learn. Play. “Over the years, we’ve been inspired by the impact that happens when a community comes together to make a change, and we are now further invested to meet Oakland kids where they are each and every day, to transform their school experience and create lasting change for generations to come.”
Having recently celebrated its four-year anniversary, Eat. Learn. Play. has made tremendous impact across its three pillars: raising more than $47 million to serve Oakland kids and families, including delivering more than 25 million meals, investing $6 million in literacy resources and support, and revitalizing 12 school and community playspaces, and more. Stephen and Ayesha will continue to activate their network of partners to support the foundation’s new movement and expanded strategic direction.
“We often say ‘it takes a village’ when it comes to improving the lives of children and families,” said Chris Helfrich, CEO of Eat. Learn. Play. “This expanded approach and partnership with OUSD reflects how our community partners are coming together to ensure all Oakland students have access to quality school meals throughout the year. Additionally, we are doing what we can to help make sure all Oakland elementary students have the support and resources to become proficient readers. Finally, Eat. Learn. Play.’s efforts will work to ensure that OUSD elementary and middle school students have fun, safe and equitable playspaces that support their physical and social development for generations to come. We are proud of the significant impact we have made in a short amount of time, and we will work to strengthen each pillar by investing in programs and initiatives to serve kids with joy and dignity directly.”
In order to transform the school food system, where students rely on and often eat two or three meals a day, Eat. Learn. Play. will make investments over the next three years to ensure kids have access to the healthy, high-quality food they need to thrive. This will be done by supporting OUSD’s Central Kitchen, Education Center and Instructional Garden & Farm (The Center) in becoming fully operational with the goal of providing over 6 million healthy, scratched-cooked school meals every year to the district’s nearly 35,000 students and 85 schools.
“Children across Oakland are playing on amazing revamped schoolyards thanks to the investments made by Stephen and Ayesha Curry and Eat. Learn. Play., KABOOM!, and all their remarkable partners,” said Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell. “This partnership has been a godsend for OUSD, as far too many of our outdoor play spaces need renovation. And now we know that this extraordinary partnership is just beginning. Eat. Learn. Play. is deepening its commitment to Oakland’s children by launching a major partnership with OUSD to transform the educational experience for a generation of OUSD students. Together, we will do this by revamping more outdoor play spaces, increasing efforts to build students’ literacy, and ensuring that students have vibrant and dignified spaces to enjoy delicious and nutritious food from our Central Kitchen.”
Additionally, the foundation is committed to supporting the enhancement of OUSD elementary and middle school cafeterias to be fun, distinguished places where kids can eat, learn and spend time with friends. Eat. Learn. Play. will continue to provide more than one million meals annually to Oakland students and families throughout the community, utilizing the foundation’s first-of-its-kind Eat. Learn. Play. Bus as a mobile resource center which itself will provide 25,000 nutritious meals and 100,000 culturally-affirming books annually to Oakland youth and their families. To ensure resources are available to the families that need them, Eat. Learn. Play. will continue to work with the Alameda County Community Food Bank and local Oakland restaurants through Community Kitchen to provide meals, produce and grocery staples to Oakland kids and families experiencing hunger.
In order to accomplish these goals, Eat. Learn. Play. will continue to work on the frontlines with Alameda County Community Food Bank, as well as partners such as Brigade, Community Kitchens, No Kid Hungry, Trust for Public Land, TomKat Foundation and UC Berkeley.
Among its investments, Eat. Learn. Play., alongside OUSD and a coalition of literacy partners, is working to provide access to high-dosage tutoring for all students reading below grade level while continuing to spread the joy of reading by distributing hundreds of thousands of high-quality, culturally relevant books annually to Oakland youth.
By partnering with the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation (DRK) and Oakland Literacy Coalition, Eat. Learn. Play. created a report on advancing literacy in Oakland, which affirms that tutoring programs yield consistent and substantial positive impacts on learning outcomes while continuing to spread the joy of reading to Oakland students and families through a variety of channels, including the Eat. Learn. Play. Bus and Little Town Libraries programs, restocking school libraries and hosting free school book fairs in elementary schools, and more.
With partners including Oakland Literacy Coalition, DRK, Literati, Fluent Seeds, Oakland REACH, Reading Partners, Springboard Collaborative and Oakland Public Library, Black Cultural Zone., Eat. Learn. Play. is uniquely positioned to convene and amplify a collective effort in Oakland to support stronger reading outcomes for its kids.
Working to ensure all Oakland elementary and middle school students have access to safe and equitable places and opportunities to play, Eat. Learn. Play. is fueling active childhoods by meeting kids where they play most, at schoolyards and community playspaces. Alongside partners, Eat. Learn. Play. plans to transform 25 schoolyards throughout Oakland, as well as help revitalize school sports programs so all students experience the joy and benefits of high-quality youth sports. Throughout 2023, Eat. Learn. Play. is remodeling six schoolyards at OUSD campuses that will also serve surrounding neighborhoods, providing safe and high-quality schoolyards for active play, including state-of-the-art multi-sport courts, mini soccer pitches, play structures designed by the kids that will use them, community gardens, outdoor classrooms and reading areas, murals and more.
Eat. Learn. Play. will make investments to grow elementary and middle school sports in Oakland, working with the Oakland Athletic League, OUSD’s Expanded Learning Program, and other community youth sports organizations to ensure that all Oakland students can experience the joy and benefits of participating in a variety of free, high-quality sports programming at their schools. This strategy draws from Eat. Learn. Play.’s State of Play Oakland report that was conducted with the Aspen Institute’s Sports in Society program in 2022, informing recommendations that included prioritizing schools as hubs where kids can have access to safe and equitable places and opportunities to play. To meet these goals, Eat. Learn. Play. will work with partners such as Oakland Athletic League, OUSD’s Expanded Learning Program, KABOOM!, Aspen Institute, Under Armour and its Curry Brand, Oakland Genesis Soccer Club, Oakland Lacrosse, Positive Coaching Alliance, Sport Court, and more.
Recently, Eat. Learn. Play. and its community partners unveiled a remodeled schoolyard at Lockwood STEAM Academy in East Oakland, providing students with an incredible space to play, learn and grow. The elementary school’s reimagined schoolyard includes a new, kid-designed playground, two multi-sport courts, two mini soccer pitches, an outdoor classroom, enhanced community gardens, and a mural that spans the entire schoolyard. Thus far, Eat. Learn. Play. has supported Lockwood students by providing funding for literacy tutoring, replenishing books for the school library, enabling funding for students to have access to high-quality sports programming, upgrading the school kitchen and cafeteria and more. The project is a further example of how ending playspace inequity becomes achievable when diverse partners collaborate to address the needs of children. Together, we can ensure that every child has access to high-quality, community-centered playspaces conveniently located near their homes and schools.
