Helping Boys & Girls From Coast to Coast

Newport News, Virginia sits nearly 5,000 miles – and 90 Dream Courts? - from Maui, Hawaii. But the two regions share a need common to many communities for safe places where their children can play and learn. They also share a solution – teamwork by Nancy Lieberman Charities and Boys & Girls Clubs of America .

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Nancy Lieberman Charities opened its eighth court for kids on October 25, 2013. Former Wake Forest, East Carolina, and South Carolina head men’s basketball coach Dave Odom had worked with the nonprofit to identify a need and a site.

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“We found a perfect spot right behind right beside the Lahaina Civic Center and, of course, Nancy was more than gracious,” said Odom of the court placed just up the road from the Boys & Girls Clubs of Maui, Inc. ’s Lahaina Clubhouse. “She and her foundation and the Dream Court has been a huge, huge, huge success.”

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Fast forward 2,796 days (and a lot of miles) to June 21, 2021. Lieberman, in conjunction with area native and fellow Old Dominion graduate Jay Harris of ESPN , dedicated a court at a location in Newport News. According to Hal Smith , president and CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Virginia Peninsula , the on-site court will help grow his nonprofit’s footprint.

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“(For) kids that grow up in in Newport News and other communities we serve, sports is a huge asset,” explained Smith. “Where there's a court on the campus that kids can go to in a safe environment and play basketball, that's generally the kind of the cherry that we dangle when we try to attract kids to our programs.”

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“Boys & Girls Clubs of America are essential,” said Lieberman, the president of Nancy Lieberman Charities. “It stands for excellence. It stands for caring. It stands for activity, education, people working to give kids a place after school.”

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Boys & Girls Clubs of America wants to ensure those who need their services see them as a good choice, so the organization can further its mission “to enable all young people, especially those who need us most, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens.” Sports, like those played on Dream Courts, can have an important role in fulfilling that vision.

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“When you're a kid, you're thinking, ‘Okay, I'm going to play basketball’ and you're thinking in your mind, that's what you're going to get out of it. But you're learning teamwork. You're learning sportsmanship,” said Smith.

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Dream Courts, built in partnership with Sport Court , look to provide a shock-absorbing, forgiving surface to help keep children safe as they learn those vital lessons. At many of the courts constructed in conjunction with Boys & Girls Clubs, Nancy Lieberman Charities brings in a partner entrusted with keeping those young people protected off the court, too.

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“I think it's a great symbol to be at the Boys & Girls Club,” said Newport News Chief of Police Steve Drew, whose officers not only participated in the court opening but also saw their department’s badge rendered on the playing surface itself. “Ms. Lieberman's Foundation, our emblem on that court, all of us coming together to impact the youth and kids. I just think that's our future.”

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Drew said his department partners with local Boys & Girls Clubs on a number of programs, including basketball leagues. Smith saw many benefits to his programs’ participants from time spent with Drew’s officers.

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“The leadership, the providing accessible places for kids to play in a safe environment,” he noted. “And then (there’s) the intrinsic mentoring, character building, leadership, some of those benefits that come out of just having that positive interaction. Both of our organizations, I believe, really aligned very strongly that way.”

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Having those points of contact helps officers as well through relationship-building with those they serve. Smith’s counterpart in Dallas-Fort Worth has seen evidence of such effects.

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“I'm sure the question comes up: how does this relationship improve the general perception that kids can't trust law enforcement? Well, this dismisses that whole concept,” said Charles English , president of Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Dallas . “Our police officers are no stranger to our kids. And I think that is something that's going to represent the opportunity that will be what we want to see across the country, where sometimes law enforcement is seen in such a negative way. You want to see the positive relationship, a relationship between our kids and Dallas police officers? Come check us out at our club.”

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“This uniform doesn't define the person underneath it,” said Dallas Assistant Chief of Police Angela Shaw, who has helped her department amplify its involvement with Nancy Lieberman Charities’ projects. “Hopefully, the boys and girls get an opportunity to see who we are as humans. And so down the road when they see the uniform, they're not afraid to talk to an officer, especially if they need something. Because the last thing we want to happen is that a child needs help, and they're afraid to go the police to ask for help, and something bad happened to them. So they're going to trust us to know that we will be there to help them out in time of need.”

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“It's going to be a great building block for us and I'm excited about it,” Drew said when the court in his city was dedicated. “I don't know if anybody out there realizes how much that court, in this community, in this club, in the city, is going have an impact on us all.”

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Nancy Lieberman Charities has built more than 130 courts across the United States as of this writing. To maximize the impact of those emplacements, they’ve looked to identify motivated and capable partners. They have clearly found one in Boys & Girls Clubs of America and have implemented a strategic plan to build 45 more courts together from now through 2028.

“We want to have inclusion, and we want to be able to have educational programming, which we do on those courts, with STEM, financial literacy, kids and cops, career readiness, and civic engagement,” said Lieberman. “You become a critical thinker at a Boys & Girls Club. You become a critical thinker when you step on a Dream Court. It changes the whole game, and it changes young people's lives.”

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