Warriors, Kaiser Permanente's 'Generation Thrive' cultivates golden future for Bay Area youth

ByJobina Fortson & Victoria Vallecorse Localish logo
Wednesday, May 17, 2023
A golden future for the next generation powered by the Warriors
The Warriors and Kaiser Permanente ensure the future is golden for the next generation.

OAKLAND, Calif. -- The future isn't only bright for Bay Area youth, it's golden. The Warriors Community Foundation and Kaiser Permanente teamed up to cultivate a non-profit hub that assists Bay Area organizations and schools through enriching programs.

Generation Thrive is its name and supporting youth success is its game.

"We talk about cradle to career, so we're serving non-profits that serve kids from the time they're born to not only when they graduate, to getting a job, and everything in between," said Brandon Schneider, the President & Chief Operating Officer of the Golden State Warriors.

Generation Thrive provides support in college and career readiness, equity, health, and wellness in a historic location for the Warriors.

"We're actually sitting here in our Oakland practice facility, so this is where the team used to practice, this is where my office and our offices used to be," described Schneider. "Now, we've transformed this space into Generation Thrive."

Inside, you'll find a state-of-the-art kitchen, private offices, collaboration workspaces, a conference room, basketball courts, and a wellness area. It's available to educators whenever they need it.

"It has been a space that holds the health and wellness programming for our staff, to uplift our staff, and our youth development professionals at this time," stated Julayne Virgil, the CEO of Girls Inc. of Alameda County. "(It's) also a space for the girls when they have time to come here and be in the gym, and the gym is an incredible space."

"Not only did they provide some of the financial resources, they gave us a home," said Christopher Chatmon, the Founder and CEO of Kingmakers of Oakland.

Kingmakers of Oakland works with public schools across the country to increase the educational life outcomes of Black boys from preschool to PhD.

"We were able to use and leverage the technology to bring other content experts in the industry through the conference room and do really culturally responsive curriculum and training here," said Chatmon.

Generation Thrive is a critical component to the Warriors Community Foundation. The foundation has donated more than $30 million to address educational equity and renovated more than 90 basketball courts in low-income communities around the Bay Area.

Over 80,000 students and 5,800 educators and non-profit leaders have been positively impacted through Generation Thrive's programming.

Sponsors like PG&E, Rakuten, Salesforce, and Rocket Lawyer help keep the work going.

"Having this footprint in Oakland and following through on the promise to continue to be the Bay's team has been really important to us," expressed Schneider. "Now, having this physical space and seeing the impact that we're having with educators, with non-profits, and ultimately with youth here in the Bay Area has been amazing."

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