PLAYERS COALITION AND BLACK PLAYERS FOR CHANGE ANNOUNCE FORMAL PARTNERSHIP
More than 77 MLS Players Join Several Other Professional Athletes to Help Address Systemic Racial and Human Rights Inequalities
(July 7, 2020) - Players Coalition and Black Players for Change (formerly Black Players Coalition of MLS) announced today a formal partnership and consolidated effort to pursue their overlapping humanitarian and educational social justice missions. These organizations represent a purely player-founded and player-driven effort to implement positive impacts on social justice and racial equality through advocacy, awareness, education and a shared allocation of resources.
“The commonalities and goals of both our organizations presented a natural opportunity to align,” said Players Coalition Co-Founder, Anquan Boldin. “I am excited to continue the growth of Players Coalition as an opportunity for all athletes across all professional sports leagues to make a significant impact in our communities,” he added.
The MLS players originally announced their new effort on Juneteenth of this year. Their mission focuses not only on human rights and racial equality, but to eliminate racism from the game of soccer, which has been – and in many ways continues to be – plagued with systematic inequality around the world. The group has already secured $75,000 in charitable contribution commitments from MSLPA in support of the organization.
“We’re excited to formalize and announce our partnership with Players Coalition,” said Quincy Amarikwa, founder of the newly-launched effort of MLS players. “Through this partnership, we see an opportunity to create a path that brings all players across all sports leagues together in our fight to overcome and move past the racial and discriminatory practices within our world..”
The partnership will begin immediately and all parties involved have aligned for such a meaningful purpose. Players Coalition will provide access for all MLS players to the collaborative resources, programming, structure and work streams that Players Coalition has diligently worked to develop and implement since its formation by Boldin and Co-Founder Malcolm Jenkins in 2017.
For more information on Players Coalition, please visit http://www.players-coalition.org/ and follow on Instagram (@playerscoalition) and Twitter (@playercoalition). To follow Black Players for Change on Instagram and Twitter, please follow @BPCMLS.
About Players Coalition
Players Coalition is structured as an independent 501(c)(3) (charity) and 501(c)(4) (advocacy) organization, working with professional athletes, coaches and owners across leagues to improve social justice and racial equality in our country.
About Black Players for Change
Black Players for Change is an organization consisting of over 77 players in the MLS, working to bridge the racial equality gap that exists in society. BPC is committed to tackling the racial injustices that have prevented Black people from having an equitable stake in society. Among the many goals the organization strives to advance the attention on human right inequalities from protest to programs and policies that address systemic racism.
###
Media Contacts:
Sirena Amarikwa, BlackPlayersForChange@gmail.com
Angela LaChica, angela@players-coalition.org
Lindsay Means, lindsay@players-coalition.org
