Welcome back to the United Journey series. We have had some great leaders join us so far and plenty more incredible stories lined up!
This week we focus on two leaders for the PeacePlayers organization. Over the past year, I have had the privilege of getting to know LaToya Fisher and Sally Nnamani. LaToya Fisher is Director of PeacePlayers Baltimore and Sally Nnamani is the U.S. Director of Programs and Partnerships.
These two incredible women set aside time to break down what drives them to achieve their goals with PeacePlayers.
What is PeacePlayers?
Founded in 2001, PeacePlayers is a global movement of young leaders using basketball to create a more peaceful and equitable world. PeacePlayers unites and educates divided communities, creating individual and communal connections for a more peaceful world. PeacePlayers has programming in 9 locations around the world including Northern Ireland, South Africa, the Middle East, Cyprus, and the United States. PeacePlayers U.S. operates in five cities — Baltimore, Brooklyn, Detroit, Los Angeles, and Chicago.
PeacePlayers’ Unifying Principles
Bridge Divides
Engage Through Sport
Deliver Leadership Skills
Build Long-Term Relationships
Inspire Community Buy-In
Support Alumni
Measure Our Impact
Local Leadership
Raise Sustainable Funds
Develop Institutional Partnerships
Who is LaToya Fisher?
LaToya Fisher and I have similar backgrounds with a few unique twists that resulted in us both working to drive change in Baltimore. She grew up in Montgomery County, MD, has always had a passion for basketball, and played DII at Shepherd University.
After graduating from Shepherd, LaToya spent time in the corporate world before deciding to attend Georgetown to help launch a career in sports. The program at Georgetown has provided LaToya, myself, and many other peers with opportunities to transition into various areas of the sports industry. Experienced industry professionals at Georgetown provide mentorship for the unique backgrounds of every student in the program.
LaToya has always had a passion for curriculum facilitation and development. She got the chance to take a year off from Georgetown and explore curriculum development as an English teacher for the EPIK program in South Korea in 2015.
While at Georgetown, LaToya also became familiar with PeacePlayers and their fellowship programs. She applied for a two-year fellowship in the Middle East and came back to Maryland with clear plans for her goals at PeacePlayers. She knew that her time would come soon if she was strategic about her next steps.
She spent time gaining experience with organizations like the City of Greenbelt Recreation. She described a variety of responsibilities that were challenging in the past but allowed her to learn and be prepared for her role today.
The PeacePlayers Baltimore Director role opened and LaToya got the opportunity to use her prior experience and show that she was a great candidate to lead Baltimore. She started the role in January 2020 and quickly became familiar with grant writing and all of the responsibilities associated with running a nonprofit organization.
Who is Sally Nnamani?
Sally Nnamani and I first met prior to the 2020 AIM Sports Conference. Sally spoke on the Business of Sports Panel moderated by yours truly. Similar to LaToya, I found that we had a lot more in common in our stories than expected.
Sally’s passion comes from using the power of sports to unite people. She was born in Nigeria, always loved basketball, and came to the US at a young age. As the fourth child out of six, Sally quickly gained experience as the mediator in sibling conflicts. Her knack for collaborative problem solving coupled with her love for sport made PeacePlayers an ideal future workplace.
“I had to be diplomatic in the way that I wanted to be. My parents allowed me to be open and explore my athletic side and I thank them for that.”
Sally played DIII basketball at Lehman College and graduated with a degree in Political Science and Philosophy. After graduation, she attended grad school at The New School where she studied International Relations with a concentration on Economic Development.
Sally gained experience in line with her major including an internship lobbying with legislative leaders focused on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the post-2015 Development Agenda. While she enjoyed diving deeper into the process that drives macro policy, she learned her passion and purpose was to be closer to how policy materializes into impact in everyday people’s lives.
Like most former athletes, Sally wrestled with next steps in building a purposeful career after many years of being an athlete. For her entire life, academics and athletics were two different worlds.
“I was a poli-sci major and I was an athlete, but I never thought about bridging the two.”
The full circle connection of her passion for playing and her passion for activism came during an interview for a coaching position with PowerPlay NYC. The person interviewing Sally was a former basketball player from her hometown that she looked up to. This opportunity opened Sally’s eyes up to the possibilities of careers in sports.
Sally started at PeacePlayers in November 2015 as an International Fellow in Belfast, Northern Ireland. When she returned to the United States, Sally spearheaded the creation of PeacePlayers Brooklyn and Los Angeles. Recently, she transitioned into the PeacePlayers National Team as Director of Programs and Partnerships.
PeacePlayers’ Global Impact
Both Sally and LaToya referenced their time overseas as PeacePlayers’ representatives as key moments in their development.
LaToya spent time in Jerusalem while Sally spent time in Belfast. Both were in “conflict” locations and had to manage their roles and responsibilities alongside the desire to connect on a personal level with the kids they worked with.
LaToya lived ten minutes away from the Old City in Jerusalem. Sally lived in a South Belfast community. Both were able to learn the culture and customs of their home away from home.
While talking with kids in Jerusalem, LaToya found that, “conflict was still prevalent and things could get tense, but it was more peaceful than what the media portrays.” She also became aware that the children in Jerusalem were unaware of her struggles as a black woman in America.
Sally’s community in South Belfast had a variety of refugee residents and other groups from underrepresentedbackgrounds. Through informal conversations, she was able to learn so much about the struggles of these underrepresented groups in a country where the divide has historically focused on the two main traditions (Catholic & Protestant) that make up Northern Ireland.
Whether in Ireland, Israel, or the United States, the need for authentic conversations with youth and the power that those conversations have can make all the difference in peoples’ lives. PeacePlayers Fellowships gave Sally, LaToya, and a few other personal connections of mine the chance to live that experience.
PeacePlayers Initiatives
Systemic inequity among Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) breeds a lack of opportunity and community divisions. From Watts, LA to the Southside of Chicago, many young people are unable to fully access resources in their communities due to high incidence of gun and gang violence.
Racial inequity and disparity exist for BIPOC Americans in so many facets of life including education and housing, just to name a few. Youth of color are denied economic educational and social opportunities to thrive, deepening disparities and racial divides.
PeacePlayers U.S. believes that sport can be a catalyst for change. The organization uses sport to level the playing field for underserved and underrepresented youth of color. Sport unifies their communities and gives them a safe space where they can access opportunities to excel and ultimately become leaders and role models in their communities.
“We focus on finding organic partnerships with local leaders that support existing youth sports and leadership programs in the communities we serve.”
Local and national partnerships are at the heart of PeacePlayers’ vision in bridging divides and leveling the playing field across the country. PeacePlayers leverages institutional partnerships with key partners like Nike, Laureus USA Foundation, and the National Basketball Players Association in using the power of sport to create systemic change while helping meet gaps in programming available to youth.
“One of the things that makes this work so meaningful, so impactful, and how we think we will continue to grow and create even greater impact is through partnerships and collaborative efforts and strategies.”
In Brooklyn, Sally and her team worked with school partners and local community groups to create the Girls Peace League, the only year-round girls leadership through basketball program in Brownsville, Brooklyn. The program is led by female coaches and creates a safe space for girls to build new friendships, access quality sports programming, and feel celebrated.
In Baltimore, LaToya is cultivating local partnerships in the East and West sections of Baltimore to use sport to unite the two communities and develop youth leaders who will advocate for a more peaceful and equitable Baltimore.
Nationally, PeacePlayers was recently awarded the Beyond Sport Collective Award on Reducing Racial Inequalities through Sport. As award recipients, PeacePlayers US is working alongside three other organizations over the next year to create innovative solutions and practical guidelines to tackle systemic racism. The output of this project will be shared within the wider sports community.
The two core programs PeacePlayers offers are the Peace League and Leadership Development Program (LDP). The Peace League is focused on elementary and middle school age youth and creates safe spaces for youth to play, meet peers from different sides of the community, and connect with positive role models in their coaches. While the Peace League is consistent across all five cities, it’s also tailored to the needs and constraints of each community they work in. To date, the program has reached over 300 youth across the United States.
LDP is designed for high school age youth. The program is structured as a basketball team that creates a culture of teamwork, belonging, and peer-to-peer support. Unlike traditional basketball teams, tryouts are not required to join the team. Instead, eligibility is determined by age and commitment to the objectives of the program.
PeacePlayers invests in long-term year-round programming, creating visible pathways for youth to grow into leadership roles within and outside of PeacePlayers. For Sally, seeing youth who have been a part of the program in the last three years beginning to grow into mentorship roles while accessing resources and tools in their leadership journey has been one of the most rewarding parts of her work at PeacePlayers.
In communities, where gang involvement is common, PeacePlayers is an alternative for young people and a network of positive influencers who are invested in seeing them grow and achieve.
Nike x PeacePlayers
Nike and PeacePlayers partnership is a great example of the win-win-win partnership model. Nike often looks for ways to expand PeacePlayers’ visibility and collective work. This year, over the Holiday Season, Nike launched a PeacePlayers “Holiday Hub,” which includes stories, videos, etc. about PeacePlayers efforts and impact. Nike customers and other individuals who engage with their many online platforms will be guided to the Hub, where they can learn more about PeacePlayers, make a donation and get involved.
In addition, Nike will run a point of sale campaign in 30+ stores nationwide, with proceeds going to PeacePlayers. By weaving in purpose into the consumers' experience with the brand, Nike provides tangible opportunities for its customers to play a role in impacting their communities.
You can learn more about the Holiday Hub activation at nike.com/give
Career Development
PeacePlayers has a knack for bringing together similar mindsets and a passion for success. The collaborative network and support system created internally at the organization allows for new team members to seamlessly integrate.
Both Sally and LaToya feel that the work they do takes them back to memories of their younger selves. It was no surprise to them that they found PeacePlayers’ goals always aligned with their personal goals.
Sally credits Beth Eisen for connecting her to PeacePlayers while LaToya credits Taylor Brown for her initial introduction. Both women utilized these mentors and others who helped guide them through their early careers. Their ability to thrive in tough environments at home and around the world developed their diplomacy and strategic planning skills.
Impact of COVID
PeacePlayers quickly made adjustments to their global operations once the pandemic hit earlier this year. Leading with their core values of culture of collaboration, seeing people as people, and being the change we all wish to see, staff rallied around each other and their growing community of young people around the world to provide much needed support during a time of uncertainty.
They created cross-cutting teams and committees which included representatives from both international sites and US sites. The focus of these teams ranged from virtual curriculum development, to communications, to fundraising. This allowed them to meaningfully share knowledge across the organization in real time while unlocking new opportunities to maximize their impact. PeacePlayers also welcomed opportunities to share these learnings within the youth sports and peacebuilding networks -- leading webinars for members of Laureus USA Sport for Good networks and the Goldin Institute in Chicago.
All PeacePlayers cities were able to switch to virtual programming relatively seamlessly, however, the demographic makeup of Baltimore students’ lack of internet access encouraged LaToya and her team to adjust their strategy. In Brooklyn, Sally and her coaches were checking in with youth via team group text and weekly FaceTime calls.
Their main focus was staying in touch with the kids and making sure their families had everything they needed during the onset of the pandemic. LaToya made sure that not just the kids she worked with got help. We spoke about a PeacePlayers Baltimore participant in a family of nine that needed support and for whom she was able to connect with food supplies and other services.
Over the summer, PeacePlayers launched its virtual events nationwide. They hosted the virtual Friendship Games and virtual summer camps at the end of July.
PeacePlayers Baltimore was able to re-engage in discussions with schools and are collaborating with local youth development nonprofits. Tim Hardaway Sr. spoke at a virtual camp and has attended programming for PeacePlayers Chicago. LaToya was able to hire a coordinator to increase connections and to now create strategic plans with schools in Baltimore as the city approaches the daunting task of reopening schools, or another shutdown. They got involved with the Oliver Community Center running a clinic 2x a week and are active in supporting learning pods with brain breaks and other after school activities.
What’s Next?
Sally Nnamani and LaToya Fisher are authentic and intentional with their goals and how they operate. As we approach 2021, their main focus is continuing to figure out what families have access to and how to be prepared for the many uncertainties of the future.
Sally is still working with the Brooklyn team but is working to find her Program Director replacement. Sally’s transition to the National PeacePlayers team has given her opportunities to use her delegation duties and create partnerships with all types of businesses and organizations. Her goal, alongside each cities’ director, is to continue strengthening programs and reaching more young people in the communities they serve.
Ultimately, the vision is to build a hyper local yet national movement of young people coming together across divides in their communities through sport and developing the leadership skills to take on the wider systemic issues that face our country today.
Thank you for taking the time to read the stories of Sally and LaToya. They both do incredible work with PeacePlayers and are always open to collaborating!
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Baltimore United was formed to accelerate goals for impactful organizations. We intend to increase engagement and partnership opportunities for organizations like PeacePlayers.