You know the old adage about teaching a man to fish? That’s exactly what the Nike Swoosh Summer Academy (SSA) is doing. Rather than dropping-in with their own leaders for a few weeks, SSA transcends typical sports programs by empowering local Park District staff to become certified SSA Ambassadors themselves, using sports as a connective tissue for youth and leaders in the city.

Nike’s foundations were built on the partnership between a coach and an athlete, so the brand’s investment in building coaching skills, enrichment practices, and social-emotional wellbeing feels like a natural extension of that model.

Another key aspect? The kids who benefit from this coaching training are able to participate in the program at no cost, overcoming financial barriers that often exclude urban youth in cities like Chicago, Portland, New York, and LA from these kinds of experiences.

SSA’s program locations aren’t by chance, either. In Chicago, for example, the newly-trained recreation leaders are also part of the Mayor's One Summer Chicago initiative, which provides employment and internship opportunities to thousands of young adults every year. This purposeful collaboration extends the impact beyond the field, helping these leaders build skills and economic stability.

It’s a fantastic blueprint for how strategic partnerships can create profound, multi-layered social change.

One way that Nike can do more with this initiative is to extend it to additional cities. At a time when kids and teens are dropping-out of sports at alarming rates, it’s critical to invest in the holistic infrastructure of sports and recreation, which includes training for coaches and leaders.

Anyone who’s played sports likely has a story of a coach who changed their lives, in one way or another. Nike, with its strong reputation and brand awareness, is uniquely positioned to build on the lessons learned from the Swoosh Summer Academy in Chicago and replicate the program in other cities nationwide to continue empowering coaches to make a difference.

Expanding to more cities could also open the door to for additional corporate partners to join the and help finance the initiative, demonstrating the power of teamwork at the highest levels of society. Of course, Nike would also benefit from a tremendous brand lift that would translate into more sales, both with coaches and youth. And we have a feeling no one at the company would say no to that upside.