Ypulse Interview: Sean Cox, Nike
Posted by meredith on 07-10-2009Today's Ypulse Interview is with Sean Cox, North American Retail Community Relations Specialist for Nike and one of the team members behind Back Your Block, the brand's recently launched $650,000 grant program to support local communities and schools.
Ypulse: How does the "Back Your Block" program fit into Nike's vision for its philanthropy? What was the inspiration behind choosing this forum of public voting for distributing grants?
Sean Cox: A core aspect of Nike’s commitment to the community is to unlock the potential of young people through sports. We opted to empower individuals to tell us about programs making a significant difference in their community by moving the program online this year.
YP: Are there examples you can share of youth using "sports as a tool to change the community" that illustrate Nike's vision for Back Your Block?
SC: The list is long. Whether it is a mentoring program in NYC that connects young people who skate with mentors to help improve their chances at academic success, a basketball program that activates their participants to volunteer, or a youth led soccer program that raises money to build fields in Africa, sport can be the tool that innovative leaders lean on to ignite the potential of communities.
YP: How are you [and Mr. Youth -- the agency Nike partnered with to create the campaign website] getting the word out to young people?
SC: We are working together to leverage a combination of digital advertising and social media to inform young people about the opportunity to nominate, apply and vote for these grants. We know that individuals have the best understanding of the needs, and champions, in their communities.
YP: What are your benchmarks for success? How many applications are you hoping to receive? What other kinds of youth participation are you looking for?
SC: Success will be measured by the reach of the program and the number of applications we receive from large and small organizations. Voting will be a significant tool in our decision making, however, in an effort to enable the support of small, yet promising, organizations who may lack the established network of a larger group, the final decisions will be made by an internal review committee.
YP: What comes next for "Back Your Block" winners? For the program?
SC: Nike will be accepting applications through August 24th. Voting will continue for another two weeks and winners will be notified by October 1st. Nikebackyourblock.com will remain active and the winning organizations will be able to promote their programs through the site. We will also maintain www.facebook.com/nikebackyourblock to enable fans of the program to continue to connect to the organizations in their community and to highlight the success fueled by the participation of young people in the program.
More on Sean
After ten years leading the development and executive functions of nonprofit organizations in Oregon, Sean joined the Nike team in 2008 to help drive the Retail division's community engagement functions in the US.
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Categorized under: Youth Marketing