Live Beyond Partners with the Drew League
Live Beyond, a CYBHI campaign led by the Office of the California Surgeon General, promotes healing from Adverse Childhood Experiences, also known as ACEs, and toxic stress. During the summer of 2024, Live Beyond was proud to partner with the Drew League, a professional-amateur basketball league in South-Central Los Angeles. The Drew League was founded in 1973 to help young people form meaningful relationships on the basketball court that would extend to the community and to build an institution that would bring top local high school, college, and pro players back to the League. With summer games each Saturday at King Drew High School, the league has featured many notable players — such as LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Kobe Bryant — playing in games broadcast across the US and beyond.
Through its collaboration with the Drew League, Live Beyond sponsored a table and basketball pop-up booth for families and young adults in the community to learn about the campaign, Adverse Childhood Experiences, and ways they can heal. Many of our campaign’s youth advisors and subject matter experts, such as Dr. Rachel Gilgoff from ACEs Aware and Dr. Eraka Bath from the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, showed up to help staff the booth, where they handed out Live Beyond Healing Journals (which turned out to be very popular), stress-busting tips, information on ACEs, and more to the local Los Angeles community.
Several notable players also shared their perspectives on these important topics, including Big 50 and his son Tyrone Riley IV having a conversation about overcoming adversity and managing their mental health, streetball player and pro trainer Bone Collector and world-renowned NBA shooting coach Chris Matthews discussing how they mentor youth and give back to their communities, USC player Aaliyah Gayles discussing how she’s been healing from trauma, and a panel conversation with WNBA player and 2x Olympic medalist Angel McCoughtry, WNBA veteran Essence Carson, and Drew League Commissioner Chaniel Smiley talking about ACEs and how they support their wellness. Another overarching theme of these conversations is how basketball and organizations like Drew League can help so many young people grow and thrive by fostering connection, safety, stability, and meaningful relationships.
We are so grateful for the partnership between the Live Beyond campaign and the Drew League. This collaboration has led to upwards of 1.1 million impressions, or views, on collaborative content created on social media and at the games throughout the summer. Check out some photos of the partnership, including several of Live Beyond’s youth campaign advisors at our Live Beyond booth.
Be sure to follow @livebeyondca on Instagram to see more collaborative content with the Drew League and explore our YouTube channel at youtube.com/@livebeyondca to watch the full videos. And please share with others.