Harlem Lacrosse Launches “The Philanthropic Leadership Council”

Harlem Lacrosse is proud to announce the launch of The Philanthropic Leadership Council (PLC). The PLC is a student leadership program that provides four months of learning experiences to a select group of students in each of our cities designed to equip them with the skills they need to impactfully invest $6,000 in organizations that address inequality in their community. This initiative is a keystone of our organization’s ongoing response plan to systemic racism in our country and was born when our students raised their voices to advocate for action in response to the murders of George Floyd, Tony McDade, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor. While these events catalyzed an acute response from our organization, these tragedies are a predictable result of persistent systemic racism in our country and require an ongoing, daily commitment from all of us. 

Harlem Lacrosse believes empowering our students' voices as leaders for change is a critical part of our ongoing efforts to combat systemic racism in our country. Recognizing that our students are the experts on the needs and opportunities in their community, our Executive Board created the fund PLC members will invest and empowered our staff to design and execute the curriculum. 

Harlem Lacrosse received nearly 50 student applicants to join the PLC and we are thrilled to have sent out our first acceptance letters to our founding members this week! Each of our five cities will assemble a council of student leaders and alumni mentors. The council will attend five classes between October and December designed to help them define the unique needs in their community, evaluate the impact of local organizations addressing those needs and model the expected impact of a grant to the most deserving organization(s). When each of our five cities has evaluated, pitched, debated and decided on the organization(s) they will support and why, they will gather for a national meeting during which each council will share their outcomes with their peers. As students grant funds to deserving local organizations, they will be tasked with developing authentic and responsive partnerships with those organizations, monitoring the impact of their financial support and involving themselves as volunteers in the organization’s work. 

We look forward to sharing with you the great impact our students will make in their communities and hope you follow along with their journey.