LIFE AND BASKETBALL

LAB is a 501(c)(3) registered nonprofit organization that grew out of the Chair and Vice Chair’s love of basketball and the simple idea that all children should have the same opportunities to succeed. Co-founders Jason Naum and Devin Adams understood the transformative power of basketball and set out to use it as a vehicle to increase academic performance and social and emotional competence in underserved and at risk youth.

Children participating in quality Social Emotional Learning (SEL) programs improve achievement by an average of 11 percentile points, exhibit more prosocial behaviors (such as empathy, sharing, and kindness), have less anxiety and stress, and improved attitudes about others and themselves.

LAB’s unique four pillar curriculum relies on a combination of basketball, mentoring, academic support, and community engagement, and acknowledges the advantages of both classroom and sports based strategies to build academic performance and social emotional competencies and combines them both.