![]() ![]() It’s like he’s still playing for the Bulls. Because it’s in those moments, after the games are staged and the competition is over, when people with supposed differences can find common ground. People respect the work we’ve done together.”ĭuring Noah’s playing days, the two often would talk deep into the night, trying to brainstorm new ideas to help Chicago’s youth escape some of the violence that plagues the city.īoth men talked Saturday about how events like the Peace Tournament or the upcoming One City Basketball League can lead to more conversations. “Every time I go into the neighborhood, I go into the neighborhood with this guy. The two first met with Noah posted to social media how much watching the 2011 documentary “The Interrupters” impacted him. Williams serves as Cure Violence’s global director of national programs and is the Founder of Transform Justice and has partnered with Noah’s Arc Foundation on many projects over the years. Noah’s respect and love for Cobe Williams was most palpable. “It’s about using my platform to give voices to the guys who are putting in work every day. And that’s why I think Noah’s Arc has some credibility in the city,” Noah said. This has been 10-plus years in the making. And these weren’t Noah’s first conversations with these people. In fact, Noah spent Saturday talking with the local violence reduction and conflict resolution leaders who will serve as coaches. The people who are putting in work in this city, those are the people who inspire me. You can’t just be lying around at home, your wife looking at you all crazy like, ‘What are you going to do today?’ I want to do things that inspire me. “When you’re done playing, you got to think of things to do. And as an ambassador not just for the Bulls but for the city, I want to do right,” Noah said. And at the end of the day, I know there are issues in this city that we have to tackle. This is some of the best memories of my life. ![]() This league will be a weeks-long event, featuring seven games each Saturday at one site on the South side and one site on the West side. Those one-off tournaments took place over one weekend. That included several years of the Noah’s Arc Foundation Peace Tournament, a smaller-scaled version of what the One City Basketball League vision is. NBA fans roast Clippers for losing to Nuggets without Jokic, Murray, Gordon Throughout it all, including the Bulls’ trip to the 2011 Eastern Conference finals, his foundation consistently gave back to the community. Noah served as the emotional epicenter for a Bulls era that galvanized the city, featuring large personalities and talents like Derrick Rose, Luol Deng, Tom Thibodeau and others. “This is a lot bigger than basketball,” Noah said. The collaboration between Noah’s Arc Foundation, Transform Justice and 28 violence reduction groups will feature coaches trained in conflict resolution and, according to program manager Yolam Anderson-Golhor, offer educational off-court programming, art therapy and job placement opportunities. It will run into August, giving 280 players ranging in age from 16 to 25 from the South and West sides of the city the opportunity to use basketball as a potential springboard to transcend some of the many issues plaguing Chicago. On May 20, the One City Basketball League will begin. So it stands to reason that three years after he officially retired from the NBA, Noah sat at the United Center on Saturday morning, surrounded by political and youth leaders and community service organizers, talking about his foundation’s biggest project yet. They even kept the foundation based in Chicago when Noah ended his nine-season run with the Bulls and signed with the New York Knicks in 2016. When Joakim Noah and his mother, Cecilia Rodhe, created Noah’s Arc Foundation in 2010, they talked about establishing longtime bonds within the city that embraced Noah’s passionate play for the Chicago Bulls. ![]()
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