NBA star CJ McCollum, in collaboration with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Louisiana, unveiled the grand opening of the CJ McCollum Dream Center.
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00:00 finally be completed.
00:01 Yeah, this is something that we've been working on for over a decade.
00:05 We started with collaborating on ideas on how to improve our communities,
00:10 how to really impact the kids.
00:11 And as a boy who grew up going to Boys and Girls Clubs,
00:14 we felt like the Dream Center was the right approach.
00:16 And we started in Oregon, and this is actually our third one and
00:19 our first one here in New Orleans.
00:20 And we're excited about the work that went into it.
00:23 It took a lot of time, thought, effort, and collaboration.
00:26 We're very strategic about who we partnered with and how we partnered.
00:28 And I'm excited to see this all come to life.
00:31 And there was a lot of people behind the scenes that helped provide different
00:34 types of resources that you see in this space today.
00:37 From the smart board to the 3D printer to the laser printer coming from Cox,
00:40 to the over 1,000 books from Baldwin & Co., 70 tablets and
00:45 laptops from Ms. Benson and their foundation, Vegetable Garden from AmeriCorps.
00:49 We've had strategic partnerships with everyone while trying to keep things
00:53 culturally relevant for the kids.
00:55 Beat Mike did the mural outside.
00:57 And we're really just excited about continuing to impact the community
01:01 strategically, focusing on our youth, and
01:04 really just trying to improve our foundation of education here in the community.
01:09 Extremely important, when I got traded a few years ago,
01:12 I strategically wanted to be thoughtful with the approach.
01:17 I wanted to be thoughtful with what I was able to accomplish on the court, but
01:20 also what I was able to accomplish off the court.
01:23 I think it's important that they understand that I'm serious about my
01:25 commitment to New Orleans.
01:26 I'm serious about my commitment to the city.
01:28 And I think it shows in the work that I've consistently done here,
01:33 the time that I've consistently put in, and
01:36 how we've been thoughtful about the approach ever since the beginning.
01:39 But I think it's a lot of people who are doing a lot of work,
01:43 from Ashley behind the scenes to many of our partners, including the Pelicans,
01:47 who've been great and super supportive.
01:49 You've seen Swin here tonight, you've seen Griff here tonight,
01:53 and as well as Miss Benson.
01:54 I think they've collectively continued to buy into a lot of the things that I've
01:59 wanted to accomplish, and they've assisted in that as well.