NFL Announces Six New Inspire Change Grant Partners for 2026

As part of Inspire Change Week celebrations, the NFL is proud to announce six new Inspire Change grant partners, totaling $1.2 million in new grant funding to support education, economic advancement, police-community relations, and criminal justice reform. This year’s grant recipients include the Center for Healing and Justice through Sport, Communities In Schools, Friends of the Children, New Kensington Community Development Corporation, STRIVE International Inc., and the New York University – Policing Project.

“Creating lasting change requires sustained commitment and dedicated partners,” said Anna Isaacson, NFL Senior Vice President, Social Responsibility. "The NFL is committed to supporting organizations driving real impact in communities across the country. These new grant partners exemplify our shared mission of breaking down barriers and fostering opportunity where it’s needed most.”

Since 2017, the NFL Family has invested over $460 million to advance social justice within the key focus areas of education, economic advancement, police-community relations, and criminal justice reform.

The Inspire Change social justice grants have supported over 700 local nonprofits, nearly 2,300 matching grants from current and former players, and over 50 national grant partners, with the NFL family contributing over $460 million to date.

The 2026 grant partners include:

Center for Healing and Justice through Sport is a national organization that uses sport to train coaches in trauma-informed, healing-centered approaches that support youth development and mental well-being. Funding will support:

• High-touch mentor cohorts of coaches and emerging coaches from community-based organizations, including three cohorts total with two in-person, hyperlocal cohorts and one virtual cohort to expand access.
• Cohort-based training and kickoff events that introduce healing-centered sport, the role of coaches as mentors, and practical skills grounded in brain science, mental health, and the power of relationships.
• Multi-month learning experiences that equip coaches to apply healing-centered sport and mentorship in their communities, strengthening local networks and expanding access to safe, supportive environments where young people can heal and thrive.

Communities In Schools (CIS) partners with more than 3,500 schools nationwide to provide integrated student supports to help young people stay in school and achieve in life. CIS ensures every student has what they need to realize their potential in school and beyond through relationships with caring adults who work in schools and across communities. Funding will support:

• Community Empowerment Work – An initiative designed to virtually train and certify leaders who will then deliver a CIS Parent Empowerment Program to parents and caretakers. The curriculum covers topics that support educational advocacy from families, including leadership skills, understanding learning styles, and more.

Friends of the Children provides paid, professional mentors to youth in nearly 50 locations nationwide, in rural, urban, suburban, and Indigenous communities. These mentors, called Friends, support youth from pre-kindergarten through high school graduation—for 12+ years, no matter what. Funding will support:

• Enhanced training, coaching, and resources to 40+ local program sites. This training will have the potential to impact 15,000 youth and family members served by FOC.
• Scaling the overall Friends model and education-based program enhancements to serve additional communities nationwide.

New Kensington Community Development Corporation (NKCDC) advances social equity and economic empowerment by nurturing and creating opportunities for neighbors to live in, and actively shape, their neighborhoods of choice. Funding will support:

• Co-Creating Kensington, an ongoing, comprehensive, and participatory planning and implementation process to address the neighborhood’s intersecting crises and co-create sustained solutions to local health and well-being.
• Food Systems programming for residents, centering on three areas: nutrition education and food access; diabetes prevention education; urban agriculture and community gardening.
• Cure Violence Kensington, a community-based violence intervention program that addresses the root causes of violence through caseload management, mediation of high-risk situations, and a credible-messenger approach that supports clients and community members in changing community norms and breaking the cycle of violence.

The Policing Project at New York University School of Law works to improve public safety by promoting transparency, accountability, and community input in policing policies and practices. Funding will support:

• The “12 Million Calls” Initiative, which aims to expand and sustain alternative 911 response programs nationwide by helping cities like Minneapolis divert certain low-level calls away from police to unarmed, community-based responders.
• The initiative has the goal of diverting 12 million calls – 5% of the national 911 call volume – by 2030. It is being executed in collaboration with law enforcement and city leaders nationwide.

These new grant partners were ratified at last week’s December League Meeting by the Player-Owner Social Justice Working Group, a 12-member panel of players, legends, and team owners. Annually, the Social Justice Working Group reviews submissions and proposals from players and other members of the NFL community and votes on the organizations that best align with the Inspire Change mission.

Learn more about all Inspire Change grant partners.