Character Education

The NFL Foundation is committed to building and supporting a stronger society and helping individual boys and girls—athletes and non-athletes alike—and entire school communities learn about the importance of developing character and healthy relationships through social and emotional learning.

 

Through strategic partnerships, the NFL Foundation is advancing initiatives that are interactive, engaging, and provide tangible results. These programs work to ensure that middle and high school students have the education and tools necessary to build moral character, navigate complex decision-making and improve conflict resolution.

InSideOut Initiative

The InSideOut Initiative (ISOI) is a systems-level intervention designed to equip educational leaders, athletic directors, coaches, parents, and community stakeholders to reframe and redefine interscholastic athletics through purpose-based sports. The purpose is to connect student-athletes to transformational coaches, in a nurturing school community for their social-emotional and character development.   ISOI provides an InSideOut Philosophy for educating students and a Blueprint for Systemic Change that aligns school stakeholders through awareness, alignment, action and accountability. 

Empowered by the NFL Foundation, ISOI is currently working in 18 states in partnership with NFL teams and this year is launching a three-year longitudinal study to measure the human growth and development of high school students. 

The Institute to Promote Athlete Health & Wellness (IPAHW) and Prevention Strategies at UNC Greensboro are currently conducting a national longitudinal evaluation of ISOI. The primary objective of the longitudinal evaluation is to rigorously assess the impact of ISOI on organizational/cultural and individual-level changes within school communities. More specifically, the evaluation will create a comprehensive picture of the ability of ISOI to create a transformational athletics culture that promotes and facilitates the social and emotional character development of coaches and student-athletes.

 

Former NFL player Joe Ehrmann and high school coaches from around the country discuss the importance of strong character.

For more information, click here.

Character Playbook

The Character Playbook is a digital education program that helps middle school students learn how to cultivate and maintain healthy relationships. The NFL Foundation and EVERFI from Blackbaud, the leader in powering social impact through education, created this scalable and evidence-based program which has rolled out across the United States with NFL clubs and players and has reached more than 2 million students since its launch in 2016.

Designed for grades six through 12, Character Playbook is composed of two module-based experiential learning courses: Healthy Relationships and Understanding Mental Wellness. Together, these virtual learning experiences equip students with tools to help address their interpersonal relationships and mental well-being on a foundational level. The program is available to U.S. schools at no cost and has been implemented in more than 22,000 schools nationwide.

Character Playbook continues to expand to more schools along with the Character Playbook Speaker Series – part of a league-wide initiative to engage more students in the important conversation of why character matters. This virtual classroom experience, hosted by NFL clubs, allows NFL players to virtually join multiple schools in their classrooms and connect lessons taught in Character Playbook modules to life inside and outside of football. Each year, thousands of students are introduced to the topics and themes of Character Playbook because of this virtual offering. 

 

306

In schools, the League expanded its partnership with digital learning curriculum leader EVERFI on 306 and 306: Continuing the story, high school programs focused on Black History education. The League supports access to this resource for more than 300 high schools across the country. Sponsorship of 306 is part of the NFL's Inspire Change program, the social justice platform.

Sharing stories of Black accomplishments in the arts, science, sports, and academia supports the NFL’s commitment to education and economic advancement by inspiring positive change in communities across the country.

In addition to providing students with access to Black history, 306 also serves as an important civic education tool, with 84% of students who have engaged in the program saying that they probably or definitely will vote in local, state or federal elections.

Bridging the Digital Divide

The ability to access computers and the internet has become increasingly important. Unfortunately, there is a growing gap between the underprivileged members of society, especially the poor, rural, elderly and persons with disabilities who do not have access to computers or the internet. The NFL Foundation, in partnership with all 32 clubs, provides financial support, education, equipment and infrastructure through a new grant program aimed at reducing the digital divide in clubs’ local communities.

 

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