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Cleveland’s Pro Sports Teams Form Alliance To Address Social Injustice

The Cleveland Cavaliers, Cleveland Browns and Cleveland Indians today announced an alliance to develop a strategy to address social injustice. The alliance seeks to improve the relationship between law enforcement and citizens, encourage nonpartisan voting activities, and increase the opportunities for quality education.

Alliance leaders from each team include Cavaliers General Manager Koby Altman and Head Coach J.B. Bickerstaff; Browns General Manager Andrew Berry and Head Coach Kevin Stefanski; and Indians President of Baseball Operations Chris Antonetti, General Manager Mike Chernoff and Manager Terry Francona.

The group plans to coordinate activities that invoke a call to action and positive outcomes. Players from each team will also have an opportunity to get involved.

“We have an extraordinary opportunity to make a lasting impact on society and the Cavaliers are committed to help bring about change,” Altman said. “The social and economic disparity in our community reveals some ugly truths, and Coach Bickerstaff and I are honored to be at the table to address these issues with such a prominent group of our peers. We never take for granted our place in the fabric of Cleveland and hopefully our coming together inspires others to join us.”

Initial actions will focus on voting, voter education, and nonpartisan voter registration. The alliance will also partner with community and civic leaders and minority organizations to address issues impacting the individuals they represent.

“We understand the platform our organization has to make a positive impact on these important issues,” Berry said. “When Coach Stefanski and I began discussing how we might be able to elevate and broaden that impact by expanding the dialogue to our counterparts in Cleveland, it quickly became apparent that partnering with the other teams in our city would help our region come together so we can collectively address the problems that we’ve all been working to help solve independently.”

With the community’s emotional connection to the Cavaliers, Browns and Indians, organizers and team officials are hopeful the alliance can help create positive change.

“We recognize the profound impact that professional sports have on the greater Cleveland community, and the enormous responsibility that comes with such a platform,” Antonetti said.  “While the circumstances that highlighted the need for this partnership are disheartening, Tito, Mike and I are excited by the opportunity to work with such a thoughtful and diverse group of leaders to identify opportunities to be a positive force for change. There is a lot of work to do, and we believe that this partnership will serve to amplify our collective impact.”

Mike Foley joined WCBE in February 2000, coming from WUFT in Gainesville, Florida. Foley has worked in various roles, from producing news and feature stories to engineering Live From Studio A sessions. A series of music features Foley started in 2018 called Music Journeys has grown into a podcast and radio show. He also assists in developing other programs in WCBE's Podcast Experience. Foley hosts The Morning Mix, a weekday music show featuring emerging and established musicians, our Columbus-area and Ohio-based talent, and additional artists that inspire him.