Pro Football Hall of Fame, Centene Corp. committed to continuing, growing youth program
CANTON − The Pro Football Hall of Fame and Centene Corp., which provides health care plans and services, have renewed their partnership to the national Strong Youth, Strong Communities program and committed to hosting four youth summits a year through 2026.
"Centene's partnership with the Pro Football Hall of Fame started all the way back in 2017," said Steve Province, president and CEO of Buckeye Health Plan, a subsidiary of Centene. "Through ongoing collaboration, we've helped thousands of middle and high school-aged students to gain critical skills needed to really overcome many of life's challenges."
The topics of discussion at youth summits have included peer pressure, social media, drug use and mental health. About 75 students from McKinley Senior, GlenOak and St. Thomas Aquinas high schools gathered Monday morning for an abbreviated summit at the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Hall of Famers Darrell Green and Aeneas Williams and former North Carolina basketball player Iman McFarland shared their stories of overcoming adversity and encouraged the students to reach their full potential.
Green, who had the initial idea for a youth program, talked about his life growing up in Houston ― his parents' divorce, his brother's drug overdose death and other negative experiences that affected his life.
"I've seen things," he said. "But I want to see you not experience those things."
Green elicited applause after saying he recently celebrated 39 years of marriage. He's lived according to Christian values and said the gold jacket was a key to additional resources and influence to impact the nation's youth positively.
Williams and McFarland shared similar messages about overcoming naysayers and building self-confidence.
"Every one of us has the ability to be great," Williams said before the three athletes split into smaller groups with students.
The Hall of Fame has partnered with Centene for Strong Youth, Strong Communities since 2017. Rich Desrosiers, chief communications and content officer for the Hall, said there'll be more programs with the potential to reach more kids "literally coast to coast."
"Centene works with their state affiliate to identify area schools of underserved populations that would really benefit from this message and then put together one of these summits," he said.
Virtual summit: Athletes share powerful messages during Hall of Fame virtual event
The programs have involved various Hall of Famers and community partners, such as Big Brothers Big Sisters. Joyce Larkin, regional vice president at Centene, said partnerships have increased in recent years to include groups such as the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
"This has been for us, for Centene, an incredible journey," she said.
Hall of Famers have been great ambassadors, Larkin said, and it's been encouraging to see local programs across the nation inspired by youth summits. Such programs have included meetings with law enforcement in schools to address gangs.
More information about Strong Youth, Strong Communities can be found at strongystrongc.com.
Reach Kelly at 330-580-8323 or kelly.byer@cantonrep.com.On X: @kbyerREP
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Pro Football Hall of Fame, Centene Corp. committed to youth program
