To celebrate National Bullying Prevention Month, the Rams partnered with RISE to host eight sessions at Conejo Valley Unified School District (CVUSD) schools to focus on breaking down barriers amongst a diverse group of students.
Rams Legends Ivory Sully and Super Bowl XXIV Champion Roland Williams joined the session at Los Cerritos Middle School in Thousand Oaks with RISE diversity, equity and inclusion expert Dr. Collin Williams.
As part of the session, students rotated through three portions of the programming and had the opportunity to hear from Rams Legends, Rams Cheerleaders and staff. The panel kicked off with a screening of the Rams' short film Kingfish: The Story of Kenny Washington, which tells the story of Kenny Washington, who was the first Black player to be signed by a National Football League (NFL) team in the modern era and ended a 12-year ban on Black players in the league.
Dr. Williams led participants through RISE's curriculum consisting of experiential and interactive training on identity and building more inclusive communities. He also trained a subset of CVUSD staff and parents on recognizing and minimizing implicit bias. The two-week long program reached nearly 2,000 students, staff and parents and included leadership sessions on identity, a panel discussion and a football clinic led by the Rams.
RISE is a national nonprofit that educates and empowers the sports community to eliminate racial discrimination, champion social justice and improve race relations.
The Rams have partnered with RISE since 2018 and have engaged more than 25 high school football teams in the greater Los Angeles region with the RISE with the Rams program. The Community Conversations Series with CVUSD extends this work beyond football players to include and engage other students, parents and district leadership.
For more information about the Rams' community outreach efforts, visit www.therams.com/community.
