For the seventh consecutive season, the Los Angeles Rams teamed up with RISE, a national nonprofit that educates and empowers the sports community to eliminate racial discrimination, champion social justice and improve race relations, for a season-long leadership and community-building program featuring local high school football teams with a cross-section of ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds.

This year, the participants included tackle and, for the first time, girls flag football teams from Thomas Jefferson High School in East Los Angeles and El Camino Real Charter High School in Woodland Hills. All sessions were facilitated by RISE experts of diversity, equity, and inclusion Dr. Collin Williams and Lauren Turner, among others.

Rams Associate Manager of Social Justice and Football Development Noel Grigsby was excited to kick off the inaugural inclusion of girls flag football programs in RISE with the Rams as they enter their second season playing flag football as a sanctioned high school sport.

"We talk about diversity, we talk about inclusion, we talk about what we want to accomplish with the help of RISE. We need to make sure that we have different voices at the table," said Grigsby. "That's another element, as you see the transition with football and girls taking over from the flag perspective, it only makes sense for us to add them, but also include a woman facilitator, because they deserve to be in the conversation as well."

The program kicked off on July 17, with a session in the Rams' locker room at SoFi Stadium where students participated in a welcome session and interactive discussion on understanding identities. Students also watched 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.

"It starts with understanding who we are, the labels we use to judge and describe ourselves and the ones others use," said Dr. Williams. "For us at RISE, inclusion is all about making sure people don't have to remove any aspect of themselves when they step into a space or when they step into a locker room."

The second session was held at Thomas Jefferson High School and focused on diversity concepts, including equity versus equality. "El Camino and Thomas Jefferson are in very different places, so we didn't grow up the same or have the same advantages. I have learned that our differences are what makes us a community," said Thomas Jefferson High School senior, Marina Navarijo. "It's very eye opening to get that chance".

Participants then visited Rams' Training Camp at Loyola Marymount University for session three, which focused on sports being a vehicle for change and how to manage biases. The teams watched the Rams practice and engaged as student coaches with youth football activities. El Camino Real Charter High School junior Carter Jacob Rubin discussed how special it was to take the Rams Training Camp field and how much the Rams' support means to him.

"It's very unique because I pictured the Rams to be almost bigger than life. I didn't expect them to come down to my high school and interact with us and [provide] this opportunity," said Rubin.

The fourth session was held at El Camino Real Charter High School and explored community building and included a trophy building exercise that had groups of students use paper, straws, tape and other items to build the tallest trophy structure whilst getting to know each other even more.

"We have the same goals, even though we come from different places," said El Camino Real Charter High School senior Jada Suggs. "It also put things into perspective because I've heard a lot of the kids talk about how they might be less fortunate or that they didn't have certain things growing up. It's made me more open to different walks of life, and I feel like I want to help people or just kind of share things and grow together."

The program culminated with the Rams hosting participants for a tour and session on being a champion of change at NFL Los Angeles – the league's West Coast headquarters at Hollywood Park - on Sunday, August 11. Following the event, students enjoyed the Rams' preseason matchup against the Dallas Cowboys at SoFi Stadium.

For more information about the Rams' community outreach efforts, visit www.therams.com/community.