Jrue, Lauren Holiday to start social justice fund with Pelicans guard's remaining game checks
Jrue and Lauren Holiday are making sure to the NBA's resumption of play inside the bubble at Disney's Wide World of Sports has a larger purpose.
The couple announced Wednesday the creation of the Jrue and Lauren Holiday Social Justice Impact Fund, which will aid communities in New Orleans, where Jrue is a guard for the Pelicans, Indianapolis and the greater Los Angeles area.
"With everything going on in this world, it made me and my wife realize that we aren't invested in our community as we feel we should be," Jrue Holiday told ESPN. "This is one of those times to really, even though it's kind of a kick in the pants, you kind of feel like I should've known this or I should've been doing this before. But you're never too late. This is our time to contribute."
Jrue's remaining game checks from this NBA season, potentially worth $5.3 million, will provide the seed money to launch the venture, which will focus on Black-owned businesses, nonprofit organizations and city initiatives centered around equality. At least $500,000 has been committed to higher learning, particularly HBCUs.
Jrue and Lauren Holiday met at UCLA and the Holiday family hails from Los Angeles. His brothers, Justin and Aron, play in Indianapolis. Given his ties to those three metropolises, those are the areas the fund will aim its focus, but its contributions to Black-owned businesses will be a nationwide endeavor.
"I just feel like it's the perfect opportunity to pick those three cities that mean a lot to us and try to better those cities," Holiday told ESPN.
Lauren Holiday is a former U.S. women's soccer team standout. The couple has one daughter, a couple named J.T., and is expecting their second child, a boy, later this year.
With eight games remaining in the regular season, the 10th-seeded Pelicans are 3.5 games out of the playoffs and have a 45 percent chance of making the playoffs, per 538.
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