Ninemillion.org campaign raises more than $2 million in first year to provide education and sports programming for refugee youth
BEAVERTON, Ore. (20 June, 2007—World Refugee Day) – As part of World
Refugee Day events today, Nike is joining the UN refugee agency (UNHCR)
in honoring the courage of refugee youth and marking the first
anniversary of ninemillion.org, an innovative global campaign designed
to raise awareness and resources to provide refugee youth access to
education and sports programming.
Ninemillion.org has raised more than $2 million in its first year and
increased global awareness about the issues facing the world's estimated
nine million refugee youth. Nike is one of the founding corporate
partners of ninemillion.org, which is led by UNHCR.
“We believe sport can be a vehicle for social change, and that every
young person should have access to play,” said Hannah Jones, Nike's vice
president of Corporate Responsibility. “We also believe sport has a
vital role to play in refugee camps--healing trauma, bringing
communities together, providing an outlet for young people, and building
leadership and life-skills.”
To kick-off fundraising efforts when the campaign launched on World
Refugee Day 2006, the Nike Foundation announced a $1 million challenge
grant for the first $1 million raised. The total grant amount has been
matched, and today funds are being used to implement education, play and
sports programs that engage refugee youth, particularly girls, in
positive activities that provide them with life skills and tools. One
example is at the Tham Hin refugee camp in Thailand, where
ninemillion.org funded a Computer Technology Center with 24 personal
computers, providing access to technology and skills training for more
than 2,000 refugees. The campaign also has been instrumental in
empowering individuals by training local youth to be coaches and
leaders.
Nike is a founding member of the UNHCR Council of Business Leaders,
which includes representatives from Manpower, Microsoft, PWC and Merck,
and whose goal is to leverage their business skills to support the UNHCR
in its efforts to become more effective and better resourced in
addressing the needs of refugees.
“Nike, other Council of Business Leaders' companies and UNHCR are
seeking innovative ways to help deliver education and training to
refugees to equip them for a better future,” said António Guterres, High
Commissioner of the UN refugee agency. “The involvement of the
corporate world in our work is making a big difference to the lives of
refugees.”
Nike representatives will join UNHCR officials today to celebrate the
contribution that refugees make to communities around the world, and to
show support for the estimated 33 million people UNHCR cares for today.
Nike will continue to play an advocacy role and support UNHCR around the
communications for the campaign as ninemillion.org continues to gain
momentum in its second year.
Nike's contributions to ninemillion.org as a founding partner include:
• Participating as a founding member of the UNHCR Council of Business
Leaders to provide expertise, support and collaboration to the campaign,
and more broadly.
• Designing and donating more than 40,000 high-performance balls made
with environmentally preferred materials for UNHCR to distribute to
refugee communities in more than 50 countries.
• Developing the creative content and supporting the launch of
ninemillion.org (creative direction, name, tagline, films, print and
broadcast public service announcements) in partnership with advertising
agency Wieden+Kennedy.
• Designing and selling ninemillion.org T-shirts to help raise awareness and funds for the campaign.
• Devoting retail space at Niketowns globally to support the campaign.
• Facilitating additional fund-raising and awareness efforts with
organizations such as Manchester United and influencers such as Eminem
and Sierra Leone's Refugee All-Stars.
• Providing additional resources for the ninemillion.org media luncheon
at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2007 to broaden
awareness and understanding of the ninemillion.org campaign and the
issues facing refugee youth.
Let Me Play
Ninemillion.org is a key example of Nike's belief in the power of sport
to unleash potential in youth who have been excluded and is core to the
company's “Let Me Play” global community investment strategy. Let Me
Play focuses community investments on using sport as a tool for youth
inclusion. In the last two years, Nike invested $100 million worldwide
in community-based sport initiatives. The company will invest an
additional $315 million through 2011 to give youth greater access to
sport. For more information about Nike, visit
www.nikeresponsibility.com.
To learn more about UNHCR and ninemillion.org, visit www.unhcr.org and www.ninemillion.org.
NIKE, Inc. based near Beaverton, Oregon, is the world's leading
designer, marketer and distributor of authentic athletic footwear,
apparel, equipment and accessories for a wide variety of sports and
fitness activities. Wholly owned Nike subsidiaries include Converse
Inc., which designs, markets and distributes athletic footwear, apparel
and accessories; NIKE Bauer Hockey Inc., a leading designer and
distributor of hockey equipment; Cole Haan, a leading designer and
marketer of luxury shoes, handbags, accessories and coats; Hurley
International LLC, which designs, markets and distributes action sports
and youth lifestyle footwear, apparel and accessories and Exeter Brands
Group LLC, which designs and markets athletic footwear and apparel for
the value retail channel.