As part of its commitment to education, the Browns and Lorain City School District officially launched the "Titan Pride Uniform Program" today, benefitting youth who may not attend class due to a lack of access to suitable clothing so deserving students may properly focus on school and the learning process. The team, including DB T.J. Carrie, K Greg Joseph, DB Terrance Mitchell and DL Chad Thomas, presented Lorain City School District with a grant check from the Cleveland Browns Foundation this afternoon, as well as delivered "Titan Pride Packages" to select students at Toni Morrison Elementary.
The Cleveland Browns Foundation, which is dedicated to improving the quality of education for students in Northeast Ohio by making investments to keep kids in school every day so they can succeed, partnered with Lorain City School District for the "Titan Pride Uniform Program" as many students may lack suitable or clean clothing, a major obstacle in attending school for youth.
"Through the Titan Pride Uniform Program, we have an opportunity to help provide every day needs that ultimately have a tremendous impact on students' attendance, which is critical for academic achievement," said Vice President of the Cleveland Browns Foundation Renee Harvey. "We are honored to support Lorain students and a deserving community, as well as Lorain City School District's efforts to ensure youth are getting to school and are prepared for success."
"We are forever thankful for the Cleveland Browns Foundation," said Lorain City School District CEO David Hardy. "Their generosity is genuine and their strategic focus aligns with ours – providing direct support to our scholars."
By supplying "Titan Pride Packages" – comprised of three Lorain polo shirts, two pairs of pants, one t-shirt and a belt – students identified by Lorain City Schools will receive necessary items from the Browns and district to ensure they are able to regularly attend school. Studies have shown that chronic absenteeism is a significant barrier to student achievement and has substantial negative impact on test scores and graduation rates, which can have a lasting impact on an individual's future and success. The Browns partnered with the district to develop the uniform program to help address one of the underlying causes of chronic absenteeism with the goal of keeping kids in school so they are ready to learn.
Additionally, each school will establish a "Titan Pride Locker" system through the grant provided by the Cleveland Browns Foundation. In the event of an immediate, unexpected clothing need, youth will have an opportunity to discretely borrow items from their school's supply, allowing the students to remain in class and not fall behind in their education. Due to the recent installation of washers and dryers in Lorain City Schools, faculty members will then also have the opportunity to clean any soiled articles and provide them to the student in a clean state when returning at the end of the day.
Earlier this year, Lorain School District purchased similar uniforms and raffled them off to members of their student body who signed an attendance pledge to create a positive school culture and boost school pride. The Titan-themed clothing items distributed match the designs of articles included in "Titan Pride Packages."
Recently, the Cleveland Browns Foundation, Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) and Shoes and Clothes for Kids (SC4K) have seen success in their combined efforts to eliminate access to clean clothing as a barrier to attending school in Cleveland. Entering its third school year, the group funded more than 6,000 "Special Teams Packages" to offer necessary clothing items to students in economic hardship and expects to serve 2,000 students by the end of the first semester. The program has shown to improve student attendance up to 25 percent the month after receiving a package. The initiative is one of the core elements of the Cleveland Browns Foundation's and CMSD's partnership for the "Get 2 School. You Can Make It!" attendance campaign, which has reduced the number of students with off-track attendance by nearly 22 percent and resulted in more than 4,100 additional students with improved attendance habits.
In 2018, the Cleveland Browns and Dee and Jimmy Haslam also provided Lorain High School's George Daniel Field with a new high-quality synthetic turf field as part of the team's commitment to Browns Give Back's emphasis on education and youth football. The Lorain project, finished prior to the start of the 2018 high school football season, is one of seven new field turfs made possible in the region during the past three years through Browns Give Back, all of which are accessible for several male and female high school sports teams and additional events and youth programs in their local communities.
About the Cleveland Browns and Browns Give Back:
The Browns Give Back to Northeast Ohio with a commitment to education and youth football while engaging the community through the team's signature First and Ten volunteer movement. For more information, visit www.clevelandbrowns.com/brownsgiveback.
Education – The Cleveland Browns are dedicated to improving the quality of education for students in Northeast Ohio by making investments that keep kids in school every day so they can succeed. The team engages local schools and promotes education in various capacities throughout the year to help identify and remove attendance barriers and support engagement opportunities for students to thrive by monitoring attendance patterns to help understand how best to support students and schools.
Youth Football – The Cleveland Browns are committed to assisting the development, safety and growth of youth and high school football throughout Northeast Ohio with year-round programming for players, coaches, officials and parents. Through camps, clinics and other initiatives, the Browns' goal is to promote healthy, social, emotional, intellectual and physical development of youth by enhancing opportunities for youth football participation and education.
First and Ten – Launched in June 2014, the Cleveland Browns First and Ten campaign is the team's community program, established to inspire fans to #give10 and help their communities by volunteering for 10 hours each year. Through First and Ten, the Browns are the only NFL club to promote a long-term volunteering program that unifies the team and its entire fan base, with the goal of impacting every individual's city across the globe, as well as the franchise's local community. To date, nearly two million hours of volunteering have been pledged through First and Ten. All Browns fans are encouraged to join the volunteering effort by signing the First and Ten pledge on the team's website and by sharing their stories with #give10.
About Lorain City School District:
The Lorain City School District is working to drastically reduce absences and help scholars get to school every day ready to learn. With the understanding that due to overwhelming economic disadvantages and that students often lack the necessary clothing to wear to school, the "Titan Pride Uniform Program" was created in partnership with the Cleveland Browns Foundation. The Titan Pride Uniform Program has two main focuses: 1) providing "Titan Pride Packages" to scholars at no charge; and 2) setting up "Titan Pride Lockers" at all schools to offer students access to clothing for the day when emergency uniform requests occur. The Titan Pride Package includes three polo shirts emblazoned with the Lorain Titans shield and sword, two pairs of pants, a belt and one t-shirt. Removing the obstacle of having appropriate clothing for school will assist in bringing scholars into the classroom on a daily basis and will also boost self-confidence and create a school culture which exemplifies pride and excellence.
