Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick announced Tuesday that he would donate $10,000 to a Los Angeles-based nonprofit organization dedicated to ending the cycle of family homelessness, poverty and neglect.
Kaepernick announced in October 2016 he would donate $1 million "to organizations working in oppressed communities," donating $100,000 a month for 10 months.
Kaepernick asked 10 friends to choose organizations to which he should donate the final $100,000 of the pledge. Tennis star Serena Williams asked that Kaepernick make a donation to Imagine LA, which matches a homeless family with its own team of mentors, dedicated to helping all family members thrive. Williams announced she would match the donation.
The Imagine LA Family Mentorship Program matches teams of volunteers with vulnerable families. Every family member is matched with a one-to-one mentor and every family gets a budget mentor. Other volunteers help with tutoring, career development, child care, health care, meal-planning and more.
Imagine LA was established in 2006 as an initiative of Bel Air Presbyterian Church and began its Family Mentorship Program with one family and one mentor team in 2008. The organization has worked with nearly 100 families since then, forming dozens of teams with faith communities, companies and other organizations, all working under the guidance of its professional staff, according to the organization.
The organization also collaborates with more than 100 community-based organizations -- government, nonprofit, and private organizations -- that provide services and resources to the families and their mentors.
Every graduated family remains in housing, all youth participants are on track to finish high school and attend college or trade school, with the eldest son of the first family Imagine LA assisted recently graduating from Sacramento State University, according to the organization.
