Spring Update from Joe Ehrmann
Spring has sprung. We hope you are enjoying the transition to the planting seasons. We have been incredibly busy this spring preparing the soil, nurturing new perennials and preparing for new InSideOut seeds yet to be planted.
The InSideOut Initiative and the NFL Foundation are making plans with the Cleveland Browns and Cincinnati Bengals to return to Ohio in June for Core Team Training. Thank you to the Cincinanti Bengals, Cleveland Browns, Ohio High School Athletic Association, and the Ohio Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association for being great partners. Special shout out to Bob Goldring (OHSAA) and Bruce Brown (OIAAA) for their exceptional leadership throughout Ohio.
We visited with the leadership of the Dallas Cowboys at their incredible new facility, The Star. As someone who came into the NFL in 1973, the only word I could summon was “mind-blowing!” Charlotte Jones Anderson is the visionary VP of Cowboys and Chairperson of the NFL Foundation–her vision has allowed the InSideOut Initiative to take root across Texas. We started to lay out plans with the Houston Texans to begin rolling out the Initiative in the greater Houston area. We are looking forward to another fruitful partnership in Texas. We will be back to prepare athletic administrators to implement the InSideOut Character Curriculum at the Texas High School Coaching Association (THSCA) in July and will provide more information in the near future.
We recently met with the LA Rams and the LA Chargers and have forged a powerful partnership with both NFL teams and the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF). Roger Blake and Ron Nocetti of CIF are long-time leaders in education-based athletics and we so look forward to deepening this relationship. While on the West Coast swing, we led a two-hour seminar on the InSideOut Initiative for the California State Athletic Directors Association. It was an honor to be among so many Athletic Administrators performing one of the most difficult, most visible, and important jobs in education.
We are very excited to be moving ahead with the Indianapolis Colts and our partners from the Indiana High School Athletic Association and the Indiana High School Athletic AssociationFoundation. We are looking forward to launch, and will provide updates here as things progress.
A May meeting is planned with the Atlanta Falcons, the Tennessee Titans, and in Louisiana with the New Orleans Saints. In Baltimore, the partnerships have formalized—Baltimore City Public Schools, the Baltimore Ravens, and Under Armour are united in creating our first InSideOut City rollout. While the education-based athletic issues are mostly the same as our statewide initiatives, racial segregation and high concentrations of poverty provide some unique challenges that will be addressed.
In Minnesota, we’re collaborating with the Super Bowl Legacy Fund to plan some exciting events for Super Bowl LII, and kicking off InSideOut Team; a personal and professional growth cohort with some amazing Athletic Administrators who will meet over the course of ten months to build on the momentum Jody started at the MN Athletic Administrators’ Conference in March.
We’re incredibly lucky to get to work with you all—thank you for being part of this journey with us!
Joe and Jody