PFLUGERVILLE, Texas (KXAN) — Former Texas Longhorns football player Alex Okafor returns to his hometown of Pflugerville for football camps every year. On Monday, the Kansas City Chiefs announced the defensive lineman will sponsor a diversity program for his former elementary school.
The Chiefs recently unveiled its “Kingdom United” program that will “promote unity among students through diversity and inclusion initiatives,” according to a release from Pflugerville Independent School District.
Spring Hill Elementary is one of five schools involved in the program and the only school outside of the Kansas City area to participate.
“When we first started this season, we wanted to dedicate time and energy into social justice initiatives and ending systemic racism. The Kingdom United education program goes to the root of the issue and begins to teach kids from a young age about equality and diversity.” Okafor said in a press release from the Chiefs. “Spring Hill Elementary is where I went to school, and I wouldn’t be where I’m at without the education I received there. That’s why it was a no brainer for me to adopt them and bring the Kingdom United program to every single kid in that school.
“My hope for these kids is not only for them to understand the importance of diversity and inclusion but to also be the pioneers to a generation that actively stands up for prejudices and injustices that affect the people that don’t look like them.”
According to the Chiefs, the Kingdom United program provides diversity-themed books for each student that are grade-level appropriate. Teachers also will receive the books along with discussion and activity materials to facilitate discussions about race and inclusion to reinforce the messages in the books.
Spring Hill distributed the first book of the month to its students last week and will begin dedicating at least 30 minutes per month to teach students about race, diversity, inclusion and acceptance through the Kingdom United materials.
“The fact that Alex Okafor chose to sponsor Spring Hill for this program speaks volumes to the type of man he has grown up to be. He has a very large platform, and he wants to help out his hometown where he grew up. I also think it illustrates the impact Spring Hill and Pflugerville ISD had on him that he wants to help in such a way. We can’t thank him enough for this amazing opportunity, and we are proud to be the only school outside of Kansas City participating in Kingdom United,” Spring Hill Principal Camille Ramirez-Longoria said in a statement.
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