GREENSBORO, N.C. — A Greensboro organization wants to use the game of basketball to curb violence and unemployment.
Punch4Pounds will host a hiring day basketball tournament Saturday, May 27 at Hampton Park in Greensboro. Steven Matthews is the owner of Punch4Pounds. He said there will be various vendors at the tournament looking to recruit talent for open job positions.
“When you start talking about economics, occupation, education, and what that breeds, is what levels of decision that gets us closer to criminal activity and violent activity,” Matthews said. “Our job as a conduit and being a support to municipal and county to again go into the communities, engage success and then bring resources that are needed."
The tournament is in partnership with groups like Streetballers, NC Works, NextGen, and the NAACP. Matthews said the goal is to hold a series of these basketball tournaments at parks in high-crime neighborhoods.
“What we've learned is engagement is like a cookout,” Matthews said. “It's like church, basketball, boxing. Whatever brings the community out that's an important tool because at that point we're able to go into our next level of service and programming which is building relationships and determining what the needs are and figuring out how to close those gaps."
The games are four-on-four. Arrival time is 1 p.m. Tip-off starts at 4 p.m. The next tournament will be on June 24 at Heath Park in Greensboro.
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