Inside The Thunder

Thunder/CAA Sports Create Thunder Fellows Program for Black Students in Tulsa

The Oklahoma City Thunder along with CAA is creating a program to give Black youth job opportunities in sports, entertainment, and technology.

Erik Gee

The Oklahoma City Thunder, along with CAA Sports, are partnering to create the Thunder Fellows Progam. The program has a designed curriculum to give black youth in the Tulsa area new opportunities in sports, tech, and entertainment. 

Thunder Fellows will be located in the historic Greenwood district and will consist of two groups. Fellows, which will be made up of Black students from regional colleges and universities, and the Young Leaders who range from grades 8-12. 

Thunder chairman Clay Bennet says, "Our organization is deeply committed to social justice and the actions that are necessary to create better opportunities for the Black community, now and in the future." 

"I am proud that the Thunder Fellows Program will both provide tangible learning for the future, and also serve as a symbol in the Historic Greenwood District. We will work tirelessly to make this a program that will create change for generations to come."

Thunder Fellows wants to help close the gap for Black students in Tulsa. During the 2018-19 school year, the Oklahoma State Testing Program found that 8th-grade math proficiency of Black students in Tulsa County was 9% that dropped to 7% for economically disadvantaged Black students. 

Those gaps increase when looking at SAT/ACT data for 11th-grade students in the same school year. Only 7% of Black students were college-ready in math, while economically disadvantaged Black students were at 5% proficiency.

General Manager Sam Presti says May 31, 2021, will mark the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre. It is time for us to come to terms with the devastation of this atrocity."... "We hope that the Thunder Fellows Program captures the spirit of the Greenwood District while helping to launch and create future opportunities for local area Black youth."

The Thunder and CAA Sports are working with the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission to find a location to build the Thunder-powered Data & Analytics Center. The George Kaiser Family Foundation is providing additional guidance for the program; there will also be one member from the Thunder roster on the board each year.

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Erik Gee
ERIK GEE

With more than 20 years of experience hosting local and national radio shows, Erik Gee is a fixture of Oklahoma sports media. He has covered the Oklahoma City Thunder for the past six seasons. He is also the co-host of the Pat Jones show on 97.1 The Sports Animal in Tulsa. 

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