LOS ANGELES — In Leimert Park, coffee is not just fueling a community, but helping prepare young people for life as entrepreneurs.

Tony Jolly, owner of Ora Café in Leimert Park, wanted to pay it forward and give someone else the same opportunity to own a business.

So around the corner from his shop, Jolly started something called the Crenshaw Coffee Cart.

The cart gives underserved youth, between 16 and 20 years old, and some who were previously incarcerated, the training and experience needed to not just be employable, but one day a business owner themselves.

Click the arrow above to watch the video.

The city is partnering with the Yakima Valley Community Foundation to give people a way to donate directly to parks and recreation programs and facilities.

Going into 2026, the Yakima Parks and Recreation department is facing major cuts that will reduce parks maintenance, community programs and facility availability.

For months, the City Council has been working to address a $9 million budget shortfall. Over the summer, the council approved around $3 million in cuts, reducing funding for things like Tahoma Cemetery lawn watering, the summer concert series and movies in the park. Funding for youth and adult sports programs was eliminated.

After a property tax levy on the November ballot failed, the City Council made an additional $6 million in cuts, including a proposed $3 million from police, $1.75 million from fire and $1.4 million from parks and recreation.

The proposed parks and recreation cuts included reducing parks maintenance by 16% and eliminating general fund contributions to the Yakima Harman Senior Center, Washington Fruit Community Center and Lions Pool. After hearing from dozens of concerned community members, council members agreed to use one-time reserve funding to keep the Harman Center open for all of 2026, the Washington Fruit Community Center open through June and Lions Pool open through February — but the long-term future of the facilities is still uncertain.

Sharon Miracle, president and CEO of the Yakima Valley Community Foundation, said she believes the impacts of the cuts will be hard to ignore, especially when it comes to parks maintenance.

“It means bathroom facilities will be closed. It means those porta Johns that are out around the parks for maybe a senior taking a walk in the park, or a mom with a young child who needs to go to the bathroom — those won’t be available, and our parks won’t be well cared for,” she said. “And those are green spaces that not just local residents use, but people coming to our town see and visit, and it’s one of the things that makes this community vibrant.”

Earlier this year, the city and community foundation set up a fund to help save summer concerts and movies. Now, they’re opening four more funds where people can contribute to the Harman Center, Washington Fruit Community Center, Lions Pool and park maintenance.

A longstanding partnership

Ken Wilkinson, the city’s parks and recreation manager, said the city’s partnership with the Yakima Valley Community Foundation isn’t new.

In 2018, the city received multiple anonymous donations for improvements at Randall Park and approached the community foundation about setting up a fund to manage and invest the money. The community foundation said yes, and with the help of additional donations and state funding, the city was able to complete a $1.4 million renovation project at Randall Park.

The two entities have also partnered to open up funds for Miller Park improvements and construction of the Martin Luther King Jr. Aquatic Center — the latter of which received around $3 million in community donations.

The partnership gives people a place where they can easily make tax deductible donations for city projects with no fees attached. It also helps assure people their money is going to the specific cause they want it to, Miracle said.

“This is a way that folks can actually make sure and feel comfortable that what they’re donating to — for example, Parks and Rec — that those funds can only be spent within the Parks and Rec budget,” she said.

After the levy failed, Wilkinson said it was clear people wanted to help.

“People at city council meetings were there to talk about parks and Washington Fruit Center and Harman Center and Lions Pool and all that,” he said. “And they started to say, ‘Well, can we donate? Can we give? What can we do to continue to support all the great quality of life stuff that you guys do?’”

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So, the parks department reached out to the community foundation for help with donations.

Wilkinson said the funds are beginning to gain momentum. The parks maintenance fund recently received an anonymous $300,000 donation, representing a significant step toward the city’s $400,000 goal. The Harman Center also recently received an anonymous $50,000 donation, and Wilkinson is optimistic that the city will be able to host at least a few concerts and movies this summer. The total goal for that fund is $50,000.

In December, Yakima resident and Washington Broadband President Forbes Mercy also made a $115,000 donation to the city to save the youth sports program and fund construction for outdoor calisthenics bars at Chesterley Park. Mercy said he’d made donations to the city last year, and after selling part of his company, he wanted to keep the momentum going.

For him, it’s a way of paying a dividend of appreciation to the community that’s supported him.

“Instead of just handing it back to the government as taxes, even though it’s a small percentage you could write off, I felt it was more beholden that I continued to help things,” he said. “And you couldn’t ask for a better time to help the city than right now.”

Looking to the future

Wilkinson said he’s beyond grateful for the community support he’s seen thus far.

“This community is so generous, and we are so appreciative in Parks and Rec, you know, not just for these funds, but what our individuals have done like that anonymous donation to Randall Park — just incredible,” he said.

Mercy said he’s encouraging people to help pick up small items where they can.

“In this time of lean income and lean abilities for the city to add some of these quality-of-life issues that only can happen when we have a larger funding amount, then we need to fill in that difference,” he said.

But individual donations are just one part of a bigger picture. To ensure a sustainable future for major quality-of-life items, like the pools and community centers, the city will need to find a long-term solution. Both Mercy and Miracle have said that they’re proponents of putting the property tax levy back on the ballot as a way to generate a more sustainable source of revenue for the city.

“That isn’t the role of philanthropy, is to always fill that gap,” Miracle said. “The City Council is responsible for finding a way to fund the services that it provides, and a tax levy is something reasonable, and that’s a very, very affordable tax levy.”

The proposition on the November ballot would have increased the property tax levy to $2.46 per $1,000 of assessed value. Voter turnout for the election was relatively low — around 27%. Miracle said she sees that as a reflection of a need for people to be more engaged with the issues going on in their communities, so they understand what’s at stake.

Moving forward, she hopes the City Council can find a reliable path forward.

“We’ve had a lot of strategy meetings about, ‘Gosh, what can we do? How do we fix this in a bigger scheme?’” she said. “Because it’s one thing just to fill it in with donations, but that’s not sustainable, and I want to really emphasize that relying on donor bases to fill in the city government’s gaps is not a sustainable piece. We need to figure out how to rectify that budget going forward.”

To donate, people can visit the Yakima Valley Community Foundation’s website and click the “Donate Now” button. Miracle said the community foundation also accepts checks. 

This article is from a press
release by the NBA

The NBA and the global
basketball community are set to mark World Basketball Day on Dec.
21 with a wide-ranging celebration aimed at engaging hundreds of
millions of fans and youth across the world, highlighting
basketball’s roots, reach and enduring social impact.

Now in its third year, World
Basketball Day commemorates the date in 1891 when Dr. James
Naismith first introduced the game of basketball at a YMCA in
Springfield, Massachusetts. Established by the United Nations in
2023, the annual celebration recognizes basketball as a unifying
force across cultures and continents—an idea the NBA is embracing
through clinics, community programs, digital campaigns and in-arena
activations worldwide.

This year’s observance carries
added significance as it coincides with the 175th anniversary of
the YMCA, widely regarded as the birthplace of the sport. In
recognition of that milestone, the NBA and YMCA announced a
year-long collaboration focused on youth basketball and community
development, extending a long-standing partnership that will
support millions of young people and families across the United
States.

The initiative will include
youth-focused programming and renovations of select YMCA facilities
nationwide, directly benefiting the more than six million youth the
YMCA serves annually. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver emphasized the
historical importance of the moment, noting that World Basketball
Day in 2025 serves as both a celebration of the game’s origins and
a reflection of its global influence more than a century
later.

“World Basketball Day takes on a
special meaning this year as we commemorate the 175th anniversary
of the YMCA, where the sport was first invented 134 years ago,”
Silver said. “We are thrilled to join our many friends in the
basketball community to celebrate the game’s impact and influence
around the world.”

The NBA’s digital footprint will
play a central role in the celebration. Across its global and
localized social platforms, the league will feature NBA players
sharing what World Basketball Day means to them, alongside
highlights from events taking place in different regions. Fans are
encouraged to participate by tagging @nba, @nbacares and @jrnba on
social media using the hashtag
#WorldBasketballDay.

On the grassroots level, the Jr.
NBA and Jr. WNBA programs, along with NBA Basketball School
initiatives that reach tens of millions of youth and coaches
globally, will gain access to a special playbook containing
exclusive training and educational content designed to promote
skill development and values such as teamwork and
leadership.

World Basketball Day will also
intersect with the NBA’s competitive calendar. Dec. 21 will serve
as a “3-for-1 Day” in NBA All-Star Voting, allowing fans with an
NBA ID to submit one ballot per day via the NBA App or NBA.com,
with each vote counting triple toward All-Star
selections.

Across the United States,
numerous NBA franchises—including the Lakers, Celtics, Heat, Bucks,
Mavericks and Warriors—will celebrate through localized events and
in-arena activities. Several player-led initiatives will headline
the festivities, including youth clinics hosted by former and
current NBA players such as Taj Gibson and Michael Carter-Williams.
In St. Louis, the Gateway Region YMCA recently hosted a youth
clinic attended by Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum, who also
announced upcoming YMCA renovations supported by NBA Cares and The
Jayson Tatum Foundation.

Internationally, the scope of
World Basketball Day underscores the NBA’s global reach. FIBA will
announce the inductees for its 2026 Hall of Fame class, while NBA
Africa and the Basketball Africa League will deploy 19 coaches to
conduct clinics across 13 African nations, reaching more than 600
coaches as part of a long-term effort to develop the sport on the
continent.

The Philippines, one of the
NBA’s most passionate international markets, will play a visible
role in the celebration. Local basketball players and content
creators from the country will be featured across the NBA’s
localized channels, while NBA Stores in the Philippines will host
World Basketball Day scavenger hunts offering fans the chance to
win merchandise and exclusive discounts. Beginning on Dec. 21, fans
who purchase official NBA merchandise at participating stores will
also receive a complimentary World Basketball Day T-shirt while
supplies last.

NBA champion Jayson Tatum
highlighted the personal significance of the day, pointing to
basketball’s role in shaping lives beyond the court. “World
Basketball Day is a chance to celebrate the game and the impact it
has on people everywhere,” Tatum said. “Basketball has had such a
positive influence on my life, and I hope I can pass along the joy
and skills I’ve learned to the next generation.”

WNBA Commissioner Cathy
Engelbert echoed those sentiments, emphasizing the sport’s ability
to open doors for girls and women worldwide. Leaders from FIBA, USA
Basketball, the NCAA, the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, the
NBCA and the NFHS also underscored basketball’s educational,
cultural and community value, reinforcing the idea that the game’s
influence stretches far beyond professional leagues.

As basketball continues to grow
as the world’s fastest-rising sport and the second most popular
globally, World Basketball Day stands as both a tribute to its
humble beginnings and a celebration of its future. From
neighborhood gyms to global arenas, Dec. 21 will once again
spotlight how a simple game invented more than a century ago
continues to connect communities, inspire youth and bring the world
together through a shared love for basketball.