Jaylen Brown

So I thought, using your platform at this stage where we're talking about what are you going to do or what would you like to do with the financial situation,

freedom and the financial gains that you just, you know, signed for in this city, I thought it would be fitting to make a commitment to the city that I play in to, you know, attack some of the things that I feel like could also make it a better Boston.

Like I've been here for 10 years now.

And so I view myself as a part of their community.

So when I'm

listening to the people that I work with, the students, the families, et cetera, about some of the things that they would like to see different, some of the things that they wish they had opportunities to or access to that nobody's really talking about or bringing up.

From my platform, being an athlete here, being one of the faces of the franchise, I found it fitting for me to do that.

So that was a few years ago.

Now we've launched Boston Exchange.

We've had a cohort that I've invested in.

I've had a great partner in Drew Holiday through his JLH fund.

One of the greatest teammates that I've ever had partnered with me.

We both contributed about a million dollars into investing into startups here in Boston.

And so an accelerator program that, you know, gives the talented group of people that exist here that are minorities an opportunity to win here in the city that they're born and raised in.

The companies that we select often are solution-based, like they deal with sustainability, they deal with food insecurities, they deal with mental health or just staying healthy in the environment.

So I feel like you're solving two problems in one.

Not only are you investing in the talent that's already there in your city, you're also investing in something that's a solution within the community as well.

So I'm a firm believer that investing in the talent here, the talent will invest back into the city that they were born and raised in.

So I think in the future, we would like to see more companies, more talented groups emerge, and hopefully they emerge from our accelerator program.

Yeah, we have a few, even so far.