Udonis Haslem understood the power of collaboration as an NBA player, and he is carrying those learning lessons to improve underserved communities.
The Miami, FL, native entered the league as a free agent in 2003 and remained with the Miami Heat throughout his 20-year career. He won three national championship rings and would be seen as a well-respected veteran on the team, even leading former players LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh — known as the Big 3— to take pay cuts to keep him on the Miami Heat roster in 2010, as AFROTECH™ previously reported.
“When I talk about LeBron James and Dwayne Wade and being a part of that process, that’s one thing that I was able to understand, it’s that even though we were friends, we respect people for who they are and what they are. You know what I mean?” Haslem said on the “Black Tech Green Money” podcast. “And LeBron, Dwyane, they already respect me for who I was and what I was. They were Southeast guys. I was a Miami guy. They were on the other side of the bridge. I was on my side of the bridge. So for me, I never tried to be something I wasn’t.”
Listen to the full episode of our Black Tech Green Money podcast below.
It Was Never About The Money
Haslem’s loyalty for the city and people of Miami is what guided his longevity with the team. He adds, it was never about the money. Instead, it was about pouring back into the city that had done the same for him.
“When you talk about ‘Why you don’t leave to go for more money and why you didn’t even have the opportunity to play somewhere else, and when your career was getting towards the end and you weren’t given as much playing time as you might’ve wanted of the people of Miami’ — man, I’ve never been more protected,” Haslem recalled. “I’ve never been more accepted than I am in this city of Miami by these people. We talk about 20 years in the NBA and so much success. I ain’t never had more security. Ain’t never seen me get robbed nowhere. Ain’t never seen me get in no trouble nowhere out here. These people take care of me, man. So it’s my job, it’s my duty with my free time to commit to taking care of these people and giving back to them so much that they’ve given me.”
Impact Of Foundation
Since 2005, he has been living up to this mindset through the Udonis Haslem Children’s Foundation, previously named UD Kids, to help those within the inner city. He self-funded the foundation as his contracts were not enough to sustain the venture, its website states.
Its impact over the years included providing toys and school supplies to children and securing partnerships that shared an interest in nurturing the youth. In 2022, UD Kids became the Udonis Haslem Foundation to widen its impact to include programs geared around mental health, financial literacy, minority-owned small businesses, and affordable housing projects, which include the Catherine Flon Estates project in North Miami. The 200-unit project with 174 affordable apartments and 26 workforce-priced townhouses was announced in 2023 as a partnership between the Haslem Housing Venture LLC and Magellan Housing. The target tenants for the townhouses will earn no more than 120% area median income.
Another project already underway, expected to arrive in 2024, includes Wynwood Work, which will include 120 mixed-income residential units ranging from studios to three-bedroom units, AFROTECH™ previously mentioned.
“We were understanding the huge gap of ‘OK you need about $110,000 to live comfortably in South Florida, but on average people are only making $60,000 to $70,000.’ That’s about a $40,000-$50,000 gap. How can people live comfortably,” Haslem said. “Now we’re talking about getting into the fight, and we have two affordable housing projects.”
Partnering With Wells Fargo
Scaling his efforts in South Florida, Haslem recently partnered with The Wells Fargo Foundation to help improve the state of homes for veterans, older adults, and neighbors in need. Forbes mentions $1.2 million has been allocated to repair 75 homes across 46 communities through the Rebuilding Together project.
“You see Wells Fargo, ‘The Bank of Doing,’ and you understand what their initiative is, what their goals are, and then you say, ‘OK, well maybe we can collaborate. Maybe we can do this together,'” Haslem told “Black Tech Green Money.” “One thing I know about building a championship team and a championship roster is it takes collaboration and people with the same like mindset and with the same goals. I think Wells Fargo had that goal. Udonis Haslem Foundation had that goal.”
Haslem adds that the presence of Wells Fargo leading the initiative is a step towards building trust within these communities, which could create opportunities down the line for further initiatives, particularly around wealth building.
“We understand that financial literacy skipped over our people sometimes for the most part. Financial literacy has not been taught, and then you talk about teaching people financial literacy, but people that don’t have money or didn’t come from money,” he explained. “So I think for Wells Fargo being not only hands-on with this but putting their money where their mouths is and committing $1.2 [million], 75 different homes, 46 communities, you’re also building a relationship.”
He continued, “For us in our community, it’s always been hard for us to trust people. So when you come in and you make an impact in the community, immediately the people of the community start to trust you, and now they start to listen to you, and now you start to build that relationship, so on and so forth… So the messages that Wells Fargo are preaching, people are going to listen now because of the trust and the relationship that they built with these people because they’re actually doing things in the community and not talking about it.”
