For ex-Bull Joakim Noah, One City initiative "bigger than basketball"
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The big man has always been a team player.
Now Joakim Noah is back in Chicago, putting in work for the city.
"I understand my role, and I'm going to try to play it as well as I can and everybody who's here right now has a role and a commitment to the city," Noah said.
The new role for the former Bull is leading a basketball league called, One City.
"This is bigger than basketball," Noah said.
The league will bring together young men from the South and West sides of Chicago.
"You got to bring people together. That's what makes it work," said Cobe Williams, founder of Transform Justice.
One City will unite 28 community organizations working to prevent violence in the city. Each will have its own team.
"Everyone who is working and operating this league, including the coordinators who are here today, are experts in conflict resolution and are in the communities every day doing the work for violence prevention," said Yolam Anderson-Golhor. , program manager of One City.
A total of 280 players will compete every Saturday, and the league will support them off the court all summer.
"We have integrated financial incentives," said Anderson-Golhor. "There will be educational off-court programming. Art therapy is included. Job placement is one of our priorities."
"It's the work that's going to go on after," Noah said. "It's the conversations that are going on after. It's the unity that's happening not just on the court but after. That's what it's all about."
This is the kind of work that the incoming mayor, Brandon Johnson, supports.
"I'm impressed and excited about using these tournaments as a way to actually help develop and teach life skills as well," Johnson said. "So, right on."
As Noah said, the work is bigger than basketball.
"I know that there are issues in the city that we have to tackle and as an ambassador for not just the Bulls, but for the city, I want to do right," Noah said.
The One City Basketball League will run from May through the end of August with the first games tipping off next Saturday.