Multiple Community Events Leading Up to August 11 Game at Barclays Center
NEW YORK, NY– August 1, 2019–The New York Liberty, continuing its push for equality and social progress, will be hosting its third annual Unity Day game at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on August 11 as the team takes on the Seattle Storm at 3 p.m. ET. This year’s Unity Day theme, titled Forgotten Behind Bars: Women’s Health Care, Family and Representation, is focused on one of the biggest social challenges today — the mass incarceration of women.
The stats are alarming and not widely known: Studies show that 80% of women jailed each year are mothers. Additionally, between 1980 and 2017, the number of incarcerated women increased by more than 700%, rising from a total of 26,378 in 1980 to 225,060 in 2017. In an effort to raise awareness and ignite action, the Liberty are collaborating with partners such as YWCA Brooklyn, Echoes of Incarceration,WOWsdom, Bounce, cultural influencers, activists, artists, performers and changemakers dedicated to achieving racial and gender equality.
This year’s UNITY Day follows the work the Liberty have done the past three years with UNITY Days centered around issues such as racial injustice, gun violence and equality.
Prior to the game on August 11, the Liberty will be hosting a series of events, inviting the Brooklyn community to participate in programs focused on raising awareness, empowering women and girls, and restoring dignity to incarcerated women and their families. All events are open to the media.
Thursday, August 8, 2019
The New York Liberty Present Forgotten Behind Bars: Women’s Health Care, Family and Representation
YWCA Brooklyn | Roulette Theater | 30 3rd Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11217\
6:30- 8:30 p.m.
Admission: Free
The New York Liberty will host a panel discussion highlighting this season’s UNIT Day theme: “Forgotten Behind Bars”: Women’s Health Care, Family, and Representation. Experts, activists, policymakers and the formerly incarcerated will address how the criminal justice system unjustly affects women, society’s role in marginalizing female prisoners and solutions for change.
The moderator and panelists will soon be announced.
Sunday, August 11, 2019
Pre-Game Youth Basketball Clinic
Barclays Center | 1:30 p.m.
The New York Liberty will host a Youth Basketball Clinic geared towards youth who have incarcerated families in order to help them find an outlet to express themselves freely and meet people who are able to relate. Select youth from various Brooklyn communities have also been invited by the Liberty to participate in this exclusive clinic.
Pre-Game Workshop in Partnership with WOWsdom!
Barclays Center | 1:30 p.m.
Admission: $30 includes:
– Access to the Pregame VIP Event
– Copy of WOWsdom! book
– Ticket to the Liberty vs Storm game
WOWsdom! The girl’s guide to the Positive and the Possible celebrates what happens when you connect the WOW of girls with the WISDOM of women. WOWsdom! uses the power of authentic storytelling to provide encouragement and offer real-world advice to help young women and girls prepare to meet the challenges they will face in their lifetimes. The messages of self-love, confidence, resilience, leadership, healthy choices, and more resonate with girls of every age and every background. Young women and girls from Brooklyn and the New York City area will participate, in addition to local contributors, and WOWsdom! creator and former WNBA president, Donna Orender.
Pre-Game Performance in Partnership with BOUNCE
Barclays Center | 2:15 p.m.
The main theme of BOUNCEcenters on Gun Violence and how to come back from the tragedy and trauma gun violence wreaks on individuals, their families and in communities across our country. BOUNCE also celebrates our love of basketball, the opportunities it brings, and how basketball itself saves and transforms lives and brings us all together. The production, which pairs diverse casting with a fresh approach to arts education, connects local high school students with the worlds of opera and musical theater using the powerful medium of basketball. The performance will run 7-minutes, approximately 30 minutes before tip-off.
For ticket information, please visit ticketmaster.com/nyliberty