ST. LOUIS — The five-time NBA All-Star Jayson Tatum announced Tuesday that his foundation received a $1 million gift from the financial company SoFi to help homebuyers in St. Louis make their payments an easier slam dunk.
The Celtics forward and 2024 Paris Olympic hopeful Tatum was born in St. Louis and graduated from Chaminade College Preparatory School.
The gift will establish the SoFi Generational Wealth Fund at the Jayson Tatum Foundation, which will grant funds to homebuyers to help with a down payment.
It's something Tatum said his single mother, Brandy Col-Barnes, could have used after having him at just 19 years old.
"I've always been driven to get my money right," Tatum said in a SoFi video announcement.
"As I kid, I watched my mother struggle financially, but she always made what we had work," he said. "Her sacrifice allowed me to pursue my dream."
The nonprofit hosts toy drives, back-to-school giveaways and basketball camps in the St. Louis area. It also offers scholarships to St. Louis high school students along with mentoring.
The new fund is part of a program that will support single parents, an idea Tatum said he had for a long time and was waiting to find the right moment to launch.
St. Louis housing advocates say many people in our area come from families who have never owned a home. Some people have never made enough money to even have a savings account and often choose which bills to pay each month.
"Give folks the opportunity, just that extra little bit to get them over the hump so they can have that down payment so they can get a loan and they can have their own home," said Chris Krehmeyer of Beyond Housing.
"I have a 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom," 36-year-old mother Jessica Robinson said.
She rents her fairly new home thanks to the help of Beyond Housing, which builds and rehabs homes in the area.
Robinson's home boasts a basement and a big back yard. She said she's never had that much space before.
Her experience is helping her see what could be. She wants to one day become a homeowner.
"It's just something to call my own," Robinson said.
Krehmeyer is praising Tatum's plan to help transform the housing landscape.
"The fact that he recognizes that having resources to give folks a hand up, particularly when we talk about generational wealth building, it's definitely fantastic right? Much needed resources...How do we invest in people and place in a different way than we've done for decades because whatever we've been doing quite frankly hasn't worked," he said.
Tatum's former head coach Frank Bennett at Chaminade remembers how engaged with the team and the school's community Tatum's mom was and continues to be.
In fact, after hearing Tuesday's news about the million-dollar donation, Chaminade Athletic Director Tom Fernandez, who mentored Tatum when he was a student there, said, "I texted his mom right away saying, 'I can't imagine, as a mom I can not imagine you being more proud of your son.'
"It made me so proud just to even know him and the fact that he's affiliated with Chaminade," Fernandez said.
Tatum is now high on the list of potential players for the Paris Olympics this summer.
Though not working with Tatum, the non-profit Athletes for Hope said they are the largest organization for connecting athletes at all levels, including NBA players, with existing philanthropic organizations to give back to their communities.
"We love to see someone like Jayson who obviously started with very humble beginnings and had this vision for himself obviously both in the athletics space but also being able to give back and advancing over time," CEO of Athletes for Hope Jason Belinkie said. "Thinking about well this is a community that I grew up in. Here is a need that really requires some additional attention."
If you're interested in getting some of that donation for buying a home, click here to get in touch with Tatum's foundation.