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U.S. OPENSeptember 1, 2010Mary CarilloZawadi GarrettUsher Raymond, IVKara UyNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK CHRIS WIDMAIER: I'd like to thank everybody for coming out. I'm Chris Widmaier, managing director of communications for the USTA. We're here for a very special announcement with some special guests. Tonight the USTA is proud to announce a new partnership between Usher's New Look Foundation and the USTA Serves to help guide thousands of American youth in using their athletic and creative talents to become leaders in their local communities. We will be hearing from some of our future leaders, Kara Uy and Zawadi Garrett. We also have the head of USTA Serves, noted broadcaster, Mary Carillo, the head of Usher's New Look Foundation, Usher Raymond IV, and the executive director of the New Look Foundation, Shawn Wilson. It's a lot to learn. We're going to open with a video that gives you a taste and look of Usher's New Look Foundation. So let's roll the first video. (Video Shown.) CHRIS WIDMAIER: At this point, I'd like to turn it over to Zawadi Garrett to talk about what Usher's New Look Foundation means to her as an upcoming new leader in the community. ZAWADI GARRETT: As a leader, Usher's New Look Foundation has been a very good part of my life. We're doing a lot of leadership skills. It makes me ready to become a leader and want to become active in the community, and it makes community service and leading being fun. It's really good for you. I'm so happy that I'm a part of it. It really changed my life ever since I became a part of it. I'm thankful for this opportunity. CHRIS WIDMAIER: Thank you, Zawadi. As I was saying, this is about a brand new partnership between two philanthropic entities, Usher's New Look Foundation and USTA Serves, USTA Serves which does a tremendous amount of activity around the nation. I'm going to ask for the second video to be played, which is a brand new PSA airing for the first time in Arthur Ashe Stadium tonight to give an idea of what this partnership will mean. We're experiencing technical difficulties, but you will see the premiere of this PSA tonight. The main component of this is to educate folks how these two entities have come together, but also to encourage a text to donate program that's pretty novel and new, something different that the USTA is trying. We couldn't be more appreciative of working with the New Look Foundation in order to make an impact in young future leaders' lives. I would also like to point out to the press, we do have some special guests here. We have our USTA chairman of the board and president Lucy Garvin, our executive director Gordon Smith on hand here in case there are any questions later. I would like to turn it over to Mary Carillo, the head of USTA Serves. MARY CARILLO: I'm actually the president, and it's only my first year. I'm just starting out. Pam Shriver was the president of USTA Serves in the beginning. She served for many years and did some great work. USTA Serves is a national charitable foundation of the USTA. We try really hard to raise money. We've already raised over $10 million. It's for disadvantaged kids, under-served kids, at-risk kids, kids with disabilities. We raise money for scholarships, for programs. It's been going on for 10 years. Patrick McEnroe did it after Pam. So I've inherited this remarkable position and responsibility. I was lucky enough a couple weeks ago, Jeanne Ashe, Arthur's wife and I, got to go to Atlanta for Usher's World Leadership Award dinner. We received an award on behalf of USTA Serves. We're all really trying to do the same thing. We're trying to teach kids about leadership, about responsibility, accountability, ownership, physically, mentally, emotionally. We're trying to create good grown-ups. The USTA Serves is a tennis and education foundation. We've had some very nice results from it. In fact, Kara here, Arthur Ashe, he started the NJTL with a couple of others. How many years ago was that? CHRIS WIDMAIER: 41. MARY CARILLO: 41 years ago now. Kara has been a part of that for the last four years. It's going pretty well, right? KARA UY: Yes, it has. NJTL has not only helped me with my tennis game, but currently they're helping me with a transition from high school to college with scholarship applications, college applications. So they've given me so many opportunities, including this one, which is amazing (smiling). MARY CARILLO: He's right there (pointing to Usher). Pretty cool, huh? (Laughter.) KARA UY: Yes, it's really cool. MARY CARILLO: So, anyway, that's what we're trying to do, and there's now a partnership. We've started a partnership with Usher's World Leadership Organization, his New Look Foundation, which is so cool. I mean, I'll let you tell them about that. It was just a thrill and honor to be there in Atlanta and to see all the great work he's been doing. I'm very, very glad that we're a partnership now. USHER RAYMOND IV: Well, this is our annual event, the World Leadership Awards. We had an opportunity to not only recognize our youth, but other organizations that have a like-mind that are ultimately impacting youth all over the world. The New Look Foundation for me started in 1999. Actually, I have to say it started when I was a kid, because it was organizations like this and people that took the time to encourage me to do something positive and impactful. Having been motivated at such a young age, when given the opportunity, I just wanted to do something positive and give it back. You know, it's cool to be cool. It's even better to be recognized for doing something cool that will lead to more individuals like myself. You know, having the outreach of 225,000 youth, it gives me great pleasure to know that it's an organization that has been long running, as long as you guys have, and I've been able to impact so many people. I'm really looking forward to this partnership, and I'm really proud to be able to be here today in New York and introduce it. CHRIS WIDMAIER: Thank you very much. Once again, you will be seeing tonight an outreach to our fans, to our spectators, to encourage them to text to donate to this very exciting new partnership. The PSA, which will be first broadcast on the big screen at Arthur Ashe Stadium, will also then, in the very near future, be incorporated into the promotional time that the USTA gets with our broadcast partners to try to raise the awareness and education of all the good work that these two organizations do separately and now combined. We don't have much time left, but I will turn it over to questions, if anybody has any. Q. Usher, can you describe the connection between your foundation and sports in general, and tennis specifically, how they go hand-in-hand? USHER RAYMOND IV: Anyone with a mission that is motivating youth, I was interested in having a partnership there. More or less, I think the encouragement of responsibility is what was mostly important for me in terms of our relationship. Having the ability to, as I said, outreach 225,000 youth was only the beginning, really the tip of the iceberg. As a result of this relationship, there are so many youth that will be impacted and go out in the world and do good deeds as community and world leaders. So why not tie it together and make it real? I've been working on the mission of New Look since 1999. It's partnerships like this that make those realities nationwide a reality. MARY CARILLO: He's also from Atlanta, which is one of the most tennis-crazy parts of the United States. USHER RAYMOND IV: I'm not that good myself. (Laughter.) Q. Mary, what does this current partnership mean to USTA Serves? MARY CARILLO: We're basically doing the same thing. Usher, his music, he came out on stage to perform. Justin Bieber was there, Ciara was there. He comes out and sings, There Goes My Baby, and nobody left. This man has incredible gifts and great power. The place was packed. What was the name of that place? USHER RAYMOND IV: The Cobb Energy Center. MARY CARILLO: The place was packed. Hundreds of little mini Ushers seemed to be around. He's created such a wonderful environment for these kids, right? ZAWADI GARRETT: Yes. MARY CARILLO: That's what Usher can do through his music and his example, is just what we're trying to create through USTA Serves. We want kids to play tennis. We want them to have safer neighborhoods. We want them not to text while they're driving. We want them to avoid peer pressure and learn to think on their own two feet, problem solve. Do you get a lot of that, problem solving? ZAWADI GARRETT: Yeah. MARY CARILLO: Do you play tennis? ZAWADI GARRETT: No. I used to play tennis when I was in third grade. I moved to Atlanta, so I stopped. With this partnership, hopefully I can start playing tennis. (Laughter.) MARY CARILLO: Looks like we got another player already. We're trying to do the same thing. CHRIS WIDMAIER: We are a little time pressed in this room. Thank you all for being here. End of FastScripts |
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