Character Playbook, Powered By Everfi And Presented By The Nfl And United Way, Reaches One Million Students
Oct. 19th, 2021
NFL Communications
The NFL and United Way have consistently risen to meet the increasing demand for character education, especially amid the COVID-19 pandemic. During the 2020-2021 school year, a sizeable portion of both students and teachers reported being more concerned about students' mental well-being than they were before the coronavirus pandemic.
Since widespread school closures began in mid-March 2020, students and schools have continued to access and benefit from Character Playbook's free educational resources. Nearly 260,000 students completed over 460,000 hours of learning during the 2020-2021 academic year, with almost 1,500 more schools leveraging the program.
Hosting virtual events was a central part of the Character Playbook program's success during the coronavirus pandemic, allowing students to interact with NFL players, coaches and local United Way staff and executives to showcase their learnings. In 2020, 10,128 students attended 35 Healthy Relationships events, ranging from in-person Character Playbook Live events before COVID-19, to a Huddle for 100 Super Bowl event in Miami, to a series of virtual-only events from March through June.
"Prioritizing student mental health is more important now than ever," said Chief Experience Officer of United Way Worldwide STAN LITTLE. "Despite the challenges that the past year has presented, Character Playbook has been a critical tool to help empower young people to advocate for their mental well-being, while strengthening networks of support in the communities that access the course."