NBA stars Carmelo Anthony, Al Horford, Marcus Smart and Karl-Anthony Towns, rapper Kendrick Lamar and actress America Ferrera will be featured in a special edition of Fusion’s Snapchat Discover on Wednesday.
The English-language network aimed at multicultural millennials will team up with Mentor: The National Mentoring Partnership to curate and produce a series of special features for its Snapchat Discover channel to coincide with the beginning of the National Mentoring Summit in Washington DC.
According to Mentor, there are nine million young people at risk of falling off track to high school graduation who are unable to identify a mentor.
“As we look to connect our young, diverse audience with issues that matter, we must also look at how we can help create a better future for the next generation,” said Fusion SVP and chief strategy officer Boris Gartner. “We are thrilled to be partnering with Mentor and recognize the importance of putting a spotlight on the power of mentorship and the influence it can have on young people.”
The Fusion/Mentor collaboration is part of “In Real Life,” a campaign that launched last year with the support of the NBA. The goal is to recruit 25,000 new mentors within five years. Emphasis is placed specifically on drafting men of color in response to President Obama’s My Brother’s Keeper initiative.
“We are excited to partner with Fusion on Snapchat to reach a diverse, multicultural audience and engage them with information about the critical impact of mentoring,” said Mentor CEO David Shapiro. “This is a great chance to share inspiring stories about the ways in which mentoring truly connects people to networks, support and guidance, and opportunity.”
Fusion has been bringing a lot of notable faces to its Snapchat Discover channel on key issues, from Bernie Sanders talking income inequality to Cassadee Pope on the subject of female empowerment.