CourtVision’s basketball program empowers the disenfranchised in summer exchange with players from Latin America.
From April 29th until May 3rd, members of CourtVision International’s high school basketball program will be hosting an international exchange experience between CourtVision Miami’s student-athletes and their basketball exchange partners from La Vega, Dominican Republic.
CourtVision International is a Miami-based youth advocacy organization that uses basketball to promote international youth leadership and accountability in multiple countries, including the Dominican Republic and Honduras, started by University of Miami School of Law Startup Practicum client and third-year law student Robert Pecchio.
CVI was represented by third-year law student and Practicum intern George “Wesley” Bugg, who also is CourtVision Miami’s head coach and business liaison.
“Social entrepreneurship is an issue near and dear to my heart and I am so pleased that Wes has been able to help Robert with CVI through the Startup Practicum,” said Dan Ravicher, the Practicum’s director.
CVI is a 501(c)(3) organization that recently presented their project at the Clinton Global Initiative conference hosted by University of California Berkeley. It was first presented at the 2015 Clinton Global Initiative at the University of Miami as “Hoops for Honduras.”
Student participants chosen for the program engage in community service projects and international exchange trips with partner programs in other countries, using basketball as a platform for building peace and facilitating discussion on issues affecting youth worldwide.
“Thanks to the University of Miami’s Immigration Clinic, I was able to develop the skills to successfully apply for visas for our Dominican youth participants to travel to the United States,” says Pecchio, CVI’s Executive Director. “Our organization will be extending its reach further into the Caribbean, Africa, and the Middle East this year. Miami Law’s Startup Practicum has been instrumental in guiding us in our organizing, talent acquisition, financing, and many other legal issues that accompany working in this international space.”
During this trip, the Dominican Republic and the Miami participants will compete in a local AAU high school basketball tournament, present projects they have prepared on youth violence issues, and engage in local cultural immersion activities. CVI hopes to promote local awareness of their annual CourtVision Youth Leadership Summit to take place in La Vega, Dominican Republic this summer, a basketball exchange event that will include CourtVision participants from Aruba, Honduras, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, and Miami.
CONTACT: Catharine Skipp at 305-284-9810 orcskipp@law.miami.edu
