NBA to Begin Major Service Program in New Orleans

The National Basketball Association is expected to announce today a season-long community-service program to help rebuild New Orleans, reports The Times Picayune. New Orleans is home to the NBA team the Hornets, and the city is the scheduled site for the 2008 All-Star Game.

The program is expected to create 35 centers that would encourage families to get involved in education.

Every NBA team that travels to play the Hornets in New Orleans will be asked to participate in a community-service activity upon its arrival in the city. For example, members of the Sacramento Kings, who will face off against the Hornets in the team’s regular-season opener today, participated in the Hornets’ Read to Achieve program at the Audubon Nature Institute’s aquarium.

League officials expect that the plan will yield “more than 30,000 hours of hands-on community service” in New Orleans.