PC: Atlanta Falcons
For Atlanta Falcons safety Jessie Bates III, joining a new team in 2023 also marked an opportunity to continue a cause that had been important to him long before his professional career began. He announced plans to give $1 million over four years to organisations working with single mothers in Atlanta and his hometown of Fort Wayne, Indiana, building on a charitable initiative he had already established in Cincinnati. As reported by Atlanta Falcons Football Club, Bates made the pledge on 16 March 2023, the day he arrived at the Atlanta Falcons’ training facility in Flowery Branch to complete his move to the team. His four-year contract was worth $62.04 million, and he planned to dedicate part of his earnings to community organisations supporting single-parent families. The initiative became particularly visible during the 2022 NFL season, when Bates arranged a weekend of activities for six single mothers and their children in Cincinnati. The Cincinnati event helped Bates receive the NFL Players Association’s Community MVP recognition during Week 15 of the 2022 season. He had joined the league after being selected by the Cincinnati Bengals in the second round of the 2018 NFL Draft and had spent the first part of his career with the team.
He also said that his earlier work in Cincinnati had allowed him to do things for other families that he had long wanted to do with his own mother by his side. When NFL players make a move to a new city, their commitments often extend beyond the football field. Having grown up in a household led by a single mother, Bates wanted to support women facing the responsibility of raising children on their own. The event was organised around giving the families time together while providing assistance in several different ways. The award acknowledged his efforts to organise the weekend through the JB3 initiative. It also brought attention to a side of his professional life that he wanted to develop alongside his football career. At the time, Bates was completing his fifth season in the NFL. Speaking about the commitment, Bates described the initiative as something he cared deeply about.