The Social Side of Sustainability

Sustainability, especially when it comes to golf, is often viewed as strictly an environmental cause, which is quite understandable given the nature of the relationship between golf courses and the surrounding environment. However, golf is a significant contributor to charitable fundraising as golf facilities around the United States play host to about half a million golf tournaments. 

PGA TOUR tournaments have long been the driver of golf’s charitable wing with over $3 billion in charitable donations, providing a significant impact to the local communities that host these professional tournaments. This incredible figure puts the PGA TOUR at the top of the leaderboard in the sports world in giving back. 

While most golf fans in each tournament’s host city are familiar with the big-name charities that receive the bulk of the charitable funds, it’s often the smaller organizations that work behind the scenes that many of us overlook.

As the United Nations, Global Compact states, “Social sustainability is about identifying and managing business impacts, both positive and negative, on people. Actions to achieve social sustainability may unlock new markets, help retain and attract business partners, or be the source for innovation for new product or service lines.”

The development of partnerships with local community organizations is key to embracing and maximizing one’s social sustainability impact. A shining example of this can be found in Dallas, TX between the AT&T Byron Nelson and the Spruce Dawg Alumni Nonprofit Organization.

Spruce Dawg Alumni Nonprofit Organization

H. Grady Spruce High School opened in southeast Dallas in 1963. For the first ten years of the school’s existence, it was predominantly white until the early 70’s when Spruce was selected to take part in busing. Between the early ’80s and ‘90s, the school began to greatly reflect the population of the surrounding area, majority Black and Hispanic. By 2008, the Dallas Independent School District board voted to move all 10th and 11th graders from Spruce, released all staff from their contracts, and consequently, Spruce disbanded all athletic teams the subsequent school year. Three years later, nearly 90% of the student population at Spruce was economically disadvantaged.

Enter the Spruce Dawg Alumni Nonprofit Organization, a community enrichment organization that provides paid volunteer opportunities for inner-city students, their families, and alumni in the Pleasant Grove area of Dallas, TX. These opportunities present a means for raising funds for their organization while helping to improve the economic situation of the local community. The Career Development and Entrepreneur Internship Program (CDEIP) places high school juniors, seniors, and college students with customer service and humanitarian volunteer opportunities throughout the greater Dallas area at over 25 events each school year. 

The paid volunteer opportunities include working with:

• Levy Restaurants in partnership with the American Airlines Center (home of the Dallas Mavericks and Dallas Stars) and Texas Motor Speedway

• Blue Strike Environmental Community Green Team, in partnership with the AT&T Byron Nelson.

The purpose of compensating interns is to aid in paying for educational needs like college tuition, books, room and board, clothing, college placement tests, admission fees, and school supplies.

Through these two fundraising opportunities, volunteers 16 and older become prepared for entering the workforce and gain accreditations such as the Texas Alcohol Beverage Commission and Texas Food-handler certification tests, and all volunteers, including those under the age of 16, will be trained on recycling and composting by experts in environmental sustainability. Spruce Dawg’s core competencies as an organization include recruiting inner-city students, developing on-the-job training courses, and providing certifications at no cost to their volunteers. All of these experiences create incredible value for each volunteer as they apply for jobs and college scholarships.

Spruce Dawg Alumni uses the CDEIP program to spread awareness of their efforts for the revitalization of the community of Pleasant Grove. Spruce Dawg’s ultimate goal is to pressure community officials to advocate for grocery stores to eliminate food deserts and display a trainable workforce that cares about the well-being of their community.

Trinity Forest to Craig Ranch

In the spring of 2018, the AT&T Byron Nelson relocated to Trinity Forest Golf Course, a golf course constructed on an old landfill and located in the Pleasant Grove neighborhood of southeast Dallas, right in Spruce Dawg’s backyard. Collaboration with the AT&T Byron Nelson was seen as a catalyst for the continued progress of Spruce Dawg’s CDEIP. 

Reggie Spencer, President of the Spruce Dawg Alumni Association saw the tournament’s relocation as an opportunity to engage and educate the youth in his community around a sporting event they would not otherwise have had exposure to. While others in the Pleasant Grove neighborhood wondered “Why did the PGA TOUR transition to one of the more neglected sectors of the Dallas/Fort Worth area”, it was Spencer and Spruce Dawg who asked, “How can we be involved?”

Reggie Spencer (far left) and members of the Spruce Dawg CDEIP pictured with Alex Baxter of Blue Strike Environmental (back right) at the 2019 AT&T Byron Nelson at Trinity Forest Golf Course.

The next step was connecting Spruce Dawg with Blue Strike Environmental, the AT&T Byron Nelson’s sustainability consultants, and activators of the Community Green Team. Said Alex Baxter, Senior Sustainability Program Manager for Blue Strike, “I remember the first time I met Reggie he said he wanted the kids to see this as the first step in their professional development. Understanding that this was not only an opportunity for a week or two of work, Reggie knew all along if he could get Spruce Dawg involved with a TOUR event like the AT&T Byron Nelson, more doors would open for his community.”

Despite its short stint at Trinity Forest, the 2018 and 2019 host course of the AT&T Byron Nelson has given the next generation of youth in South Dallas an introduction to a sporting event that many never would have thought to be a part of. Even though the 2021 tournament moved nearly an hour north to TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney, TX, the change in venue and added drive time has not slowed Spruce Dawg’s involvement with the Community Green Team and the tournament.

Lexie Okeke, AT&T Byron Nelson’s Director of Community Engagement, sums it up best: “Even though the AT&T Byron Nelson was only in Southern Dallas for two years, the relationships and trust we built there were top-of-mind as we prepared to move to McKinney. Great relationships with all our partners is what we’re known for and it’s the key to our long-term success. Having community partners like Spruce Dawgs who do amazing work in the community and key vendor partners like Blue Strike, who prioritize minimal impact to our environment, means that we can navigate two tournament moves in a short time frame successfully. The tournament’s goal in all our community engagement work is to ensure the community we partner with knows we want to be good year-round neighbors. Returning community partners lets us know we’re meeting that goal.”