East Palo Alto's Davante Adams Wants To Build Future For Hometown

EAST PALO ALTO, CA — Green Bay Packers All-Pro wide receiver Davante Adams returned to his hometown of East Palo Alto on Tuesday afternoon to take part in a community fitness event through Optimum Nutrition's Building Better Lives program.

Adams, who starred at Palo Alto High School, regularly returns to his hometown during the offseason to hold camps for kids. On Tuesday, the event at the YMCA in East Palo Alto was part of Optimum Nutrition’s program to raise awareness of disparities in access to fitness and establish a permanent public fitness resource in the city.

Nearly 50 kids signed up for the workout session with Adams in the gym of the YMCA.

“I think this is amazing,” Maurice Baker, a recreation leader for the city of East Palo Alto, said to Patch. “Davante, he is a leader and showing that East Palo Alto has talent. What he does, combining his worth ethic and commitment with that talent, is what makes him the best. We’re glad that he’s here working with the kids in East Palo Alto.”

Prior to the event, Patch sat down with Adams, 28, for a brief conversation about growing up in East Palo Alto, the disparities between neighboring Palo Alto and his hope to give the younger generation better resources than he had.

Note: This interview was condensed and edited for clarity.

Patch: What brings you out here today?

Adams: Collaborating with Optimum Nutrition on Building Better Lives program. It’s been something that’s been in the works for awhile, but it’s meant to be. I feel like the reason why Optimum and I joined forces from the beginning is that we have similar goals as far as helping other people. This program is a great deal put in place to service the underserved communities, giving more access and more resources to places like my hometown of East Palo Alto, so when I heard that’s what they were interested in doing, it was a no-brainer for us to team up and get together.

Patch: What inspires you to come back to help your community?

Adams: This community made me who I am today, so it’s the least that I can do — to be blessed enough to be in a position where I can use my stage or my status to help other people and allow them to be able to reach their fitness goals.

Patch: Growing up in East Palo Alto and going to high school across the tracks at Palo Alto High, how would you describe the disparities that exist between EPA and Palo Alto?

Adams: I’ve always told people that it's like the Lion King — where you have Pride Rock, where Simba and his family are, and then the elephant graveyard where the hyenas live. It’s close proximity, but it’s really two different worlds. That’s why helping a really small city like East Palo Alto can be so beneficial for the kids, just the community in general.

Our target audience is the youth. I think about myself, being a young Davante Adams running around here, just having a few extra resources could’ve done so much for me as far as my ability to get more offers and different things. The way everything turned out for me, I wouldn’t trade that for the world, but I wouldn't mind having a few more options coming out of high school.

Patch: Was it more challenging for you to “make it,” given the resources?

Adams: It makes things much more difficult being from a small city like this. Obviously, you have to have the talent, the hard work and discipline to be able to get to where I wanted to get. It wasn’t just me along the way. It was a lot of people that helped me so that’s what contributes to me coming back and helping out.

Patch: Did you see sports as a “way out”?

Adams: Step one for me, it was just a distraction from a lot of other distractions. It was a way for me to step away from that. It was obviously a way out financially, but more so for me, it was geared to get me out of trouble, make sure I was locked into what I needed to do school-wise and just staying out of trouble all-around. Obviously, I knew that ultimately getting to the NFL would do a lot for my family.

Patch: What would establishing a permanent public fitness center mean for East Palo Alto?

Adams: It would be huge. I think about myself and what that would have done for me, training-wise. A lot of things that we did was the old school way, just figuring out our own drills. But having extra resources, having a center that’s dedicated to that can do a lot for the morale of the city, the mental health and just overall boost the city. I always bring it back to the youth. Having that makes it so much easier for them to be able to reach their fitness goals.

Visit onbuildingbetterlives.com for more on the Building Better Lives program.