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NBA player Jarrett Allen has been dedicated to empowering the youth. The Brooklyn Nets center was instrumental in launching the team’s NETSTEM initiative—a program designed to teach Brooklyn youngsters about STEM through basketball—and has teamed up with different nonprofits focused on tech education. According to Elite Sports NY, in an effort to assist students with starting their new school year feeling confident, Allen provided underprivileged children in Brooklyn with haircuts.

The San Diego, California native teamed up with the Children of Promise organization for the initiative. The nonprofit was created to provide support and resources for children who have parents who are behind bars to empower them to break the cycle of incarceration. The organization provides one-on-one counseling, mental health services and after school and summer camps and serves over 350 students each year. Allen took a group of children to Brooklyn’s Levels Barbershop for their haircuts. “It’s important to me because I have a lot in my possession,” he said in a statement, according to the news outlet. “I’m an NBA player, I have the dream that a lot of people want to have. So just to give back, show that NBA players care about people outside of basketball is important to me.”

The 21-year-old was honored by the NBA with an NBA Cares Community Assist Award in April for his philanthropic work. Aside from his STEM education projects, within the last two years, he’s held several Brooklyn-based back-to-school events and often visits the Brooklyn Hospital Center to uplift young patients.

Several NBA players are stepping up to support the youth. Los Angeles Clippers player Kawhi Leonard teamed up with the Los Angeles-based nonprofit Baby2Baby and the L.A. Clippers Foundation to donate one million backpacks to children from low-income families. NBA star LeBron James recently surprised one of the students from his I Promise School with a back-to-school shopping spree.

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