Angel Reese is settling into her new city the way she knows best, by giving back. The Atlanta Dream forward announced this week that the Angel C. Reese Foundation will host its first ever Atlanta event, a back to school celebration set to hand out 1,000 backpacks to local students ahead of the new school year. The announcement came Monday with a caption that captured exactly how much this moment means to her. She wrote, simply, Back To School In The A, complete with a crown emoji, and shared the news across her platforms as her foundation’s Instagram page confirmed the details for fans eager to get involved.
The event is scheduled for August 1, running from noon to three in the afternoon near Georgia Tech’s campus, with the exact address shared once registration is approved. It is built for students in first through eighth grade, and every child who attends will walk away with a clear backpack filled with school supplies, on top of a full afternoon that includes food, music, games, and giveaways. For a city that has quickly become home to one of the WNBA’s most recognizable young stars, the timing could not be better. Atlanta families get a head start on the school year, and Reese gets to build a relationship with her new community that goes beyond anything happening on the court.
This is not new territory for Reese. She founded the Angel C. Reese Foundation back in 2023 with a mission centered on empowering girls and women through sports, education, and financial literacy, and the organization has built a track record of back to school events, holiday giveaways, and other community programs designed to support young people. Just last year, she hosted a back to school bash for Chicago Public Schools students that handed out roughly 2,000 backpacks filled with supplies, complete with live music, encouragement from Reese herself, and even a pop up salon so kids could get a fresh look before their first day. Bringing that same energy to Atlanta signals that this is not a one time photo opportunity. It is a continuation of the work she has already been doing, just under a new city’s skyline.
The context around this announcement makes it land even harder. Reese was traded from the Chicago Sky to the Atlanta Dream back in April in exchange for future draft picks, closing out a two year run in Chicago that included plenty of accolades but also its share of turbulence. Since arriving in Atlanta, she has quietly put together one of the strongest seasons of her career, currently averaging 15.4 points, 11.5 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and 1.7 steals across 25 games while helping push the Dream into playoff contention. She has done all of this while working through a leg injury suffered during a matchup against her former team in July, an injury that limited her during the recent WNBA All Star Game but did not keep her off the floor entirely. For a player adjusting to a new team, a new city, and a new chapter in her career all at once, choosing to spend part of that transition on the community around her says a lot about where her priorities sit.
There is also something worth noting about the choice of Atlanta as the location for the foundation’s first event outside of Chicago. Atlanta has long been a city where Black excellence and community investment go hand in hand, from HBCU culture to a deep tradition of athletes and entertainers pouring resources directly back into the neighborhoods that raised them or, in Reese’s case, welcomed them. By making her first Atlanta initiative a back to school event specifically, Reese is tapping into something the city already values deeply, making sure kids start the year prepared and confident regardless of what their families can afford heading into September.
For parents interested in getting their kids registered, the event is open to students in first through eighth grade, with registration required to receive the exact event location. Given the scale of what is being planned, food, music, games, and a full afternoon built around celebrating the start of the school year, this has the makings of one of the bigger community moments Atlanta sees this back to school season, WNBA star or not.
What makes this particular rollout stand out is how quickly Reese moved to make Atlanta feel like home in a way that extends past basketball. Plenty of athletes wait years before establishing a meaningful community presence in a new city, if they ever do at all. Reese did it before her first full season with the Dream even wrapped up. Whether that is a reflection of how seriously she takes the platform she has built, or simply a continuation of habits she started back in Chicago, the result is the same. A thousand Atlanta kids are about to start their school year with a full backpack, a fun afternoon, and a reminder that one of the WNBA’s brightest young stars is paying attention to their city, not just playing in it.
