Panthers QB CAM NEWTON last night launched "Un1ted As 1," a program designed to help Charlotte middle-schoolers "embrace diversity and promote inclusiveness," according to Joseph Person of the CHARLOTTE OBSERVER. Newton said that the program's idea came from his "first experience dealing extensively with non-blacks," when he was a freshman at Florida. Newton grew up in College Park, Ga., and he said, "Seventeen years of my life was devoted to an all-black, African-American community. So you put a person ... that has pretty much no coping skills with another race, you don’t even know what they eat. It’s weird how they talk ... what they listen to." Sixty students from three Charlotte-Mecklenburg middle schools and the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Charlotte were "chosen to attend a three-day pilot program over MLK weekend in January." Newton partnered on the program with Winters Group, a Charlotte-based consulting group that "helps businesses create inclusive work environments." Newton would "love for the program to grow beyond Charlotte someday," but for now he is "excited to promote unity at the local level." Newton: "I may not impact millions. But I just want to impact that one person that may impact millions" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 12/13).
