OAKLAND (KRON) — Monday afternoon, NBA league MVP Steph Curry warmed the hearts of many when he announced he would be giving the car he won as the league’s most valuable player to the East Oakland Youth Development Center.

Curry has been a long-time supporter of the center that serves more than 2,000 youth and young adults annually.

The East Oakland Youth Development Center works to develop the social and leadership capacities of children and young adults to help prepare them for employment and higher education. The center teaches found main programs. Those are art, education, jobs and wellness. They focus on teaching youth to embrace their unique cultures.CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE WARRIORS COVERAGE

The East Oakland Youth Development Center opened its doors in 1978. Since then, the organization has offered free programs so that lower-income young people could get the same training an opportunities as people from wealthier backgrounds. That was the goal of founder Robert Shetterly. Shetterly was a prominent local businessman. He lived in Orinda, but had close ties to Oakland. Shetterly convinced many businesses to setting in downtown Oakland rather than other local cities, seeing Oakland as the heart of the East Bay.

Since its opening, the EOYDC has provided free programs five days a week, giving a safe haven for people in the Elmhurst District of East Oakland. Emhurst has historically been a community with wide-spread poverty, high crime rates, low educational attainment, high unemployment and poor health outcomes. EOYCS youth are 49% male, 51% female, and largely African-American (70%) and Latino (20%). About 80% of EOYDC youth qualify for free lunches.