The Washington Capitals launched a number of initiatives ahead of Black History Month.

In honor of Black History Month, the Washington Capitals announced a number of diversity initiatives on and off the icee, including a new Black Hockey Committee.

While the Capitals officially announced it would launch the committee in August, committee members weren’t named until now. The five-member committee’s mission is to “address ways to eradicate racism and discuss growing the game in underserved communities,” the team said.

The committee will have a local focus, reaching out to area teams to support and educate parents and coaches on issues of racism.

The committee includes: Duante’ Abercrombie, an assistant coach at Stevenson University and coach of the Washington Little Caps 18-and-under team; Alexandria Briggs-Blake, president of the Tucker Road Parent Hockey Organization in Prince George’s County; Neal Henderson, a Hall-of-Famer and co-founder of the Fort Dupont Ice Hockey Club; Tammi Lynch, who co-founded Players Against Hate after her son’s teammate became the victim of racial slurs; and Corinne McIntosh-Douglas, of the Black Girl Hockey Club.

Caps players will wear special black warmup jerseys with a Players Against Hate end racism shoulder patch on Black History Night on Feb. 25. The team will auction off these jerseys to benefit the Capital Impact Fund, a program that supports youth hockey players of color.

“We recognize our influence and the higher sense of responsibility we have to inspire constructive change, and after taking time to carefully examine how we can best use our resources to support racial equality, we are proud to focus on several initiatives that share the goal of having long-term impact toward diversity and inclusion in our community,” said Capitals president Dick Patrick in a statement this summer.

“While taking these immediate steps, we also recognize systemic racism is an ongoing issue,” he continued. “We will remain concentrated on further re-evaluating our existing programs and identifying additional ways the Capitals organization can combat racial injustices.”

A full list of the team’s initiatives and resources can be found on its website.

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