Advocacy
The U.S. Soccer Foundation is located in Washington, D.C. and leads advocacy efforts on Capitol Hill and with Executive Branch agencies for the entire soccer community.
The U.S. Soccer Foundation’s advocacy efforts focus on using sport as a vehicle to promote youth development, health and wellness, and positive social change. This includes combating childhood obesity, preventing youth delinquency, and providing youth with safe and accessible places to play – a critical need particularly in underserved communities.
Currently, the Foundation's main areas of interest are:
Capitol Hill Day
An integral part of the U.S. Soccer Foundation’s role as the national advocate for the game of soccer is assisting grassroots and urban soccer programs from across the U.S. to develop relationships with their elected leaders and key decision-makers in Washington, DC. Each year, we host “Capitol Hill Day” in conjunction with the Urban Soccer Symposium to promote the tremendous work being done by local soccer programmers, provide them with increased visibility among key decision-makers in our Nation’s Capital, and create the opportunity for them to educate critical parties on legislative and funding priorities important to advancing the reach of soccer in this country.
FY13 Programmatic Funding Priorities
Soccer initiatives around the country can potentially be supported through a number of competitive, merit-based funding streams, including those listed below, as well as programs like the Prevention and Public Health Fund in the US Department of Health and Human Services, the Community Development Block Grant in the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, AmeriCorps in the Corporation for National and Community Service, and the Land and Water Conservation Fund in the US Department of the Interior. In this time of fiscal austerity, we ask that Congress use taxpayer dollars wisely and invest them in the following programs that have demonstrated impact in America’s communities:
| Program | FY12 Enacted | FY13 President's Budget | FY13 Request |
| Social Innovation Fund, Corporation for National and Community Service | $49.8M | $50M | $70M (authorized level) |
| Youth Mentoring, Department of Justice | $78M | $58M | $100M |
The FIT FOR LIFE Act (H.R. 2795)
Among other provisions, this legislation would amend the Public Health Service Act to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish a grant program to reduce and prevent obesity in children through nationally-based or community-based qualified childhood obesity prevention initiatives.
The Urban Revitalization and Livable Communities Act (H.R. 3734)
This legislation attempts to address the critical need of providing underserved young people with safe and accessible places to play through the renovation and creation of urban recreation facilities as well as grant funding for youth development programming and infrastructure.
Write Your Representative to support the Urban Revitalization and Livable Communities Act »
Congressional Soccer Caucus
We have joined with a bipartisan group of members of Congress to establish and support the Congressional Soccer Caucus. The mission of the Caucus is to encourage legislation, activities and events that promote the game and issues affecting the soccer community.
Additional Areas of Focus
- Brownfields remediation and reuse for public recreation; and
- Public support for after-school programming targeting at-risk youth which uses sports as the vehicle to address critical societal needs, including: gang and juvenile delinquency prevention, improved academic performance in school, mentoring, volunteerism and service-learning, and, character and career development opportunities.
