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Urban Youth Programs

Urban Soccer InitiativeThe Foundation’s Urban Youth Programs are built around three main themes: Places to Play, Places to Grow, and Places to Learn.

The harsh reality is that in many urban areas there is a peaked interest among children to get active and join after school programs, but such areas often lack suitable recreation facilities and organized sports programming.

Due to the significant shortage of green space in urban areas, the Foundation developed a Mini-Pitch Program that converts small, vacant spaces and underutilized concrete courts into soccer-specific or multi-sport fields. These fields provide children with easy access to safe Places to Play and increased opportunities for pickup games and spontaneous activity. Community members typically help identify available space in their area and give input on facility design, creating a greater sense of community ownership related to the field.

As part of the Soccer for Success Program, the Foundation is focusing on a select number of cities where it can leverage its relationships in soccer and establish new, mutually beneficial partnerships to make a larger impact in each city. We work with Federal and State Governments, local municipalities, and community-based non-profits to support programs and organizations that use soccer to teach children various life skills. Our goal is to significantly increase the reach and impact of those programs through a unified effort.

The Foundation facilitated the development of the Urban Soccer Collaborative, a national network comprised of 50 community-based non-profit groups that each shares the same goal and vision of using soccer as a vehicle for positive youth development. Through their work, they place a special emphasis on providing children with activities and information that promote nutrition and healthy lifestyles. The Collaborative provides a forum for urban soccer programs to exchange ideas, resources and best practices. In total, this grassroots network of programs serves over 25,000 children.

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