PHILADELPHIA COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT THROUGH SOCCER

After School Soccer and Enrichment: Our after-school programs bring soccer and enrichment right to the students, at their neighborhood schools, breaking down a key barrier to participation, so that families that are not able to provide transportation or other support, can still participate. Children experience the positive effect of group activity in a familiar, safe welcoming setting, supervised by caring coach-mentors. They set goals, challenge themselves, and are supported in overcoming set-backs. We connect those families who want more involvement to our community- based programs and our organization-wide enrichment events and activities. Our after-school programs have a special emphasis on literacy and nutrition through our Soccer Athletes Value Education (SAVE) curriculum. The goal of SAVE is to help children build healthy habits and excel in academics from an early age, to promote future success. We implement this by having nutrition-focused activities during practices and frequently giving out free books. We also offer a full-day summer camp, where soccer is combined with a variety of daily enrichment activities, and visits to museums, the Franklin Institute, and other cultural and educational institutions.

Community Youth Soccer and Enrichment - Recreational soccer leagues, teaching soccer basics with the goal of providing safe spaces, increased exercise, learning teamwork and cooperation, and informal mentoring; - Travel teams, where children take the next step in their competitive soccer journey, playing at a higher level and building strong ties with teammates and coaches over a longer timespan; - Drop-in year-round youth recreational soccer at many sites in the community, to provide easily accessible healthy, safe opportunities to learn soccer and benefit from interacting with caring adult mentors; - Participation in a variety of community events, where our coaches support community partners by bringing soccer balls, pop-up goals and free books, to enhance the festive nature of the gathering and get books into the hands of more children. - Tournaments and other one-time soccer and enrichment opportunities ranging from end-of season family celebrations to attending professional soccer games free of charge; - Distribution of grocery store cards, backpacks, shirts and other items to provide help for needy families, with the help of partner organizations. Health and social service representatives come to our Family Day events, and we give out thousands of free books to children and their families.