Media Contact
Wylie Chen, U.S. Soccer Foundation, wchen@ussoccerfoundation.org, 202.872.6664
Washington, D.C. – The Corporation for National and Community Service announced today that the U.S. Soccer Foundation, the Major Charitable Arm of Soccer in the United States, has been awarded a $2 million grant over two years from the 2011 Social Innovation Fund to promote healthy lifestyles and reduce obesity rates among at-risk youth in urban communities.
“Soccer for Success is a powerful vehicle for youth development and obesity prevention. Our program provides low-income boys and girls with the physical activity and the nutritional information they need to live healthy, active lives,” said Ed Foster-Simeon, President & CEO of the U.S. Soccer Foundation. “The Social Innovation Fund award will allow the Foundation to triple the reach of the program, providing thousands of additional at-risk youth with a safe environment for structured physical activity, nutritional education and mentorship.”
The grant will support the expansion and replication of Soccer for Success, a free, after-school, sports-based youth development program whose goal is to improve health by reducing obesity through physical activity and nutrition education. Through a network of community-based partners and organizations in Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Newark, New York City and Washington, D.C., Soccer for Success currently serves more than 4,000 children in low-income neighborhoods. The Social Innovation Fund award will allow the program to immediately expand its reach to 12,000 children within 12 cities across the country.
A federal initiative that uses public and private resources to grow promising, innovative, community-based programs in low-income communities, the Social Innovation Fund requires that each federal dollar granted be matched by the intermediaries and again by the organizations selected for grants. The Corporation for National and Community Service, which sought experienced grantmakers with strong track records of success, selected the U.S. Soccer Foundation as one of only five new intermediary organizations with whom they will collaborate.
About the U.S. Soccer Foundation
The U.S. Soccer Foundation is the Major Charitable Arm of Soccer in the United States. Established in 1994, the U.S. Soccer Foundation has invested more than $54 million, supporting hundreds of projects in every state. The U.S. Soccer Foundation supports programs and field building projects that provide low income and at-risk youth in urban communities with soccer programs that promote education, healthy lifestyles, leadership and positive alternatives to drugs, crime and other at-risk behaviors. For more information, or to donate online, please visit ussoccerfoundation.org.
About the Corporation for National and Community Service
The Corporation for National and Community Service is a federal agency that engages more than five million Americans in service through its Senior Corps, AmeriCorps, and Learn and Serve America programs, and leads President Obama’s national call to service initiative, United We Serve. For more information, visit NationalService.gov.
Media Request: When referring to the U.S. Soccer Foundation, the Major Charitable Arm of Soccer in the United States, please refer to the organization only as the U.S. Soccer Foundation or the Foundation, and never as USSF or US/U.S. Soccer. We appreciate your cooperation.
