love.fútbol Opens First Safe Space In Caribbean

November 22, 2019

This year’s Beyond Sport Global Award winners in the Sport for Sustainable Cities and Communities category, love.fútbol, have extended their global mission to the Caribbean with the opening of a new community sport space in the Dominican Republic in partnership with the Pincus Family Foundation. 

With the completion of their first soccer pitch in the region, love.fútbol and The Pincus Family Foundation have inaugurated four out of five pitches in their joint effort to leverage soccer to unite communities in reclaiming spaces that build neighborhood infrastructures where kids can play and learn life skills for generations to come. 

Over the weekend, the two partners, in collaboration with the local community of Juan Pablo Duarte, community organization Patronato Benéfico Oriental (PBO) and programming partner The Sports Creative, unveiled a newly revitalized space located in the La Romana region of the Dominican Republic. More than 250 community members gathered at the space for the day’s festivities.

Hosted by Alfonsina de la Cruz and Ery Leroy, the pitch inauguration reflected the dynamic heritage of a community that remains committed to mobilizing efforts to improve the well-being of local residents. Festivities included cultural and musical performances from local groups, remarks on the importance of the space, and the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

PBO will help implement sport for development programs on the pitch in partnership with The Sports Creative over the course of the coming year. PBO is a non-profit organization established in 1976 which offers social services to the vulnerable communities of the Dominican Republic through several development programs. Their mission is to transform and empower vulnerable communities through self-sustainable projects focused on Education and Health while providing the community with necessary tools to contribute to its socio-economic development.

The Sports Creative was also on hand throughout the event to showcase the soccer, basketball and arts-based educational programming that will be ongoing in the spaces throughout the year. Local Program Coordinator, Rafael Oscema led excited children and adults in play following the ceremony and he will be overseeing the programming going forward.

The Sports Creative works with organizations that are interested in leveraging sport and creative outlets to engage youth living on the fringes of society. Through a unique and collaborative process, they create sustainable community-led programs that are based on young people’s voices, skills, and values defining their life’s path, and not society’s perception of them or their life circumstances.

The celebration was the culmination of months of planning, organizing and over 1600 volunteer hours to redesign and transform the area into a space for the community to play, learn and come together. The week prior to opening, more than 160 youth and adult volunteers participated in a “Build Day” organized by love.fútbol where they each had a hand in creating different parts of the space.

In February of next year, love.fútbol and The Pincus Family Foundation will open their fifth site - following their first this past March in Xico, Mexico - in collaboration with local communities and programming partners in La Piña, once again in the Dominican Republic. All five projects are supported by a $1,135,000 grant provided by The Pincus Family Foundation.

Beyond Sport's sister company, thinkBeyond, proudly supports the implementation of the projects from love.fútbol and The Pincus Family Foundation around the world in partnership with local communities.

Photos: Quennie Paniagua