America SCORES
This project's parent organization is America SCORES
It operates in United States
It uses Football (Soccer)
Entered the Sport for Education Award
More about America SCORES
The social issue that America SCORES addresses is the ‘opportunity gap’ for children of low-income families. This opportunity gap refers to the ways in which race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, English proficiency, community wealth, or other factors contribute to or perpetuate lower educational aspirations, achievement, and attainment for economically disadvantaged students. Each afternoon in the U.S. 15 million children are alone and unsupervised afterschool (Afterschool Alliance, 2009). AS operates in 160 public schools located in neighborhoods where youth face numerous challenges including exposure to violence/crime, high rates of childhood obesity and other health problems, and low rates of academic success. AS achieves its mission through daily after school and summer programming which combines soccer, poetry and service-learning. Using soccer as a tool for social change, AS creates teams through the sport of soccer; brings these teams into the classroom to discover their voice through poetry; and as a team, the students learn to use their voices to make change in their communities. AS provides youth with opportunities to succeed in school and in life.