YALLA

More about YALLA

YALLA uses soccer as a hook to motivate refugee and immigrant youth to rebuild their lives through comprehensive education, leadership, and therapy programs designed to build personal confidence, to cultivate a sense of community belonging and responsibility, and most importantly, to educationally prepare and assist each participant to access a four-year college education. YALLA serves San Diego, California’s East County, one of the largest refugee resettlement areas in the United States.

Children represent over half this refugee population and often suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder from growing up surrounded by conflict and war, are educationally behind peer levels, and encounter very high cultural and linguistic barriers upon arrival. YALLA addresses this need using soccer to engage our youth and educationally assist them with English literacy enhancement and further assistance in a multitude of educational subjects. Soccer provides our youth the opportunity to share space both on the pitch as teammates and through schooling as classmates, regardless of background or ethnicity, and facilitates the transition to a communal and participatory learning environment.