Soccer Without Borders

PROVIDING SOCCER, EDUCATIONAL, AND COMMUNITY BUILDING OPPORTUNITIES FOR UNDER-SERVED YOUTH.

WE ENVISION A MORE INCLUSIVE AND EQUITABLE WORLD WHERE ALL YOUTH HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO REACH THEIR

Goal One: TO MAXIMIZE OUR COMMUNITY HUBS, MEETING THE FULL DEMAND FOR DIRECT-SERVICE PROGRAMMING IN THE REGIONS WHERE WE HAVE PROGRAMMATIC INFRASTRUCTURE

Goal Two: TO CREATE AND IMPLEMENT RESPONSIVE PROGRAM SOLUTIONS THAT ADVANCE OUR MISSION IN AREAS OUTSIDE OF OUR COMMUNITY HUBS

Goal Three: CONTRIBUTE AS A THOUGHT LEADER AND ADVOCATE TO ADVANCE LOCAL, NATIONAL, AND GLOBAL SOLUTIONS TOWARD SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS 3,4,5, AND 10

We have an explicit "Our People" Plan that details our priorities for Recruitment & Hiring, Training & Mobility, Rewards & Retention, and Inclusive Practices. We track our progress and release an annual staff report to make this data transparent. Some recent highlights include: Leadership pathways: Currently >30% of our staff are program alumni, and we have consistent annual staff retention >90%. Based on feedback from program staff, we created a new leadership level- the Program Manager- promoting five Coordinators to this position. Training & Professional Development: We invest heavily in opportunities for our staff, averaging 28 days/staff member last year. This includes our own trainings, such as Management Trainings for new managers, our Creating Belonging Series for new staff, Coach Foundations for new coaches, and also external trainings and workshops such as CONCACAF Coaching Licenses, the Coaching Boys into Men curriculum, the Moving Toward Liberation program, and more.

We are active leaders in the global Common Goal Community, which includes over 150 sport-for-development organizations working to use soccer to advance the sustainable development goals. We are the captains of the Gender Equality and the Anti-Racism Working Groups at Common Goal, and served as network board members from 2018-2021. We are also a collaborating organization in the Bloomberg American Health Initiative and the National Council on Youth Sports. We are co-chairs of the 2026 Denver host city bid for the World Cup. We have recently presented at Beyond Soccer (2021), the Female Athlete Conference (2021), the Clinton Global Initiative (2020), the Urban Soccer Symposium (planned 2022) and numerous other local conferences. We also host our own workshops including our recent three-part series "How Soccer Can Support Afghan Youth" which averages over 100 registrants from around the world for each session. We are active on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Over the last year+, Soccer Without Borders has been in a constant state of adaptation to new challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic and its compounding effects on schools, youth, and communities. When the world seemingly stopped in April 2020, we never missed a beat. We immediately transitioned to virtual and at-home programming, supporting youth and their families through activities to mitigate social isolation, to ensure continued academic engagement, and to prioritize individual and public health. We released an Open Letter advocating for belonging as a basic human need and encouraging policy-makers to consider the mental health and interpersonal needs of youth. Many of our adaptations can be found on our website here: https://www.soccerwithoutborders.org/covid-19. As our programs return to full capacity and full in-person play, we continue to keep mental health and belonging at the center of our programming. In addition to these adaptations to our direct services, Soccer Without Borders has also deeply examined our own policies and practices, applying an Equity lens with greater scrutiny than ever before. We ultimately added Equity as a Core Value in September 2021 and published this Equity Story to share our logic and process in making this change: https://www.soccerwithoutborders.org/equity