The U.S. Soccer Foundation, the major charitable arm of soccer in the United States, announced 37 different groups nationwide that it will provide funds as part of its 10th annual grants program cycle.
In all, the Foundation made more than $1.3 million available in the current year and, through its history, has awarded nearly $20 million to soccer groups and facilities through its annual grants program. Since 1995, the Washington-based organization has made over $38 million available for the growth of the game of soccer through grants and other financial support.
For the 2005 cycle, the Foundation awarded 20 grants for soccer development programs, with the remaining 17 awarded for field enhancements and upgrades. The Foundation, through its partnership with NikeGO, awarded eight All Conditions Fields grants for the construction of full-size, all-weather soccer fields.
The 2005 grants represent a wide array of community-based initiatives including field irrigation equipment for a project in Fargo, N.D., support for the first-ever soccer field in Lumberton County, N.C., a referee training program in Texas, and soccer equipment to support over 5,000 inner-city youth in Boston.
Special grants were awarded in honor of Foundation leaders. Named in honor of World Cup USA 1994 chairman and current Foundation board member, the Alan I. Rothenberg Award was presented to BaltimoreÆs Urban Soccer Academy, which provides coachesÆ training, soccer and field equipment for inner-city youth. The Jim Hamilton Award, named for the current Foundation Board Member and the man who chaired the Foundation from its inception until two years ago, was given to the YMCA Girls Soccer Program, which will use the money to help create a girls soccer program in Frankfort, Ky.
This yearÆs 29 program and field enhancement grant recipients were:
— Arizona WomenÆs Sports Foundation (Arizona)
— City of Mesa Parks and Recreation Intramural Soccer (Arizona)
— Oak Park Soccer League (California)
— Ben Franklin Park Soccer Enhancements (Florida)
— Lighting û Columbus Youth Soccer Association, Inc. (Georgia)
— PRIMARY A.S.S.I.S.T. û After-School Soccer & Integrated Study Targets (Idaho)
— Chicago SCORES û Graduate Club Team Project (Illinois)
— Washington Park Urban Youth Soccer League (Illinois)
— Nuestros Barrios Soccer Program (Indiana)
— Urban Soccer Development Program (Indiana)
— Walkerton Youth Soccer (Indiana)
— YMCA Girls Soccer Academy (Kentucky)
— Urban Soccer Academy (Maryland)
— Boston Neighborhood Soccer League (Massachusetts)
— Norfolk Airpark Soccer Complex (Nebraska)
— Flower City Soccer Age Bracket Expansion (New York)
— Special Olympics Genesee Region Soccer Program (New York)
— Lumberton High School Soccer Fields (North Carolina)
— Traveling Irrigation System (North Dakota)
— City Soccer Program (Ohio)
— Oklahoma Registration and Outreach Project (Oklahoma)
— El Programma Hispano Soccer Project (Oregon)
— Allentown Youth Soccer Club Expansion (Pennsylvania)
— Monroeville Community Park Soccer Complex (Pennsylvania)
— Boys & Girls Club County Soccer Program (Texas)
— West Brazos Regional Park Development (Texas)
— SCORES FC (Washington)
— Millennium Soccer Club Expansion (Wisconsin)
— Wyoming ODP Scholarship Program (Wyoming)
This yearÆs eight All Conditions Fields grant recipients, each of whom will receive a $100,000 grant ($50,000 of which is provided to the Foundation by its Partner NikeGO), were:
— Brownsville Sports Park (Texas)
— Fields for All Soccer Project (New Mexico)
— Granite Regional Park Soccer Complex (California)
— Howison Park FieldTurf Initiative (Virginia)
— Klamath County Sports Complex Field Development (Ohio)
— Maplewood Community Center Playing Fields Improvement (New Jersey)
— Middletown Soccer Complex (Connecticut)
— St. John Warriors (Louisiana)