Who Is Street Soccer USA?

Street Soccer USA is designed to assist men, women, and youth of all ages who lack permanent housing. Our collection of organizing service providers operates in a number of different fields, and our organizers have varied background and specialties such as:

• Youth homelessness providers

• Homeless immigrants caseworkers

• Preventing and ending homelessness in the Latino community

• University Students

• Eradicating urban homelessness

• Various missionaries and community service providers

What Homeless Services are Provided?

People who are homeless of all ages are marginalized and socially excluded. They lack stability in any sense. The system for supporting them is a case management model, but across the country case managers are overloaded. The SSUSA model brings in sports-based mentors that help increase the capacity of case managers by building relationships of trust through the constant supportive community of the team. Our programs, tailored to homeless population, have proven effective at connecting high percentages of participants to jobs, housing, and education. We start, however, by building personal relationships. We train together, strive together, and above all else, we listen to each other. Powerful things happen when human beings put their differences aside and really communicate. This type of communication that sport can foster is a true foundation for social change.

We may not eradicate homelessness overnight through sports alone, but SSUSA will change lives, teach important lessons and build self esteem. 75% of players will move off the street within a year of joining the program. Our goal is to reach 100%.

How Does SSUSA's Team Approach Offer Structure for Participants?

SSUSA's structure fundamentally changes how the homeless population relates to others, and vice versa. It is a sports-focused and team-based structure which Is fun, positive, and universal. Participants get a familial support group and at the same time, demands, expectations, and, accountability are placed upon them.

 For years, our country has looked on homelessness as a problem to be solved, rather than as a symptom of the breakdown of community. Despite much effort in the way of housing, handouts, and programs, homelessness just keeps increasing. Our relationship based approach uses sport as a personal development tool, but also as way to disrupt traditional approaches to the problem of homelessness which focus on individuals and their obstacles and establishing rules and regulations to manage the problem. The consequence of the traditional approach is low self esteem, dependency, and loss of hope. Our approach builds community through sports in a way that demystifies and de-marginalizes the homeless population. By focusing on the community (or the context) around the homeless, we make reintegration easier for our participants by bringing in more stakeholders and solving problems as a group. We have worked with three universities to develop monitoring and evaluation instruments which allow us to track our success as well as the variables that contribute to that success.

Where Does Street Soccer USA Operate?

• In addition to the 20 cities competing in this year's SSUSA Cup, Street Soccer USA teams are forming across the country in cities big and small.

• Due to the growth of our initiative, your city may already have a team in the works ready to compete in 2010.

• Contact volunteer@streetsoccerusa.org for information about the program nearest to you.

If you area does not have a team yet, you could join our network of exceptional sport for social change catalysts and help get your city's program off the ground!

How Do I Get Started?

• Write to us for Phase I of our application to Street Soccer USA: email rob@streetsoccerusa.org

• Consult our staff with any other questions you might have

How Does SSUSA Help?

• SSUSA helps supply all the equipment you need to start a team through its partnerships with companies like Nike, Eurosport, Passback, Mazzamba, and Molten.

• We help facilitate the integration of our sports for social change programming into the existing social services.

• We train staff and volunteers on our toolkit of best practices and help them develop niche programming on and off the field to meet the needs of their players and to challenge their players to achieve more.

• We offer an increasing number of new opportunities through our national partners in terms of employment, training, education as well as access to our national base of volunteers. 

• We host you at the Annual Street Soccer USA Cup in a major US city year for a unique sport for social change event involving 20+ cities.

• We take a select group of players from the USA cup on a trip of a lifetime to represent the United States at the Homeless World Cup.

• SSUSA not only offers needed prorgrams and services, but the soccer, itself, is also a healthy activity that builds character, social skills and self esteem.

• SSUSA shares promotional material and a national platform for your organization designed to assist in raising awareness, attracting volunteers, and raising funds. SSUSA also can provide leads and contacts to grant opportunities and engage new players in solving the issue of homelessness.