Category Archive
Last Wednesday, ninety youth from all corners of Chicago – from Kenwood and Hyde Park to West Town and Rogers Park – descended upon UIC’s soccer field for an afternoon full of soccer, healthy food, and making new friends. These youth represented a rich array of faith traditions, coming from Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Christian and…
urban Initiatives wishes to thank stacy stutz for contributing this insightful blog post and the amazing photos of the work to Play ProgRam in action. urban initiatives cOnsideRs stacy one of the most valuable players on our team! Originally intrOduced tO urbAn initiatives in tHe falL of 2007 when my daugHter first participated in the…
On July 23rd, 150 Urban Initiatives participants attended an unforgettable match between the Chicago Fire and Manchester United at Soldier Field. These tickets were generously donated by the Chicago Fire Foundation and allowed teams from four UI schools to attend – those schools were Prieto Academy, Claremont Academy, Tarkington School and Daley Academy.
Urban Initiatives teams from four South Side schools ended their 2010-2011 soccer season by making fun educational trips to community gardens and farmers’ markets in their communities. The kids had a blast learning about, tasting, and purchasing healthy foods that were both locally grown and affordable. Many parents, grandparents, and siblings also came along…
The Chicago Fire Foundation recently donated 450 tickets to the Wednesday June 22nd Chicago Fire vs. Real Salt Lake game at 7:30pm at TOYOTA PARK to allow us to share the Chicago Fire experience with participants in our health and education soccer program.
A big congratulations to Christian Gordon and Willie Mae Brooks, two Urban Initiatives soccer players at Sherman School of Excellence, who took 1st and 2nd place respectively at their school-wide poetry contest! The following is an excerpt from Christian’s poem, which speaks about economic struggle: Unemployment is like playing soccer and you just want to…
When Urban Initiatives started the Work to Play Program at Tarkington we were confident that our program would be a great fit in the West Lawn neighborhood. No one predicted, however, how popular the program would be and how quickly it would impact the Tarkington community. Currently we are serving 48 committed students at Tarkington…
On a recent field trip with the Attucks soccer team, Urban Initiatives’ staff had an opportunity to chat with parents and hear their feedback on the Work to Play Program. Urban Initiatives thanks the parents for their input as well as for participating in the field trip. Committed parents are critical in raising committed youth!…
The Chicago Cubs generously donated 30 tickets for their April 18th encounter with San Diego Padres. Students from Walsh Elementary who had 90% or better attendance for the winter season were awarded these tickets to enjoy the game with their families. Erwin Martinez was excited to be at the game with his father who is…
On a recent trip to the doctor’s office, Maria, a fifth grade soccer player at Prieto Elementary, received some surprising news. Though many would prefer to avoid surprises in this particular setting, for Maria, it was nothing but positive. She recalled that her doctor was, "surprised because I used to weigh a lot when I…