On Friday, October 4th soccer players and family members from the Hamlin Park, Austin and McKinley Park communities traveled up to Wilmette for the 13th Crosstown Classic with the Wilmette Wings. The Crosstown Classic gives Urban Initiatives soccer players the chance to travel outside their community so they may become familiar with all of the…
A volunteer day unlike any other , happened on Friday, September 27th when Walsh, Daley and Ward revved their engines by getting their hearts beating and feet moving during game day with Mercedes Benz USA volunteers. 90 students from Back of the Yards, Chinatown and Pilsen had the opportunity to make new friends, practice new…
On Saturday, September 21st over 90 Urban Initiatives boys and girls from three different Chicago communities came together for the Multicultural Cup at the Haas Park soccer field. The Urban Initiatives Multicultural Cup uses soccer as a tool to introduce Work to Play program participants to the abundance of cultures that exist around the world.…
After almost four years of dedicated leadership, Ron Redd, Director at BMO Capital Markets and long time Chairman of Urban Initiatives’ Board of Directors, is passing the Chairman’s torch.
“Coach Stephanie, let’s play volleyball tomorrow”. said a seventh grader. “no, let’s play ultimate football,” another chimed in. requests like this and many more continue to come from the students at claremont math & Science academy. Play with potential is A New undertaking with the claremont comets and is already making a deep impact in…
Forty children and parents from Goethe Elementary School were treated to a thrilling evening of basketball on September 11th when the Chicago Sky welcomed the Phoenix Mercury to town. Families were filled with excitement from the moment they entered Allstate Arena, until the final buzzer sounded. The children were so focused on the game that…
After weeks of preparation, hours of inflating soccer balls, sorting jerseys and making school visits, the 2013-2014 Work to Play season officially kicked off at 26 schools! Hooray! As a newcomer to the program, this being my 5th week on the staff, I was a little overwhelmed by how much was going on. There was…
Over the course of the first three days of the fall season Urban Initiatives’ new Program Associates took six schools to The White Sox series versus the Detroit Tigers. Urban Initiatives coaches led bubbling busloads of kids to U.S. Cellular Field where they led their schools in cheers for the hometown team.
Urban Initiatives 5th-8th graders kicked off this school year with an inspiring show of leadership at the first 2013-2014 Take the Lead Retreat! The weekend before the Work to Play Fall Season began, the Take the Lead Team Captains came together to encourage and challenge each other as leaders in the areas of teamwork and…
The CPS Full School Day is in its second year, and the means a second year for Play with Potential at Urban Initiatives. Conceived in the first year of mandated recess for all grades, Play with Potential began serving four schools with 2,900 total students. After a great rookie year, the word got out, and…
With the 11th year of the Work to Play program kicking off on Monday, Urban Initiaitves’ newest partner school Beidler Elementary shared their 30 – 20 – 10 plan with ABC 7 news. The Beidler team will incorporate the Work to Play program during the school day giving 2nd, 3rd and 4th graders the opportunity…