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February 3, 2023
DC SCORES, the Washington DC arm of America SCORES, supports and inspires youth from underserved communities to lead healthy physical lives and engage in education using a unique combination of sport and poetry. Following the two years of disruption caused by the pandemic, it is relaunching its Youth W.O.R.D project.
DC SCORES runs the only consistent public soccer leagues for both elementary and middle school youth in the district. It serves more than 3,000 kids through its soccer, poetry and service-learning programs. After students learn how to write creatively and perform, each program culminates in a performance during the DC SCORES Poetry Slam.
The Youth W.O.R.D project is an extension of this and offers enhanced writing and professional development programming to poet-athletes with a passion for poetry and performance. It especially targets those who have aged out of regular DC SCORES programs or transferred to a school without a DC SCORES program.
As part of the revamp, the project has partnered with ‘cultural hub’ organization, Busboys and Poets, which will provide venue locations during the upcoming spring season. Well-known in the DC arts community, Busboys hails itself as a place where racial and cultural connections are consciously uplifted and where many poetry careers have started.
Beyond Sport Network member America SCORES has impacted over 130,000 kids across North America for 25-plus years. It has 12 programs across the United States and Canada in the Bay Area, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, New York, Portland, St. Louis, Seattle, Vancouver and Washington DC.
The organization’s programs consist of soccer, creative self-expression through poetry and service-learning by writing for the community – all of which achieve poet-athlete status. As a result, 85% of students have improved their cardiovascular capacity and 75% of students have improved their grammar and writing skills. But more than this, the art form of poetry allows students to connect to something far bigger than themselves – promoting social justice and racial equity.
“Youth W.O.R.D gave me a space to grow as a poet and professional; it’s given me more opportunities than I can account for,” said Zarea Boyde, a Program Coordinator and poetry specialist at DC SCORES. Youth W.O.R.D currently has 20 students signed up for its first season, which will kick off tomorrow – hoping to expand the initiative to more poet-athletes.
America SCORES New York was one of the 2020 Sport for Reduced Racial Inequalities Collective Impact Award winners supported by The DICK’S Sporting Goods Foundation for their Literacy in Action program.
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