Blog Post #2:

NYCFC, City in the Community

Meeting with Paul Jeffries, Director of Community Development for NYCFC

Thursday, December 1st, 2016

Paul Jeffries, who used to be my coach at Downtown United Soccer Club (DUSC), came to visit my class. After he was at DUSC for a long time, he had a job opportunity at the new upcoming professional soccer team, New York City Football Club. He accepted the job, and his title is Director of Community Development. I contacted him asking if he could come into our class and talk about some of his projects he is working with because Mommi (my teacher) and I thought it would be a good idea for all the groups to get a sense of someone who’s job it is to work on social justice issues from a sports perspective. When he came, he talked about one City in the Community initiative, in which six cities, New York City, Mexico City, Melbourne, Manchester, Beijing, and Bandung, compete for half a million dollars in funding. Each city has a specific project focussed on a social justice issue connecting with sports. People get to vote online and decide which project they prefer. For example, in New York, they wanted to focus on limiting the amount of children who are obese. Paul said that one in three public school children is obese in New York City. They want to help the children get more active and more excited about getting some exercise. Paul and his team want to tackle social justice issues mostly with young kids and young adults, and connect it to soccer. Paul believes that soccer can teach you a lot more than just kicking a ball; it can teach you how to be a good community member, it can teach you to be a leader and a role model for younger kids, and it can teach you how to stay out of trouble.

I have known Paul since I was three years old when my parents dropped me off at DUSC camp for the entire day. It is because of him and his work that I know that sports can have a profound impact on communities. He is always striving to make our youth better using the educational power of soccer. He shared with me a Request for Proposal dealing with helping youth who are already in the judicial system, and how sports can help them avoid jail time. I was inspired to visit one of the schools where he sends coaches and help out.

It was interesting to see the relationship between our 8th grade social justice project and the life work of an individual.