WHY YOU SHOULD CARE ABOUT STREET SOCCER USA

Image from Street Soccer USA on Facebook.

As I've come to love The Doe Fund and its mission to help homeless individuals rejoin the workforce and their families, I've discovered other nonprofits that are also doing great work to help the homeless conquer major obstacles that would scare the hell out of most of us. One of these organizations is Street Soccer USA.

SSUSA's mission is to help homeless men, women, and youth to get off the streets, score goals on the field, and achieve goals in life. Teams from a 20-city league compete in the annual Street Soccer USA Cup in various locations. This year it was in New York City - with matches in Times Square and the Lower Eastside.

What I think is so great about SSUSA is its use of a tremendously popular international sport as an advocacy vehicle. Their message and mission can resonate with AYSO kids, soccer moms, World Cup gurus, and soccer fans all around the world. And it examines homelessness from a national point of view, a perspective that often gets lost in the shuffle of local and regional direct service organizations. Their reach is even global as members of SSUSA teams are selected to join the USA team in the Homeless World Cup.

Here's a nice recap from Gothamist on the NYC Cup that took place over the weekend.