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SAN FRANCISCO (July 2024) Soccer Without Borders (SWB) is excited to announce that our Oakland hub will now officially be known as SWB Bay Area. This change reflects a recent expansion of our soccer, education, and community-building programs into the city of San Francisco, alongside our established programs in Oakland and Hayward.
Since its inception in 2007, SWB Oakland continues to position itself as a leader within the local sports-based youth development sector. In fact, Oakland was the location of SWB’s first-ever US-based and year-round programming. With the addition of two new sites for high school-aged boys and girls in the city of San Francisco, the hub increases opportunities to harness the power of soccer to serve even more newcomer youth throughout the Bay Area.
This expansion and subsequent name change is due to a new partnership with the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD). This partnership, which will officially begin at the start of the 2024-2025 school year, was initiated by SFUSD as a way to meet the academic and community support English Language Learner (ELL) students need in the district.
“We have been excited about the possibility of serving newcomer youth in the Bay Area outside of Oakland and Hayward for some time, but we didn’t feel like we had the capacity until this year,” says Ben Gucciardi, SWB Founder and Bay Area Director. “This expansion reflects the stability of our Bay Area team and the passion of our team to provide more youth with high quality programming. We look forward to learning from our partners at SFUSD and the youth and staff at the school sites we will be working at next year.”
According to SFUSD, 47% of students in San Francisco come from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds and 25% are classified as ELL students. In the 2023-2024 school year, only 11% of ELL students scored proficient or above in English Language Arts and only 13% scored proficient or above in mathematics. (SFUSD.edu)
SWB was referred to SFUSD by the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) because of SWB’s proven track record of impact, engaging ELL students with trauma-informed, evidence-based methods resulting in academic and social-emotional success. For example, last year the high school graduation rate for SWB participants in Oakland was 89% as compared to 53% for all newcomer students across the District. (OUSD.org)
“We are super excited for this unique approach to support our students,” said Amy Gottesfeld, Supervisor of Multilingual Programs at SFUSD’s Multilingual Pathways Department. “I know it's going to make a powerful and positive difference in many young people's lives.”
Starting this fall, SWB Bay Area will introduce TEAM Programs – our most comprehensive programming combining soccer, education, and community-building – for both boys and girls at Thurgood Marshall High School and San Francisco International High School.
Want to get involved? There are numerous ways for those in the Bay Area to be a part of this historic moment for SWB and newcomer communities within San Francisco:
Visit our website to inquire about lending your time and talents as a volunteer
Invest in the growth and impact of our newest Bay Area program sites by making a one-time or recurring donation
For more information about SWB Bay Area, be sure to visit www.soccerwithoutborders.org/bay-area or contact us at info@soccerwithoutborders.org
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