DC SCORES

Notes from the nonprofit

Mission
DC SCORES builds teams through after school programs by instilling self-expression, physical fitness, and a sense of community. DC SCORES accomplishes this in an innovative model combining poetry, soccer, and service-learning year-round.

Model
Our holistic after-school program helps students improve their fitness levels, develop self-expression, and establish deep community connections through service projects — all while developing closer bonds with teachers and peers. We hire and train motivated DC public school teachers to run the program, thus providing each student with direct access to a trusted mentor.

History
Julie Kennedy, a former teacher at Marie Reed Learning Center in Adams Morgan, invented this complementary combination of activities in 1994 when she began working with a group of 15 girls with little to do after school. Ms. Kennedy learned that the team-centered relationships built on the soccer field translated into poetry workshops, and the development of teamwork and leadership prepared students to act as agents of change in their communities through service-learning projects.

America SCORES
The program quickly expanded throughout DC, and in 1999 Kennedy began sites in Boston and Chicago, thus creating America SCORES, headquarters to 14 programs across the United States and Canada: Bay Area, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, New England, New York, Portland, St. Louis, Seattle, Vancouver, and Washington, DC.

PROGRAM MODEL
DC SCORES combines poetry and spoken word, soccer, and service-learning in an after-school model five days a week, 24 weeks of the year in the fall and spring. We also run a six-week winter nutrition and soccer program, and we hold free summer camps focused on soccer and the arts.

Poetry and spoken word
During the 12-week fall season, students learn how to write creatively and perform. Every student writes at least five original poems, and the season culminates with each school performing at the DC SCORES Poetry Slam!.

Service-learning
During the 12-week spring season, students at each school work together — building upon the teamwork formed on the soccer field and at the Poetry Slam! — to identify and then research an issue in their school and/or greater community, and then address it with a service-learning plan. Projects range from neighborhood and schools cleanups, to awareness campaigns, to raising money for the homeless, and much more.

Soccer
DC SCORES runs the only consistent public soccer leagues for both elementary and middle school youth in the District. During both the spring and fall, each team practices twice a week. Thursday (elementary schools) and Friday (middle schools) are game days, when teams from throughout the city play a girls game followed by a boys game.

Coaches
We hire and train motivated DC public school teachers to run the program at their schools, thus providing each student with direct access to a trusted mentor.