We believe that being part of a soccer team can have a positive influence on the players’ lives, and that a street soccer team is an opportunity to disprove negative stereotypes and improve the reputation of homeless individuals within the Richmond community. Viewing homeless men and women as healthy individuals capable of playing soccer at the competitive level is a positive that Richmond Street Soccer leverages to counter negative stereotypes in the community and beyond about the homeless and their capabilities, and, more importantly, how homeless individuals perceive themselves.
What Other Organizations are Saying and Doing:
Street Soccer USA: Soccer for Social Change – Ending Homelesness Through Sports
Homeless World Cup: Beating Homelessness Through Football
The UN’s Perspective on Sport & Development
“Sport has a crucial role to play in the efforts of the United Nations to improve the lives of people around the world. Sport builds bridges between individuals and across communities, providing a fertile ground for sowing the seeds of development and peace.”–Wilfried Lemke, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Sport for Development and Peace
