The backbone of DC SCORES is soccer and now more than ever, we’re committed to getting our neighborhood teams together again as safely as possible. On May 19th, we hope you can team up with us and support the work of DC SCORES as we continue to bring our teams of poet-athletes back together in-person again.

To all of the supporters, families, partners, and extended members of the DC SCORES team:

First, as you just read from Bethany, she will be stepping down as our CEO at the end of August.

It is with very mixed emotions that I share my decision to step down as CEO of DC SCORES at the end of August. It has been a true privilege to serve in these capacities.

The mission of DC SCORES is deeply personal to me. I still get chills every time I hear our poet-athletes perform original poems; every time I see our poet-athletes lift each other up on the soccer field and at poetry slams; every time I observe our coaches in action lovingly mentoring their teams; and every time a stranger, recognizing my DC SCORES shirt, hollers at me across a street, excited to share what DC SCORES team they were part of. THIS is the true power of SCORES.

WASHINGTON, DC – One of the country’s elite youth soccer organizations, Bethesda Soccer Club, and award-winning nonprofit, DC SCORES, announce a partnership to grow and increase access to the sport of soccer in the DMV region.

DC SCORES, founded in 1994, serves 3,000+ kids at Title I schools and recreation centers throughout DC through a free afterschool program combining soccer, poetry and spoken word, and service-learning. Bethesda Soccer Club, founded in 1979, is made up of 65 boys and girls premier travel soccer teams (~1,500 players from across the DMV) that compete in top-level leagues along the East Coast and events throughout the United States.

David Grosso at the DC SCORES Our Words Our City poetry showcase on February 6, 2020. Photo by Cody Cervenka.

WASHINGTON, DC – DC SCORES, an award-winning youth development nonprofit that provides free afterschool programs and summer camps for 3,000+ DC kids at Title I schools and at recreation centers in neighborhoods characterized by entrenched poverty, announced today that David Grosso, former DC Councilmember and now Partner at Arent Fox, has joined its Board of Directors.

The end of another year is a natural time for reflection. For many of us, this time is an opportunity to ruminate about all the standout moments that make the ending year one to not forget.

No matter what, 2020 will always be remembered as a very difficult time for everyone. A year where everyone had to adapt to the arduous circumstances that affected us all and kept us physically apart when all we really needed was to be together.

Despite all the hardships felt this year, DC SCORES has never stopped serving kids in DC. With that mission in mind, this year gave us the opportunity to be creative and work with our partners and supporters like never before to keep kids feeling safe, supported, connected, and hopeful.

Yanina Chicas performing at the 2018 Our Words Our City Showcase

Yanina Chicas may only be 16, but the depth of her poetry extends well beyond her years. This charming, dimple faced young woman who radiates positivity, is definitely not afraid to talk about what really matters to her.

The need this Giving Tuesday to keep kids connected is unlike ever before. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, kids remain at home and physically distant from their teammates, coaches, and school community.

The 26th season of fall SCORES will undoubtedly be unlike any other fall season before, but as the seasons change and everyone continues to stay home due to COVID-19, our goal to keep kids feeling safe, supported, connected, and hopeful remains the same. We continue to celebrate kids.

If anyone has ever wondered why the combination of soccer, poetry, and service-learning is possible for DC SCORES – the answer is our coaches.

The special sauce is the teacher-coach model that makes poet-athletes feel safe and offers teachers another outlet to build relationships with their students. A perfect example of this model in action is visible at Aiton Elementary School.

At DC SCORES we teach poet-athletes resilience and how to adapt to change. This spring, those lessons took on special meaning, as DC SCORES took on the challenge presented by COVID-19.

Although the Spring SCORES season officially kicked off in early March as usual, by mid-March our team was working remotely, schools began to close, and it was clear that this would be a season unlike any other. Determined to make sure that poet-athletes felt safe, secure, hopeful and connected to their teams despite schools being physically closed, we quickly adapted both programming and work into fully virtual experiences.

Today (May 5th) is Giving Tuesday Now, a new global day of giving in response to COVID-19.

DC SCORES needs your help. We’re a team and together we will get through these difficult times. We want to make sure that as soon as it is safe, we’re ready to keep providing every poet-athlete with a safe space so they can succeed on the playing field, in the classroom, and in life.