A time to give thanks: Volunteers, companies, foundations, local government make 2013 special for 1,500 youth

Written by Daniel Meloy
Senior Director of Development & Communications

As DC SCORES prepares to close out 2013, I’m reminded of not only what we’ve accomplished this year but also of who made those accomplishments possible. We could not engage 1,500 DC SCORES students without the support of our community throughout the year.

That support came in many forms - volunteerism, corporate contributions, foundation and government grants, individual gifts.

While the space of a blog post limits the supporters we can highlight here, we appreciate all of our supporters - and recognize them on our website.

Our hundreds of volunteers were most visible at our events like Jamboree!, Fall Frenzy, and the Poetry Slam! or seen on the soccer fields as referees. And while not quite as visible, but just as important, are the volunteers who spend an hour or two each week in our office - stuffing and labeling envelopes or organizing files. Volunteers are the heart of DC SCORES.

Companies both large and small sponsored or participated in events throughout the year. We tip our hats to companies like DirecTV, Walmart, Volkswagen, and CIT for their support of our SCORE Awards event, at which we recognize outstanding DC SCORES coaches and volunteers.

The biggest display of corporate support comes each June at our DC SCORES Cup. This year 30 teams, from Aljazeera to Zuckerman Spaeder LLP, played in what has become DC’s largest charity soccer tournament, and raised over $100,000 for DC SCORES.

Throughout the year, private and family foundations invested in DC SCORES. We are grateful for the confidence in our work that foundations like the Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation, The Morris & Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, the John Edward Fowler Memorial Foundation, the Share Fund, and many others have displayed through their grants.

Our public funding partnerships continued to be strengthened this year as well. Grants from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities and the DC Mayor’s Office on Latino Affairs helped us to build stronger relationships in the schools and communities we serve.

Behind every corporate donation, every event sponsorship, and every foundation and government grant was a person (or group of people) who recognized the impact that DC SCORES has every day on the lives of the students we serve.

It is the people - individuals in our community - who, because of their open hearts, have driven the success of DC SCORES. Whether it’s providing a soccer uniform through the DoMore24 or #GivingTuesday campaigns or sending a kid to camp through our Couch to Camp campaign, individuals have made all the difference in our ability to make sure DC students have a team, a safe place to express their feelings, and a true connection to their community.

And as we acknowledge the generosity of the DC SCORES community of supporters in 2013, we look ahead to 2014 knowing that DC SCORES students throughout the city will thrive on the soccer field, excel in the classroom, and create change in their neighborhoods because of your support.

We thank you and look forward to another great year together!

A time to give thanks to DC SCORES' supporters

Students with their Century Council bags.

This afternoon, a group of Cresa Washington DC employees stopped by our office.

With a check.

For $9,500.

The check wasn't something we could have imagined six or even four months ago. It resulted from an unexpected contribution to our organization by a group of people dedicated to helping the over 1,450 District youth we serve.

In September, former board member Chris Finley, who works at Cresa, posed the idea of the real estate company hosting a happy hour fundraiser benefiting DC SCORES. Two and a half months later — after securing two main sponsors in addition to dozens of individual donations — the event was held at James Hoban's Irish Restaurant and Bar. And now a month later, we have the check in hand.

Thank you, Chris. Thank you, Cresa.

That's just one example of the hundreds of contributions — big and small; anticipated and unexpected — that have helped us expand our innovative program during 2012 to serve more schools in more communities than ever before, filling a need that still remains throughout the District.

For our full supporters list, please visit the DC SCORES website. But here are a few more examples of how people have contributed to our organization in different ways:

A group of local government entities help maintain the foundation of our funding model and demonstrate their commitment to us not just in dollars. Serve DC, the DC Commission on National and Community Service, routinely visits our office, comes to our game days, and just last week honored our super volunteer Francesco Amorosino with a Mayor's Community Service Award. Under the exciting new leadership of Ed Davies, the DC Children and Youth Investment Trust Corporation (CYITC), one of our oldest funders, continues to show their belief in our work by funding not only our regular programming but providing a large grant to fund our annual summer camps.

Receiving a $25,000 check from Volkswagen.

We also receive local funding from New Communities Youth Development & Community Wellness and the 21st Century Community Learning Centers — two funders whose missions strongly align with our desire to provide opportunities for those in the city's most under-resourced neighborhoods. The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities continues to annually fund the self-expression aspect of our program — even upping their contribution this year — including as a central sponsor of the Poetry Slam! (along with the Humanities Council of Washington, DC).

This fall, we've written extensively — and rightfully so — about the U.S. Soccer Foundation's Social Innovation Grant that has allowed us to implement the Foundation's Soccer for Success program at 15 new schools. The Foundation has joined a group of  companies committed to our Arts/Athletics/Academics model who show this not just in dollars provided:

Volkswagen Group of America has adopted our flagship school Marie Reed Elementary, funding the program there every year.

The American Beverage Association made a commitment to Wards 7 and 8 east of the Anacostia River, funding our expansion in the last year and a half to schools there and visiting a game day at Garfield Elementary School.

The Century Council not only increased their funding from $30,000 to $40,000 this year, but they are a dependable presence at all our program events, where they hand out their always-popular sunglasses — I have a pair in my car — and other giveaways.

A poetry reading at Starbucks.

Starbucks, a funder since the 1990s, hosts poetry readings for all DC SCORES schools during the fall, giving students the chance to practice their poems in front of an audience — albeit, a much smaller one — prior to the season-culminating Poetry Slam!.

As cliche as it sounds, it's not all about the money for us. Yes, DC SCORES would not be possible without the funding that makes up our $1.4 million annual budget — almost all of which goes directly toward program expenses (think soccer equipment, buses for game days, writing notebooks, coach stipends, event costs, etc.). But more than searching for cash grabs, we look for and appreciate funders who buy into our mission and commit to a mutually beneficial, long-term relationship.

Sometimes, for a variety of reasons (the economy being the glaring one), we lose a long-time funder. That's what happened a few years ago with the Commonweal Foundation. And that's why it was extremely rewarding to regain the Foundation's support, at $25,000, this fall.

We know that these are uncertain times and there are thousands of worthy, deserving organizations and causes out there. That's why we are so thankful to you, all of our funders and supporters, who choose to support DC SCORES.

Thank you, again, and here's to another great year together!

New schools show commitment to self-expression and performance on second night of DC SCORES Poetry Slam!

When the DC SCORES program goes into a new school, it's naturally a process to get participants interested in our unique, three-pronged model of soccer, poetry and service-learning. 

The soccer part isn't difficult. Who doesn't love to kick a ball around and score goals? The poetry aspect, on the other hand, can be a challenge. Poetry? Self-expression? Many elementary school students have never even heard such words before DC SCORES. 

So it's expected and accepted that when new schools participate in their first Poetry Slam! -- tasked with memorizing three poems to perform under the bright lights, in front of hundreds of other students, families and community members -- they might struggle a little bit and show some stage fright.

Until Thursday.

Six schools new to the program this fall participated in the second night of the 15th Annual DC SCORES Poetry Slam! -- funded in part by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities and the Humanities Council of Washington, DC -- and put on a show for the ages, led by J.C. Nalle Elementary. 

Nalle surprised the near-capacity audience at H.D. Woodson, emcee KoM, DJ RBI, and, possibly, the panel of judges with a well-scripted performance about making a difference that was equal parts history lesson and entertaining. 

With each elementary school child dressed up in a unique outfit to illustrate that no one's the same, the students chanted in unison, "I'ma make a difference, I'ma make a difference what?" Then one student after another took the microphone, approached the front of the stage, and described how a United States president had made a difference. 

This was not a partisan performance, either. Franklin D. Roosevelt was cited for the New Deal; Lincoln was cited for the Emancipation Proclamation; George H.W. Bush was cited for the Americans with Disabilities Act; Clinton was cited for his commitment to education. In all, more than 10 presidents were mentioned, as the Nalle team educated the audience. 

They followed that up by stepping forward individually to describe what they would do if president.

"If I was president, I would make healthy foods cheaper and (bad) foods more expensive so the average American can live longer."

I would fight pollution, another student said, "Because no one should have to breath in unclear air."

At the end of the night, after hearing their name called, the Nalle students ebulliently overtook the brightly lit stage to hold up the huge Golden Mic trophy and breath in the fresh, clean air of an incredible victory.

It was incredible because of the competition they faced during the 17-team performance, capping off two nights of a record 35 performances featuring schools from seven of the District's eight wards. 

Jefferson Middle School, another new school and the program's lone Ward 6 school, couldn't have represented better for DC's largest ward with a powerful musical performance about stereotypes that won first place among middle schools. 

Standing in a line, students rattled off one stereotype after another:

"Kids don't care about the environment."

"Old people can't drive."

"All black people like chicken."

Then, in unison, the students belted out: "Stop judging people/Stop the labels/Stop stereotypes."

That was just the beginning of the show. 

Introduced as a Grammy-winning artist -- which she sure sounded like -- Sandy T. performed a beautiful song about reaching for your dreams and navigating the obstacle course of life. When she sat down afterward, she got a bear hug and a huge smile from the young boy next to her. Sandy's performance was followed by an energetic rap from Julia B., who at the end of the evening was presented the Shine Award for the most outstanding middle school individual performance.

By the conclusion of schools' performances, one thing was clear: bullying will not be tolerated at DC SCORES schools. The night represented an anti-bullying campaign, as several schools brought the issue to the forefront, give the audience insight into the minds of both bullies and their victims and how the problem can be dealt with.

Four-time defending elementary school champion Arts and Technology Academy (second place) came on stage wearing shirts that said "Bullying" with a red line through them. The back of their shirts, when they lined up, read "Stop Bullying." 

"When you're bully free," the students said together, "there's no limit to what you can be."

And then, in one of the neatest moments of the night, ATA closed its performance with pairs of students walking up to each other and shaking hands before descending the stage.

Chavez Parkside (second place, middle schools) and Johnson Middle also stood up against bullying, acting out both sides of the matter -- the bullies who are taking out their frustration from being bullied themselves, and the victims who are afraid to walk to school. 

At the end of the night, it was evident that no student from any of the schools was afraid of being on stage and expressing their feelings. Every school -- whether around since 1994 like Anne Beers Elementary; or new to the program like Nalle, Davis, M.C. Terrell and Orr elementary schools -- embraced the opportunity to write poetry and then perform it front of a large audience. 

This courage started with the very first performance, when Wheatley's Jovahn C. read a poem about his father's infidelity, and continued throughout the night until Orr's team of just four students stood proudly center stage and let their voices be heard:

"This is how we do it/This is how we do it/a go, a go, a go Jaguars!"

Below is the full list of winners from the second night of the 15th Annual DC SCORES Poetry Slam!

Elementary schools 
1st place -- J.C. Nalle Elementary School
2nd place -- Arts and Technology Academy
3rd place -- Burrville Elementary School
Spirit Award -- Wheatley Education Campus
Shine Award -- DeAndre W., Perry Street Prep Public Charter School

Middle schools
1st place -- Jefferson Middle School
2nd place -- Cesar Chavez Public Charter School - Parkside
3rd place -- Kelly Miller Middle School
Spirit Award -- Johnson Middle School
Shine Award -- Julia B., Jefferson