America SCORES Milwaukee is a non-profit organization that offers free activities to underprivileged children, by combining sports with academics to help youth-development. Soccer and poetry are at the center of SCORES’ programming to help create healthier, well-rounded youth to eventually better the local community. Under the supervision of SCORES’ coaches, the kids are offered free after-school activities five nights a week, including two writing workshops and three soccer sessions.
“Both soccer and poetry are forms of expression,” Executive Director Kate Carpenter explains. “Both have room for kids to be creative and practice new skills, so while they seem different in theory, they are great starting points for kids to get team-building skills.”
SCORES focuses on helping kids from low-income families (75% of participants reside in households with an income of less than $25,000 according to the nonprofit’s 2017 report), which helps the families get ahead by offering to take care of their kids after school for free.
Children that participate in SCORES’ programs often live in impoverished areas that provide limited activities. To counteract that and offer these kids better opportunities, SCORES recruited “approximately 20 school-day teachers from 10 Milwaukee public schools to be coaches and deliver the programs on site”, according to Carpenter. “We pay them, but they do it out of the kindness of their hearts because we can't pay them very much,” she adds.
‘Giving Tuesday’ Fundraiser
America SCORES Milwaukee is operating with a very small team and modest means, despite their widespread action. The nonprofit will host its annual fundraising event, Giving Tuesday, from 5-7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 27, where patrons can see the impact that the organization has on children’s lives for themselves.
This year especially, SCORES will be looking to show guests a day in the life of a poet-athlete. “We will be having current students, with their principals and coaches, sharing their stories and experiences,” Carpenter says. “The evening is going to be interactive, as we're going to have poetry writing stations for the guests, a coach and a student will guide our guests through a writing exercise that our kids go through. We want people to understand how much the kids are learning and applying the tools of poetry, because people often think of us as the 'soccer program,' but the children are also doing a lot to improve their academic literacy.”
Tickets to the event cost $30, but patrons who cannot attend are encouraged to donate online. If the fundraiser is a success, SCORES intends to expand its programs to a couple of new schools, to try and help as many kids as possible.
“I do not think people understand the consistency of our programs over almost 15 years,” Carpenter says. “Consistency is often something that the kids we work with do not see, and SCORES really strives to be that consistent safe place for them.”
Giving Tuesday is Tuesday, Nov. 27 from 5-7:30 p.m. at Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum (2220 N. Terrace Avenue). For more information, tickets and to donate, visit americascoresmke.org/givingtuesday.html
