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USL Oakland Roots

Oakland Roots and Coaching Corps Partner to Grow the Game and Promote Community Health

September 9, 2021 - United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Oakland Roots News Release


Oakland, CA - Oakland Roots Sports Club and Coaching Corps, an Oakland-based nonprofit which recruits, trains and supports youth sports coaches, today announced a new partnership to address the critical shortage of physical and mental health services and opportunities for youth of color in Oakland.

As part of the Roots in the Community program, Coaching Corps and Oakland Roots will train and support 100 new soccer coaches who can bring more youth into the game in under-resourced communities. Roots in the Community is supported by Anthem as part of their efforts to improve the health of our local communities.

Oakland Roots SC has also joined Coaching Corps' Racial Equity and Access in Youth Sports Task Force, a convening of local leaders and stakeholders who are working together to create a sports equity agenda to use the collective powers of the group to make change and remove barriers to participation for kids of color in Oakland.

"We are happy to partner with Oakland Roots SC to together create a pipeline of community soccer coaches for under-resourced Oakland youth", said Robert Marcus, Director of Government and Community Engagement at Coaching Corps. "Roots have been a tremendous partner and we are proud to support their commitment to using sports as a platform for social good, and to work together to identify and train community members interested in becoming coaches throughout Oakland."

"Coaching Corps is a brilliant organization and the possibilities in this partnership are really endless for us", said Roots Technical Director and Head Coach Jordan Ferrell. "With Coaching Corps, it's about targeting the people who are really in front of the young people and families and giving them the tools they need. Then with Anthem, it's about having the resources to be able to spread as many of those well-educated mentors throughout the community at different levels of different sports. That's our goal at Roots - to use the sporting landscape of Oakland to influence the community in a positive way".

Earlier this year, Oakland Roots also catalyzed the launch of the Common Goal Anti-Racist Project to tackle systemic racism in both football and society by training coaches, young people and executives. The project has since brought in support from teams from MLS and NWSL as well as fan groups and US National Team Players. The program is due to kick off in Fall of 2021.

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