Taking A Leadership Role, New York City FC’s Global Charitable Initiative Makes An Impact
New York City FC reveal the return of annual football charity initiative – Fans empowered to allocate hundreds of thousands of dollars to community projects.
New York City FC kicks off its global charitable initiative, which sees young leaders in cities around the world deliver football inspired projects to other young people as a sustainable force for social good.
The $600,000 commitment to this year’s Cityzens Giving campaign marks the second year of the charitable program and takes the total funding commitment in 2015 and 2016 – by City Football Group and its partners – to $1.5 million, funding nine community football projects worldwide.
This year, fans of all City Football Group’s family of Clubs – including Manchester City FC, New York City FC and Melbourne City FC – get to decide how projects are funded by voting for the cause that inspires them the most. The more votes a project gets, the more funding it will receive.
Cityzens Giving funds projects run by young leaders in Manchester, New York City, Melbourne, Kolkata, Cape Coast and São Paulo, along with projects from last year’s campaign in Kuala Lumpur, Cape Town and Barranquilla. These projects have been created to tackle issues like unemployment, social inclusion and HIV / AIDS.
The six projects selected for this year, each of which will be guaranteed enough funding to ensure they can run, will help at least 4,000 young people. They are:
New York City: Combining football with education about health and nutrition, for the second year, City in the Community Soccer Program will support 500 young people to improve their fitness and live healthier lives.
Manchester: Back for its second year, Boots & Beats will continue to use football and music to engage with 500 unemployed young people and connect them with job related training and volunteering opportunities.
Melbourne: Also returning to the campaign for its second year, I Speak Football will use football to connect 300 isolated young people and support them to make friends, build leadership skills and reduce loneliness.
Cape Coast: Debuting this year, Kicking for Change will act as a catalyst to get 500 able bodied and disabled young people back into education, giving them a brighter future.
São Paulo: Also debuting this year, Goal for Equality will empower female leaders to inspire 350 young people through mixed football leagues and education on gender issues.
Kolkata: Healthy Goals, another new project, mixes football with potentially life-saving education on health and hygiene, so that 2,000 young people have the power to stay safe and healthy.
City Football Group will also continue to fund projects in Cape Town, Barranquilla and Kuala Lumpur.
City CEO Ferran Soriano said: “Manchester City’s community commitment dates back to the founding of the Club over 130 years ago. Today, all City Football Group Clubs have strong community football programs in place.”
“We are excited to be putting our fans at the heart of this for the second year running, by letting them decide how we fund inspiring community football programs locally and worldwide”.
New York City FC captain, David Villa, met some of the 100 young leaders who will deliver the projects at a summit earlier this year.
He said: “We are proud of our Cityzen Giving young leaders. It is amazing to see how they are using football to make an impact in our local community and around the world.”
He added: “New York City FC is excited to give our fantastic fans the decision-making power. Like always, we want our fans to be at the center of everything we do as a Club.”
Brenda, 19, and the other young leaders from the New York City in the Community Soccer Program are using the city’s passion for soccer to encourage young people to be fitter and healthier.
She said: “Lots of kids I know eat the wrong food and spend too much time indoors. Using soccer, we will get them active and teach them about healthy eating. It inspires me to see young people getting fit, eating right and changing their lives.”
New York City FC has been delivering community work through the City in the Community foundation. Now, alongside City in the Community programs in Manchester and Melbourne, over 80,000 young people will benefit each year from City in the Community programs that will boost health, employability, inclusion and education.
For more information on the campaign and how City fans are getting involved, visit here.
Did you know?
City Football Group is the owner of a number of football related businesses with global relevance. These include high profile professional football clubs, academies, technical support and marketing companies. CFG’s clubs include Premier League Title Winners 2011-2012 and 2013-14 Manchester City FC, Melbourne City FC of the A-League and MLS Franchise New York City Football Club. CFG is also a minority shareholder in Yokohama F. Marinos of the J-League. The common aim across all clubs is to provide the best possible experience and an unmatched opportunity for fans and communities to participate in, and benefit from, football at both a local and global level.
The Group’s support companies- City Football Services and City Football Marketing- operate from a number of offices around the world in support of the Group’s clubs, associate organisations and customer organisations. City Football Services shares footballing IP and “know-how” to recruit, develop, train and win.
City Football Group is wholly owned by Abu Dhabi United Group (ADUG). ADUG is an investment and development company privately owned by His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan. City Football Group’s headquarters are in Manchester and it has offices in Abu Dhabi, London, New York, Melbourne, Singapore and Tokyo.
New York City FC kicked off their inaugural MLS season in March 2015 and has former US National Team captain Claudio Reyna as its Sporting Director and, from January 1, 2016 former World Cup winner Patrick Vieira as its coach.
