In February 2019 SSUSA Sacramento started a very exciting partnership with Wind Youth Services, a non-profit organization that serves as advocates for homeless youth and TAY by providing outreach, safe places, resources, shelters, and case managers to ensure the safety of young adults in need of a hopeful future.
Wind Youth Services (Wind) believes that promoting the safety, shelter and self-determination of all youth experiencing homelessness, including those who are unstably or unsafely housed – regardless of their ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, sobriety status, engagement in the sex trades, and legal history – is fundamental, not only to their human rights, but also to the promotion of a more socially just and equitable society.
Street Soccer USA and Wind have very similar core values and beliefs and hope that with our partnership and opportunities through SSUSA practices, games, and leagues, we can lift the youth at Wind even higher by creating safe places to play, fun enjoyment, a team to belong to, and deliver our soccer-to-life skills curriculum that is proven to lead to higher self esteem, improved physical and mental health, education goals, and employment opportunities.
Executive Director, Robynne Rose-Haymer, and SSUSA Managing Director, Lisa Wrightsman, met back in 2014 through a local leadership program called Nehemiah Emerging Leaders. Robynne has been a supporter of SSUSA for a few years now, and last year was a volunteer at SSUSA National Cup in Sacramento where she was able to witness how our program operates and who we strive to work with.
Robynne Rose-Haymer: “In my time volunteering with SSUSA I witnessed the transformative effects of people coming together as a team to accomplish a goal. It is my hope that by offering the youth in our programs and play that are part of SSUSA, they have the ability to set goals, learn cooperative skills, and vision a future different from their present”.
Lisa Wrightsman, is most excited about the opportunity to improve the lives of the numerous youth that are part of the program. She realizes the many challenges they face in the difficult time they live in, and hopes that through life changing experiences like playing in this year’s SSUSA National Cup and/or a future Homeless World Cup, can give them a platform to share their story, be treated like a professional athlete and community hero, as well as provide them with the opportunity to play for something bigger. “We know that SSUSA facilitates thousands of moments of joy that have the ability to change peoples lives, we have been watching it happen in our Sacramento programs since 2010 – I don’t think anyone deserves a chance for joy, relief, excitement, and fun more than the youth that Wind is working with.”
