Lexi Garcia
Editorial Assistant

Global FC has partnered with the Northeast Kansas City Chamber of Commerce this summer to host tutoring at the Economic Growth Gallery (EGG) at 2659 Independence Ave.

Global FC is a local nonprofit organization that uses soccer as a medium for transformative impact that also helps kids with their academics. The program first started helping refugee kids get the education and support they needed during the 2014 refugee crisis.

“There was just a group of people who were like, ‘Well there’s a lot of protesting, debate, happening but not a lot of action, so what’s something that we can actually do to help the refugee community,’” said Celeste Williams, Director of Coaching for Global FC. “They found that soccer was a meaningful and relevant tool for connecting with kids.”

Global FC’s main focus is on English development and making sure kids are learning the language.

“A lot of our focus is on literacy development, reading, writing, and sometimes spoken English,” Williams said. “We also know that as refugees, a lot of our kids have either had poor prior schooling or interrupted schooling.”

The program is open to any youth that has an interest in soccer, as well.
“It’s great because then everyone from the same team has tutoring, they get to hang out with their friends, and also get this learning opportunity together,” Williams said.

The tutoring program focuses on reading, writing, and basic math over the summer for an hour to keep kids engaged. They then cover all topics throughout the school year that run for an hour and a half.

“During the school year we were helping with any subject that kids needed help with, especially because of online learning. It just amplified how difficult a lot of the subjects were,” Williams said.

With the pandemic, they have been able to be flexible with tutors that work from home, out of state, and volunteers that work outside of their 9-5 job that can meet up with students at the schools they attend or at a public library.

“Our volunteers are tutors. There’s some that are from the Northeast Area,” said Williams. “We actually have a lot from all over the Kansas City area. We think it’s really cool because they get to see this beautiful part of Kansas City that they might not know about otherwise.”

Global FC plans on staying at the EGG for the rest of the summer until schools open up again.

“We’re hosting the space because it’s an important organization,” said Bobbi Baker, President of the Northeast Kansas City Chamber of Commerce. “Not only activity but also life skills here in the Northeast.”

For more information on Global FC or to volunteer go to https://www.globalfutbol.org/volunteer/