America SCORES Receives Largest Donation In Its History From Bestfoods Educational Foundation

Grant Allows National Youth Development Non-Profit to Provide More Opportunities to Children

02.22.2010 – New York, NY—The Board of Directors of America SCORES, a national youth development organization, has been awarded the largest ever gift in the organization’s history, a $1.3 million grant from the Bestfoods Educational Foundation. The Bestfoods Educational Foundation, overseen by former Bestfoods executives, has provided gifts to non-profit educational causes for 10 years.
America SCORES will use the gift to dramatically improve the delivery of its innovative after-school programs that combine soccer, poetry, and service learning to fight obesity, improve literacy, and increase motivation among youth in 200 public schools in 14 cities. Enhanced communication and operations among the national and affiliate offices will allow America SCORES to provide more and better opportunities to empower children across the country to succeed in school and live healthy lives.
“This gift will enable America SCORES to reach new heights in its mission to inspire urban youth through creativity and teamwork,” said Norma Barquet, CEO of America SCORES. “We are extremely grateful to the Board at the Bestfoods Educational Foundation for its generosity and belief in our organization to provide educational opportunities to deserving children. America SCORES is honored and privileged to be the recipient of such an extraordinary gift.”
In addition to the Bestfoods Educational Foundation, America SCORES has long-standing partnerships with the Corporation for National and Community Service, Hewitt Associates and adidas.
“The Bestfoods Educational Foundation has enthusiastically supported America SCORES with substantial annual grants for the past seven years,” said Richard Bergeman, Chairman of the Board of the Bestfoods Educational Foundation. “We are truly pleased to be able to make this most recent grant of $1.3 million, knowing that it will help America SCORES move energetically forward in its mission to serve many thousands, some day perhaps hundreds of thousands, of children across the country.”
The Bestfoods Educational Foundation was set up and funded by executives of Bestfoods to provide scholarships to children of Bestfoods employees around the world. After Unilever acquired Bestfoods in 2000, the founding executives continued to oversee its donations to educational causes until they decided to liquidate the fund and direct final major donations to a select group of charities at the end of 2009.

“America SCORES is deeply grateful to be among this special group of non-profits that the Bestfoods Educational Foundation selected and we will work very hard to continue the vision of the Foundation for years to come,” said Fred Popp, Chairman of the Board at America SCORES.
About America SCORES:
America SCORES is a national nonprofit organization whose mission is to empower students in urban communities using soccer, writing, creative expression and service-learning. With teamwork as the unifying value, we inspire youth to lead healthy lifestyles, be engaged students and become agents of change in their communities.
America SCORES currently operates affiliates in urban public schools in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods in 14 cities including: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Washington DC, Denver, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, New York, Oakland, San Francisco, Seattle and St. Louis.
The 2008 President’s Committee has recognized America SCORES on the Arts and Humanities with a Coming Up Taller Award for its exemplary programs fostering the creative and intellectual development of America's youth and by Charity Navigator as one of the most administratively efficient nonprofits in the country. For more information, visit www.AmericaSCORES.org.
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White House Childhood Obesity Initiative Launched Today

As you may have heard, today Michelle Obama kicked off a campaign called Let's Move to fight childhood obesity, which includes a White House memorandum "establishing a new federal task force to tackle the growing problem of childhood obesity. The task force, according to the memorandum, will have 90 days to craft a plan encouraging "optimal coordination" between the federal government and both the private and non-profit sectors, according to Obama." (cnn.com)

Click here to read the First Lady's Let's Move blog.

Partnering with the First Lady and other interested organizations, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) has launched a new, independent organization called Partnership for a Healthier America. According to a statement by RWJF, "The purpose of the new Partnership for a Healthier America is unique: to bring together the public, private and nonprofit leaders who must be part of the movement; to secure their sustained, measurable commitments to reversing the epidemic; and to track the impact of those commitments to ensure greater accountability throughout this important movement." Please see below for more information about the Partnership.

Official White House Page on the campaign.

Michelle Obama talks childhood obesity with Matt Lauer on TODAY.

Statement from Robert Wood Johnson Foundation announcing the Partnership for a Healthier America.

What inspires you?

As some of you may already know, we're working around the clock (well, at least during day) to ensure our Inspired Art Show is a huge success. Not familiar with the project? Read on.

The Inspired Art Project enlists local artists to create and donate original works, inspired by original poetry written by students participating in America SCORES St. Louis. Started a few years ago by another SCORES affiliate in the Bay Area, the Inspired Art Project is being realized here in St. Louis.

Through this cycle of inspiration and influence:

• students will witness their creativity brought to life,
• artists will build connections with diverse communities around the City, and
• SCORES’ supporters will see the profound impact these youths’ words can have on others.

Artwork will be displayed alongside the original poem and sold at the Inspired Art Show on March 20, 2010. Proceeds from the Inspired Art Show will directly benefit SCORES, providing free, creative writing and soccer after-school programming to elementary-aged students in St. Louis.

Want to get submit a piece of artwork, attend the show, or sign up to volunteer?

Check out www.inspiredartstlouis.og.

A New Year for Kids

New Year's resolutions are usually all about ourselves. We're challenging you to help us change that.

Here’s how:

Go to http://www.newyear4kids.wordpress.com and tell us what you will do for kids this year!

Countdown to the Poetry Slam!

As you may know, our annual Poetry Slam is slated for next Tuesday, November 17th. The staff, parents, coaches, and poet-athletes are all extremely excited for this year's event. Each school (Nance Elementary, Patrick Henry Elementary, Lexington Elementary, and Walbridge Elementary) will be performing both group and individual poems. Here's some footage from last year's slam to give you feel for what it's like:




Here's the information for the Slam, we hope to see you there!

Metro High School Auditorium

4015 McPherson Avenue

St. Louis, MO 63108

The event begins at 5 p.m.

Spreading the Word: ASCAP Songwriter Residency

For the third year in a row, the ASCAP foundation has provided artists for the ASCAP Songwriter Residency @ America SCORES. This year, the artists came to St. Louis, LA, and Atlanta. For three days, the artists came into classrooms and while collaborating on songs and film scores, taught SCORES students about songwriting and filmmaking (in LA).

At the end of the residency, SCORES students and ASCAP artists recorded their co-written pieces together. This year's artists were songwriter Alonzo Lee in St. Louis, songwriter Johntá Austin in Atlanta, and Composer Shawn K. Clement and animation filmmaker Roger Blonder in LA.

To view the complete press release about this year's program, click here.

With help from Sue Devine from ASCAP and the ASCAP artists, we have created a facebook fan page for the program, to display photos and videos from the current and past programs. We have also created a MySpace page where visitors can listen to our music, and a youtube channel to display our music videos.

Please spread the word about this great program. Thanks to ASCAP for their generous support!

Volunteering with Thomson Reuters

This past Friday, October 23, a handful of our SCORES participants joined volunteers from the local Thomson Reuters office for Make a Difference Day. Both groups and our staff gathered at the Dellwood Indoor Soccer Arena for a day of poetry, soccer, dancing, and fun!

The day started off with both groups creating their own group "I am" or "we are" poems. These poems were a great way for the teams to practice together and to identify unique characteristics of the individuals in the group or the group itself.

After this session, our volunteers were finally able to interact with the kids by learning every body's name. First, everyone gathered in a circle in the middle of the soccer field. Next, Matt announced his name along with an adjective which started with the same letter as his first name (Mathematical Matt). The next person to his left had to repeat Matt's first name and adjective along with his or her own. This continued until the last person in the circle went through and recited every one's adjective and name. Some of our favorites included "Mississippi Marcel", "Ridiculous Rhett" and "Sassy Sean".

Next, everyone rotated between three separate stations: 1) a modified game of sharks and minnows that taught everyone about the importance of staying hydrated (water instead of soda!); 2) A World Cup station that educated everyone on different countries and geographies, which also involved teams of two competing to be the last team standing; 3) A gauntlet station where the participants had to evade defenders trying to steal their ball away.

For our delicious and nutritious lunch, we had sandwiches from Subway, 100% juice, Gatorade or water, fresh fruit, and either vegetable root or Sun chips.

Everyone would need all that energy for our next activity, a high-intensity dance workout called Zumba. Zumba incorporates merengue, salsa, cumbia, reggaeton into a very fun, very high energy workout for all ages.

Our day concluded with a soccer scrimmage that spanned the entire field. Let's just say that some of our kids and volunteers were fairly winded after the match!

We will be posting some photos from the event in the near future and would like to thank Thomson Reuters again for spending a day to support our program. Hopefully we'll be able to partner with you again in the future!

The Afterschool Alliance just posted the results of their in-depth study, "America After 3PM," which examines the availability of after-school programs and the current need for them. Their research indicates that 15 million children are unsupervised after school, and that the parents of 18 million recognize the importance of after-school programs and would enroll their kids if programs were available.

To view their key findings, click here. An interactive map and statistics for each state will be available at their website on October 15th.

The Campaign for Educational Equity recently produced a report entitled "Can After-School Programs Help Level the Academic Playing Field for Disadvantaged Youth?"

As this review suggests, rates of participation in after-school programs remain relatively low among disadvantaged and minority youth - the very youth who may be most in need of academic assistance. The report also examines the current state of after-school programs, and attempts to answer their title question.

To view a PDF of the full report, click here.

Physical Education, Activity and Academic Performance

A 2007 report from our friends at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation further highlights the need to fight for PE and active after-school programs. According to the report, "...physical education has been substantially reduced -- and in some cases completely eliminated -- in response to budget concerns and pressures to improve academic test scores."

Most of us (especially SCORES folks) know that 1/3 of children of teens is overweight or obese. Yet very few elementary schools are providing an adequate amount of physical activity. The belief of some school administrators is simply to replace the time devoted to PE and replace it with additional classroom instruction in the hopes that this increase will lead to improve standardized test scores. The report cities 5 controlled experimental studies in three countries that suggests,

Sacrificing physical education for classroom time does not improve academic performance.

Other conclusions from the report include:

• In some cases, more time in physical education leads to improved grades and standardized test scores.
• Physically active and fit children tend to have better academic achievement.
• There are several possible mechanisms by which PE and regular physical activity could improve academic achievement, including enhanced concentration skills and classroom behavior.
• Additional research is needed to determine the impact of physical activity on academic performance among those who are at highest risk for obesity in the U.S., including African-American, Latino, Native American, Asian American, and Pacific Islander children, as well as children living in lower-income communities.

Follow the link for the complete report.

Fall Frenzy Re-Cap

Everyone on the SCORES team wants to thank all of the parents, teachers, volunteers, and Saint Louis University for helping with our Fall Frenzy 2009 celebration. All the games and festivities went smoothly and we managed to get through the day without any rain (there was a good amount of wind, however).

The stations included:

1. Soccer Drills
2. The REI Web of Life: Students discussed how nature, people, and communities are connected to one another.
3. Face Painting and Operation Food Search
4. Parents vs. Kids Soccer Scrimmage
5. Dancing to the Beat w/ SCORES parents

It was great to see the parents interacting with our poet-athletes, the volunteers facilitating each station, and the coaches keeping everyone organized and motivated throughout the afternoon. We estimate that about 15 volunteers, 40 parents, and over 100 kids came out for our kickoff event. An additional thanks goes out to Dream Center for supplying and cooking our turkey dogs!

Our SCORES photographer, Wendi Fitzgerald, took a lot of pictures throughout the afternoon so please check them out at our Facebook fan page by clicking on the link to the right [coming soon!].

Kickoff to the Fall Season

America SCORES St. Louis is plugging in with the latest web 2.0 technologies to keep you updated about our programs and events. Whether you use Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, or read blogs (or some combination), we hope you'll stay connected with us.

Concerning our program, we're excited for our Fall 2009 schools, two of which started this week:

• Nance Elementary
• Patrick Henry Elementary
• Lexington Elementary
• Walbridge Elementary

Check back later in the year for school profiles, photos, and even quotes from school administrators and our poet-athletes.

Coming up on Friday, October 2 at the Compton Recreation Fields (in front of Chaifetz Arena) at Saint Louis University, America SCORES St. Louis will be hosting our annual, action-packed Fall Frenzy. The event will run from 4 pm to 6 pm that Friday. Students should come ready to play in their full uniforms and tennis shoes. Parents and students can take the bus at the end of the school day to the event and will return to school by bus at 6:30 pm. We need all SCORES parents/guardians to attend the event. Attendance prizes will be awarded. Refreshments will be sold to raise money for the SCORES schools. Parent volunteers are needed; if you would like to help out, please contact Nora at ndoyle@americascores.org. We would like to thank our partners, the Saint Louis Sports Commission, for putting on our parent activities.

Interested parents and students can download our flyer and permission slip on our website.