by Catholic Charities – June 24, 2021

And it’s a goal for Catholic Charities, our new partners Bay Cities Futbol Club, and Bay Area youth! Bay Cities Futbol Club (Bay Cities FC) is a unique, community-centered, professional women’s and men’s soccer club that shares Catholic Charities’ vision to engage youth from the Bay Area in profound ways. To kick off our collaboration, Bay Cities FC will hold a game on Sunday, June 27th at Sequoia High School against Project 510 in conjunction with Catholic Charities Center for Immigration & Legal Support Services.

This new partnership opens exciting doors that youth crave. For many of the young people we serve, especially unaccompanied youth entering the U.S., soccer speaks to their hearts. “We are always looking for ways to engage our kids because that’s how we build trust and find out what they need,” says Carlos Garcia, Program Director for Support Services.

While the Center’s legal team provides the unaccompanied youth and their families with immigration legal services, Garcia and his team provide them with vital social services and case management, including bi-monthly food distribution. The team also holds a wide range of community engagement events and other enrichment programs. The new partnership with Bay Cities FC will be an amazing boost to the team’s ongoing efforts to fulfill our youth’s various needs.

Both Catholic Charities and Bay Cities FC recognize that soccer can be a powerful channel for healing, growth, and inspiration. Bay Cities FC founder Anders Perez, who is himself Salvadorian, hopes to connect kids with players who can relate to their hardships. Whether it’s bringing kids to join players at a practice, or connecting them to local youth clubs in the area, or even providing internship opportunities, Bay Cities FC aims to use its platform as a professional organization to inspire youth. “We want to show these kids that their dreams, soccer-related or not, are not so far away, and that there are people here that are going to help them reach those dreams,” Perez explains.

Catholic Charities is excited for the opportunity to collaborate with Bay Cities FC in our shared mission to nurture, elevate, and inspire our youth to succeed.  It is the opportunity for these kids to get back to being kids and experience unbridled joy by playing a sport that they love.