Urban Initiatives began in 2003 with two soccer coaches and teachers who wanted to improve sports programming for Chicagos inner-city youth. The organization recruited 12 children in its first year. Today, the nonprofit serves more than 17,000 Chicago students, the vast majority of whom are low-income minorities. Soccer is the foundation, but the mission is healthy living, academic success, and social-emotional learning. We believe students learn best when things are fun, and having fun is what carries these kids through learning opportunities, says Dajuan King, Urban Initiatives program manager.
Sarabia plays striker at Westinghouse Prep, a selective-enrollment academy in East Garfield Park, a high-crime area of Chicago. He lives in nearby Austin, and combined, the two neighborhoods had more than 200 shootings in the first seven months of 2019. But as a Coach for Success participant, Sarabia is focused on both his future and those of other kids in the program. He regularly meets with his mentor to discuss whats going on in his life and work toward post-high-school goals. (He wants to go to college to become an engineer.)
If it werent for Urban Initiatives, I dont think I would strive to be someone who actually wants to help, Sarabia says. I mean, Im not a horrible person, but the program helps a lot with having a mentality of wanting to do well in school and in the community.
