By Justin Forzano | Founder & CEO
As you may have noticed, we are sporting a brand-new name: Open Field. We’ve come a long way and grown so much since we began this journey as Cameroon Football Development Program in 2010. We’re excited to share this transformative time in our organization’s history with you and begin by saying THANK YOU for your support over the years!
It’s not just our name and logo that have changed, we have expanded our mission, improved our tag line, updated our website, and revamped our social media presence, all to better communicate our global mission to improve the lives and futures of youth through sport.
So, what’s different?
For the past 2.5 years, we focused on developing a Sport for Good model to scale and replicate in communities around the world. With continued support from the FIFA Foundation, we prioritized leadership training and skill-building experiences for older youth to serve as mentors and role models on and off the field to younger kids in their community. The result of this investment is a culturally-relevant and flexible approach to programming that is youth-led, community based, and ready to expand.
Where are we going?
We launched our first U.S. program in Pittsburgh in June. Through collaboration with community-based organizations, our summer programming engaged more than 100 boys and girls ages 5-18 from all different backgrounds in low income neighborhoods across the city. Our Cameroon programming is expanding in two more cities thanks in part to a grant from the United Nations Development Program. Most recently, we signed a memorandum of understanding to explore expansion in another West African country.
With your support we have made a positive impact in the lives of thousands of youth through the global game of soccer. Looking ahead, we are humbled and thrilled to continue to reach thousands more as Open Field. We welcome you on this next phase of our journey!
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