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Up2Us is pleased to commemorate the first official

United We Serve 9/11 Day of Service by participating in service events

across the country that revitalize communities

and give youth more opportunities to play sports

 

**MEDIA ADVISORY**

In recognition of President Obama’s call for the nation’s first official September 11 Day of Service and Remembrance, Washington, D.C. students joined community volunteers and leadership and staff from the Corporation for National and Community Service, Up2Us, the leading national coalition focused on youth sports and positive youth development, and DC SCORES, a local urban soccer league, in a field reclamation project that will turn unusable space in Northeast D.C. into a new soccer field for school and community use on Friday, September 11, from 4 to 6pm.

The new field will be used by students at the Arts and Technology Academy. After school, the field will be used by local sports teams and organizations like DC SCORES for sports-based youth development that help students excel on the field and in the classroom. The Day of Service project will not only create a brand new field, but will provide soccer lessons and drills for participating D.C. youth.

 

This effort is a response to numerous problems facing children and youth in DC and nationwide, including near-epidemic levels of childhood obesity, and budget crises that are placing school sports on the chopping block. Research demonstrates that youth who play sports are more likely to complete high school and college; be more physically fit; and form supportive relationships with peers and adults, but without usable space, all of this becomes impossible.

 

WHO:

Paul Caccamo, Executive Director, Up2Us

Peachy Myers, White House Liaison, Corporation for National and Community Service

Amy Nakamoto, Executive Director, DC SCORES

Erik Zoberman, Project Director, United We Serve

40 Washington, DC school children, ages 8-13

Community volunteers

WHERE:

5300 Blaine Street, NE

Washington, DC 20019

WHAT:

9/11 Day of Service project to create a new playing field in Northeast D.C.

 

WHEN:

September 11, 2009; 4pm to 6pm

 

Up2Us is a coalition of more than 300 member organizations across the country including America SCORES affiliates, a local sports-based youth development program and soccer league working with youth in under-resourced communities. The Up2Us mission is to increase the impact of and access to youth sports as a tool for positive youth development.

 

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