America SCORES LA
Inspiring kids to score goals on the field and achieve goals in the classroom
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Currently, there are no other after-school programs that focus on the unique and effective combination of soccer, poetry and service-learning to improve the futures of students from low-income neighborhoods in Los Angeles. America Scores LA's Literacy in Action program addresses the pervasively low literacy and rising obesity rates that disproportionately affect youth in low-income communities such as Palms and West Culver City. America Scores LA works at Title 1 schools where sports programs and creative art programs have largely disappeared in the wake of tight budgets and fills the void by supporting the academic, social, emotional, and physical development of students. The organization works with students from low-income families, who have increased risk of academic failure and obesity.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Soccer
America SCORES LA uses soccer as a means to succeed in life. It promotes a healthy lifestyle, fosters teamwork, and builds self-confidence. The values taught on the field extend into the children’s lives and allow them to grow as players and individuals.
The LA seasons are held for ten weeks in the Fall and Spring at all four of our schools. We hold a game day every Friday at which our elementary school teams have a chance to play each other on a turf field. In addition to this, we have programming all year at Charnock Road Elementary and have a winter season at Palms Middle School.
We use soccer to reach our health/fitness goals, as well as to develop a sense of teamwork, self-esteem and leadership among students. By encouraging teamwork we teach our students to work collaboratively and with their peers.
Soccer is:
A directed sport, providing numerous opportunities for skills development in decision-making and leadership.
A game of physical endurance, which has resulted in statistically significant improvements in fitness levels among our participants.
The most popular sport in the world, and one that is culturally relevant for a significant amount of the SCORES population.
Delivered by well-trained teacher-coaches who follow our curriculum
Students begin every soccer practice with a Challenge Game, which frames the rest of the day’s activities. Presented in fun, interactive ways, Challenge Games set the tone by placing students in collaborative situations. For each practice, coaches select a Challenge Game from one of three categories:
Teamwork, Leadership and Commitment
Conflict Resolution
Health
Then teams have Soccer Drills to develop and hone their skills. We work on a variety of fundamental skills including: dribbling, passing, goalkeeping and shooting. By carrying over principles introduced in the Challenge Games into the practice, we encourage our students to become health-conscious, team-oriented, and committed soccer players. In the final portion of the day, students Scrimmage with their teams.
Creative Language Arts: Poetry, Creative Writing
In the fall season of each year, SCORES scholar-athletes work together in teams to find their voices, using poetry as an important form of self-expression. Exploring self-expression through poetry and creative writing encourages them to value their own perspectives.
Using the Power of Poetry Stanzas I+II curricula, our coaches and students spend the 10-week fall season in pursuit of five core objectives:
Writing poems in a variety of forms (haiku, quatrain, limerick, etc.)
Using the proper writing process of pre-writing, drafting, and revision.
Understanding basic literary terminology and poetic devices, such as alliteration, simile, metaphor, synonym, and hyperbole.
Addressing complex feelings, opinions, and issues in writing.
Reciting their poetry in front of a group with confidence.
Poetry is an effective tool for improving literacy. Our poetry curricula facilitate significant academic objectives.
Poetry teaches vocabulary, word form and usage, grammar and the process of composition writing.
Studying poetry has pragmatic applications for the students—alliteration helps them with pronunciation and rhyme helps them remember words.
Poetry teaches children to be at ease with self-expression through the written and spoken word. This helps them gain the courage and ability to read, write and speak in their daytime classrooms.
Service Learning
The service learning aspect of the SCORES curriculum focuses the students awareness of personal education and health outwards to the community they belong to. During the spring semester, writing coaches use the America SCORES’ Writing for the Community curriculum to help their students learn about their communities and assist them in using their voices to affect positive change.
This portion of the America SCORES program has three goals:
Children value themselves as active members of their community.
Teach children to use writing as a positive tool to discover, celebrate, and change their communities.
Enable children to work in teams to identify, plan and carry out projects that improve their communities, showing them that their efforts can make a difference.
The Service Learning Project provides structure for teams to participate in the five steps of a student-led service-learning project:
Take an inventory of issues affecting their community.
Decide on an issue, which they would like to focus.
Conduct research through print, online media, and live interviews.
Develop and implement their group project.
Reflect on their project orally and in writing.
According to a national evaluation of the America SCORES Literacy in Action program, "As a result of these service-learning activities, SCORES coaches reported that their students displayed increased community awareness, greater interest in helping others, and more involvement in their communities and schools” (Philliber Research Associates).
In 2011 was the Palms Girls team’s support earthquake relief in Japan. They began by creating an awareness campaign that included the school community, parents, and students. But it evolved into an action initiative where students raised money and sent a donation to the Red Cross to assist relief efforts in Japan. And we were reminded again that words turned into action can become a powerful vehicle for change driven by people of any age.
Where we work
Awards
Excellence in Summer Learning Award 2021
National Summer Learning Association
External reviews
Photos
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Evaluation documents
Download evaluation reportsPercentage of children enrolled in America Scores LA after-school program who increased their cardio-vascular/aerobic capacity measured via PACER (Progressive Aerobic Cardiovascular Endurance Run)
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children and youth
Related Program
Soccer
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
PACER test was completed by each student during week 1 of the America Scores LA 10-week after school program and completed again during week 10.
Percentage of 3rd-5th grade students enrolled in America Scores LA after-school programs who were proficient in standardized test scores for writing compared to their non-participating peers
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children and youth, At-risk youth, Economically disadvantaged people
Related Program
Creative Language Arts: Poetry, Creative Writing
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Compared to 77.1% proficiency by non-participating peers at the same school
Percentage of 3rd-5th grade students enrolled in America Scores LA after-school programs who were proficient in English Language Arts standardized test scores compared to their non-participating peers
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children and youth, At-risk youth, Economically disadvantaged people
Related Program
Creative Language Arts: Poetry, Creative Writing
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Compared to 26.6% proficiency by non-participating peers at the same school
Percentage of 3rd-5th grade students enrolled in America Scores LA after-school programs who were proficient in standardized test scores for reading compared to their non-participating peers
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children and youth, At-risk youth, Economically disadvantaged people
Related Program
Creative Language Arts: Poetry, Creative Writing
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Compared to 54.3% proficiency by non-participating peers at the same school
Percentage of LA Scores Youth with Emerging capacities in Core Social Emotional Learning
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children and youth
Type of Metric
Context - describing the issue we work on
Direction of Success
Increasing
Percentage of LA Scores Youth with Emerging Capacities in Sports Social Emotional Learning
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children and youth
Related Program
Soccer
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Our mission is to inspire urban youth to lead healthy lives, be engaged students, and have the confidence and character to make a difference in the world. We achieve this mission through daily after school and summer programming that combines soccer, poetry, and service-learning. Our holistic, team-based approach works – America SCORES students, 85 percent of whom live below the poverty line, improve academically, increase physical fitness, and have a greater sense of confidence and belonging.
America SCORES has a three step approach to youth development that has proven successful and replicable in hundreds of school communities across the country.
1 – We create teams through the sport of soccer
2 – We bring these teams into the classroom to discover their voice through poetry
3 – As a team, these 'poet -athletes' learn to use their voices to make change in their communities
The key to the America SCORES model is that it's holistic, team-based and the core activities provide children with well-rounded experiences.
1 – Soccer is a universal sport accessible to all children regardless of background and physical characteristics.
It is an inclusive sport.
2– Poetry transcends culture and language and helps children develop creative thinking, literacy, and speaking skills.
3 – Service Learning helps children develop empathy, social responsibility, and a sense of personal worth.
The result is children who experience success on the field, in the classroom, and in the community.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
1) Continue providing programs at no cost to the children, families, schools participating in the program
2) Continue providing programs to the Palms and Culver City communities
3) Expand programming to other underserved communities in Los Angeles and Southern California
4) Increase community support through an individual donor giving strategy
5) Increase corporate support through soccer tournament event(s)
6) Develop new strategies for fundraising/growth
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
In order to meet the organizational goals, we must:
1) Increase financial support from individuals
2) Expand the board of directors
3) Increase staff capacity
4) Replicate the successful Palms and West Culver City K-8 Cluster model into other communities
The organization's capabilities for meeting its goals depends upon its ability to build upon the successful Palms model and increase the organizational capacity to expand. We are confident that the model is replicable and the timing is right for expansion.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
We have accomplished an incredible impact on the youth development of the Palms community over the past 2 decades and recently expanded our K-8 Cluster model into the West Culver City community. A bi-product of this program has been the growing number of former students continuing to volunteer and join our alumni coaching network, a true legacy of the program's effect.
We have not increased the capacity of the organization to replicate the program into other communities of need across Los Angeles - this is critical for the organization to grow and reach more underserved children.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
-
How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve
-
Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
-
What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
It is difficult to find the ongoing funding to support feedback collection
Financials
Unlock nonprofit financial insights that will help you make more informed decisions. Try our monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights?
Learn more
about GuideStar Pro.
Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
America SCORES LA
Board of directorsas of 02/22/2022
David Shaheen
JP Morgan
Paul Carr-Rollitt
Manatt Phelps & Phillips LLP
Justin Portaz
Jenner & Block LLP
Sydnie Karras
PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP
Aaron Kaufman
Square-Enix
Harry Hartford
Causeway Capital
Jesus Florido
Musician
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
-
Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as: