Community Programs

Night Leagues is a weekend soccer programming initiative designed to empower youth aged 14-18 through continuous weekend soccer programming and provide participants with opportunities for professional development. The programming takes place at Flushing High School, which is serving as a pilot site for the newly launched initiative. The program is open to all local youth, including those enrolled at Flushing High School and nearby areas. In addition to free soccer programming, New York City FC and its partner, EmPower Solar, connect participants to mentors and resources to improve their career and college readiness.

Youth Leadership Council

Youth Leadership Council (YLC) provides high potential young people with the chance to work within the New York City FC front office to help tackle social challenges across New York City. It also provides participants with a safe space enabling youth to access career readiness.

Youth Leadership Training

This four-day training takes place in the spring and brings together over 25+ young adults from different organizations over the five boroughs. The training is open to youth ages 16-24 and provides hands-on coaching, education, and leadership training.

The training guides and helps participants with team building, communication, and how to find their inner passion for the game to help others. In the four days, youth learn about leadership, community coaching, social impact, and project management from New York City FC community relations staff and Manchester City in the community coach.

Soccer Bloc is a six-week free summer program, open to youth aged 8 to 12. Children are trained by young leaders who have attended CITC Healthy Goals Training. This curriculum is aimed at maximizing learning and leadership skills through drills and team-building exercises. The program's goal is to instill leadership skills in New York City youth while providing a fun and safe environment for children to play soccer that helps build stronger communities.

STEM Is a program initiative designed to encourage youth through online education, robotics, and literacy. Programming takes place online, and in person and youth learn about robotics as it relates to soccer, in person soccer clinics, and literacy programming.

City in the Community (CITC) delivers free in-school and after-school programming to over 40 public schools and community-based organizations across New York City, serving over 1,800 youth each week. Our Healthy Hat-trick curriculum, which is utilized across 30+ schools in all five boroughs and reaches 84% of NYC communities, promotes healthy lifestyles for children aged 7-12. An independent study reported a $4.50 social return on investment for every $1 invested in the program.

Children enrolled in the “Healthy Hat-trick” program have reported significant benefits:

• 73% of participants believe the Healthy Hat-Trick project has made them more physically active.
• 77% of participants think the Healthy Hat-Trick has encouraged them to choose healthier foods.

Saturday Night Lights (SNL) is a youth development and violence prevention program that provides year-round free soccer programming and mentorship opportunities for youth aged 7-18. Saturday Night Lights is provided in partnership with the New York City Department of Youth and Community Development.