PORT is a not-for-profit organization that uses soccer as a vehicle to promote social change and development. Our players go on to find housing, complete rehabilitation and recovery programs, obtain GED and advanced degrees, and enter the workforce. PORT operates with the help of Washtenaw County Project Outreach, StreetSoccerUSA, Wide World Sports Complex, and the Shelter Association of Washtenaw
County. Read our story:
In May 2007 while searching the internet on a whim to prove to her supervisor, John Loring, that Finland has services for the homeless (don’t ask), Sara Silvennoinen discovered the existence of the Homeless World Cup (www.homelessworldcup.org), a soccer tournament for teams of homeless adults from around the world. Being a soccer fanatic and advocate for the homeless, Sara was intrigued. She learned that The Homeless World Cup evolved from the efforts of Harald Schmied, editor of the Austrian street paper Megaphone, and Mel Young, co-founder of The Big Issue in Scotland (a charity dedicated to promoting practical solutions to eradicating poverty). The two men collaborated in 2001 after the International Network of Street Papers conference for a mutual cause: they wanted to find a international language to unite homeless populations. Their solution? Football! Or, as we refer to it here in the States, Soccer! In 2003 the first Homeless World Cup was held in Austria and 18 nations competed. In 2004, Lawrence Cann, founder and director of Community Works 945, an affiliation of the Urban Ministries Center in Charlotte NC, learned of the World Cup and created a local Street Soccer program. His goal (no pun intended) was to use sport as a “strategy for confronting human weakness and transforming it.” The result was the Charlotte Team, Street Soccer 945, and Street Soccer USA (www.communityworks945.org/StreetSoccerUSA), which is the foundation for the Street Soccer USA Homeless Cup. Sara contacted Lawrence and, with his experience and support, began to develop a local homeless soccer team. S.S.PORT was born and began practicing in August 2007. The players competed in the Street Soccer USA Cup in June of 2008 and placed 4th of 12 teams from across the country. Sara was awarded the honor of co-coaching the U.S. Team which travelled to Australia in December 2008. The S.S. PORT team has been going strong ever since!
