This is a work-in-progress so please be patient as we work on the new presentation. Many of the changes will be made over the next few days but we did want to give you an early look of what we are working on, e.g. the introduction of more social media tools.

Please send along any comments or suggestions about the new look and we will try our best to integrate them into what we are doing.

Thanks!

Sab

IRIN, a project of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, is a great source for humanitarian news and analysis. IRIN recently sat down with Federico Addiechi, head of FIFA’s Corporate Social Responsibility Department, to discuss FIFA’s efforts with respect to the governing body’s activities to drive awareness of this serious situation.

You can read the full interview by clicking here and see an excerpt below. The excerpt highlights the challenges that even an organization like FIFA, one that is involved in a host of socially responsible activities, must face.

Q: Did people have unfair expectations of what FIFA’s role would be in the fight against HIV?

A: I would not say, ‘unfair’. When you work for a UN agency or a non-governmental organisation and you dedicate your life to a certain cause, then of course you think your cause is the most important, and you will do anything to get whoever can have a positive impact on it to help you.

We receive hundreds of requests for different causes, which are all legitimate, and we have the difficult task of having to say, ‘No’. The management of expectations is something that we are permanently doing.

Within FIFA I’m pushing for as much space as possible [for social causes], but there are limitations; it’s impossible to speak about HIV, and about human rights, and about human trafficking, and violence and gender equity … because we are the World Cup, and we should be speaking about football.

Again, you can find the interview by clicking here.

Who are these guys? Well none other than Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, and Dale Earnhardt, three of the biggest names in the sport. The charities they are playing for are:

• Gordon: establishing a program to support the treatment, care and protection of abused children
• Johnson: providing financial relief to pediatric bone marrow transplant patients
• Earnhardt: building a computer lab for elementary students

You can also watch the video and see more information regarding the “competition” by clicking here.

We spoke with the folks at the Be The Match Foundation, the organization for whom Jimmie is competing, who gave us some special insight into Jimmie’s effort. Jimmie and his wife are expecting their first child soon, and the money they are hoping to raise would help financially vulnerable families afford the uninsured and overwhelming recovery costs that come with a child’s marrow transplant.

“I can’t imagine having to choose between being beside my child’s hospital bed or being at work in order to keep our insurance active and a roof over our heads. It is a wonderful thing to know that Transplant Grants for Kids can help ease that tension,” Johnson said. “These grants give moms and dads a little less to worry about and give kids what they want most when they are sick – their parents by their bedside.”

Again, please visit the Project Refresh site to learn more about Jimmie’s effort and those of Dale and Jeff.  Congratulations to all three for their commitment to these causes and for bringing attention to the entire Pepsi Refresh Project.

As reward for reaching this stage of the judging process, representatives from each project will be flown to the Beyond Sport Summit in Chicago, September 27-30, where the winning initiatives will be revealed.

In the case of the Beyond Sport Community Awards, the winners will each receive $15,000 of funding and a substantial package of technical support to help them grow and become sustainable.

Please click here to see the nominees in the following categories:

Beyond Sport Community Awards
Best New Project
Sport for Social Inclusion Award
UNICEF Sport for Education Award
Sport for Conflict Resolution Award
Sport for Health Award
Sport for the Environment Award

Corporate and Federation Awards
Sport Team of the Year
Sport Federation or Governing Body of the Year
Corporation of the Year

Judges’ Awards
Most Courageous Use of Sport Award

To see all of the 350 entries, please visit the Beyond Sport Awards site by clicking here. Congratulations go to all of these organizations as well.

Our friends at Up2Us have from the beginning have held conferences around the country to bring people and organizations from a particular area to discuss challenges and opportunities in sports-base youth development. Some of these challenges and opportunities are local in nature, while others are in common with fellow cities and regions around the country.

We applaud Up2Us for bringing people together to share their knowledge and then leveraging that knowledge for the benefit of its member organizations and the hundreds of thousands of children those programs work with.

The next conference will be taking place this week in New York City. Up2Us makes the event cost-friendly to attend. Actually as cost-friendly as you can get…free!

What: Up2Us Regional Conference in New York City
When: Wednesday, June 16, 2010 — 8:30am – 1:30pm
Where: East Harlem Boys and Girls Club,  321 East 111th Street, New York, NY 10029
Cost: Free w/ Lunch provided

“Please join us for an Up2Us New York City Regional Conference on June 16, 2010. This conference of Sports-Based Youth Development organizations is the second of its kind held in NYC. Last year, over 40 organizations came together to discuss the challenges, opportunities and best practices in Youth Sports programming. Up2Us, a national coalition of Sports-Based Youth Development programs with over 400 members nationwide, has convened groups in cities across America from NYC to LA to Chicago to Atlanta to Dallas.

This conference will have sessions for two groups – 1) front line staff and coaches and 2) directors and administrators. Each organization may send as many coaches as they wish and up to 2 directors/administrators. A detailed session description and agenda can be found here. (opens up a pdf)

Let the World Cup and the goal-scoring begin!

You can learn more about these efforts by linking over to sportanddev.

The first official gathering of the ISDPA is taking place at the 2010 Power of Sport Summit, June 10-12, 2010 at Northeastern University in Boston, MA. The Power of Sport Summit “is an interactive and participatory meeting of scholars, educators, practitioners, policymakers, and advocates working together to define and address both current and emerging issues involving the intersection of sport and social change.”

You can still attend this event due to the power of the Internet. You can participate virtually by signing up at http://isdpaonline.ning.com/page/registration-2.  You can also view the Conference Schedule by clicking here.

We wish Eli Wolff and the team at Northeastern’s Sport in Society the best of luck. This is sure to be a terrific event.

About Sport in Society, a Northeastern University Center
Sport in Society is the world’s leading social justice organization that uses sport to create social change. The flagship organization located in the heart of Boston, Mass. was founded in 1984 by Dr. Richard Lapchick. Through research, education, and advocacy the center works locally, nationally, and internationally to promote physical activity, health, violence prevention, and diversity among young people, adults, and college and professional athletes. Sport in Society’s innovative programs are all staffed by former college, Olympic, or professional athletes and has been awarded America’s most successful violence prevention program by Lou Harris, the Peter F. Drucker Award as the most innovative non-profit program in the social sector. Visit Sport in Society at www.sportinsociety.org for more information.

Global Village Basketball 2010 takes place tomorrow.  Started by Sean Smith, the event is a monster pickup game of basketball. Games of pickup are played all around the world by people of all ages and skill levels.  Scores and highlights (make sure to bring your camera) are shared with other players and teams and the event’s website.

In 2009, Sean was able to bring together hundreds of players in 7 different countries around the world – Canada, USA, China, Poland, Uruguay, Macedonia and Italy. They networked the scores of their pickup basketball games through the internet to collectively tally over 2,300 baskets. Final score: RED 1,182 – BLUE 1,121. Talk about no defense!! 

According to Sean there were players as young as 4 and as old as 60-something, men and women, girls and boys, of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds, and of differently-abled bodies and skill levels. 2010 is projected to be an even bigger and better event.

We think this is a great idea, one with a ton of potential to continually bring people together to share their love of basketball with friends, family, and their global neighbors. And we think there is certainly potential to turn this into a fundraising event as well with corporate support. Maybe we will see that in the future.

Again, you can click the “JOIN THE GAME NOW” button at http://www.globalvillagebasketball.net/.  Also, if you are on Facebook you can become a fan of Global Village Basketball at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Global-Village-Basketball/175326616022.

We wish Sean and all the players the best of luck, and great weather, on June 9.

Kudos goes to the founders of the event, Rachel Markus and Greg Lalas, the staff of experts including Annie Vinton, Elicia Banks-Gabriel, and Lena Kass, the volunteers and the sponsors for putting on such a great event. And of course, the filmmakers, panelists and the hundreds of attendees!

They did a remarkable job putting on an event that was about football, film and fun. And in putting together those 3 elements, we got a chance for some focus, focus on loyalty to and passion for our favorite team and where we are from; focus on the obvious, and subtle, short and long-term impact of war on societies and individuals; focus on the power of football/sport to help us persevere through the toughest of situations and to bring families together; and a focus on international relations and respect. The Festival’s feature films and documentaries, and the related panel discussions, brought all of these to us in a way that was highly entertaining.

Last week was special and as we embark on a month of revelry, joy, camaraderie, and inevitable disappointment (only one team can with the World Cup!) I know that I go into it with a much better focus when it comes to the power of football to make life just a bit better for individuals, communities, countries, and our global society. I thank Kicking & Screening and all of the filmmakers for that.

Hope to see you at Kicking & Screening 2011!!