Project in Philadelphia is up to public vote in Manchester City's Cityzens Giving global campaign

love.fútbol, an international social organization that mobilizes communities to create sporting public spaces, is one of six initiatives selected for the Manchester City’s global charity campaign, Cityzens Giving. For the sixth year, City Football Group and its partners have donated £400,000 to fund six global football projects in Manchester, New York, Melbourne, Philadelphia, Cape Coast, Ghana, and Mumbai. During the six-week campaign, fans have the chance to vote for their favourite project; the more votes a project gets, the greater amount of funding it will receive.  

Fans can vote on the Cityzens Giving website www.mancity.com/cityzensgiving, choosing "Safe Spaces, Philadelphia" as their favorite cause.

"Football is the world's game, and that's the most interesting thing about Cityzens Giving: a vote in Brazil or Uruguay, for example, helps Philadelphia children and young people have a safe space to play. It's the passion for football that connects everyone," says love.fútbol Development Director Breno Lacet. Since 2006, love.fútbol has undertaken projects in 42 communities in eight countries: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, the United States, India, and Mexico. This month, the organization reached communities in two other countries: Tanzania in Africa and the Dominican Republic in the Caribbean. In Philadelphia, love.fútbol has just opened two multi-purpose sports spaces: James Finnegan Playground and Dr. Tanner G. Duckrey Schoolyard, which shows the existing engagement with the city.

This is the second time love.fútbol has been selected to participate in Cityzens Giving. In the 2016/2017 campaign, the organization received the most public votes and the largest share of funding, which allowed the execution of three projects in communities in Mexico, inaugurated in 2017 (El Coyolito), 2018 (La Doce), and this year (San Gregorio). This year, Philadelphia will be the city benefiting from the votes. "This new field is going to increase the confidence of the parents to let their kids out," says Braylin, 16, who will work with young people to deliver regular football and art activities at a newly refurbished pitch.

The Safe Spaces, Philadelphia project will start in 2020 and will renovate a block as young leaders in the region receive training and develop new skills for life and the labor market. The initiative will directly benefit 150 young children from the locality.

Read more:

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Manchester City and love.fútbol offer training for young people in Mexico

About Cityzens Giving 

Cityzens Giving empowers fans to decide how youth-led community football projects are funded across the globe. Since the launch of Cityzens Giving more than five years ago, over 1,000 Young Leaders have been trained with over 10,000 young people across 20 cities now engaged each year through the projects. Each year, fans are given the opportunity to choose how funds, donated by City Football Group and its partners, are split between six different projects. 

In addition to funding, every season young leaders are invited to Manchester City’s Young Leaders Summit held at City Football Academy to share learning about how they are using the power of football to address social issues in their local communities.  

In October 2016, Cityzens Giving won Corporate Citizenship Campaign of the Year at the annual Beyond Sport Awards, designed to support and reward the best projects across the globe that are using sport for positive social change. 

For more information, please visit www.mancity.com/cityzensgiving