For the fourth time in club history, New York City FC have been nominated for the annual Sports Humanitarian Team of the Year Award.
The winners, as part of ESPN’s 2021 Sports Humanitarian Awards, will be unveiled during a July 12 ceremony in New York City. Other nominees are the WNBA’s Atlanta Dream, the NFL’s Denver Broncos and the MLB’s Toronto Blue Jays. The winner will direct a $100,000 grant to charity, while the finalists will direct a $25,000 grant to charity.
NYCFC and their charitable foundation, City in the Community (CITC), have continued making a deep and tangible impact across the five boroughs. They’ve built 40 soccer pitches in underserved neighborhoods, delivered free health and education programs to 30,000+ young people and trained and developed 150+ youth in community coaching.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, NYCFC volunteered 2,000+ hours of community service. They also launched a partnership with NY Common Pantry to help donate 250,000+ life-saving meals to South Bronx residents.
Further, NYCFC converted all core community programs to virtual classrooms, delivered daily soccer workouts and hosted a podcast to keep 1,600 local youth engaged throughout the pandemic. For families, they created a COVID resource hub that provided educational materials and workouts from players.
NYCFC’s Club’s Youth Leadership Council (YLC) kept plugging along, training and developing the next generation of community leaders by creating pathways into education, careers and entrepreneurship. The YLC’s members have volunteered over 7,000 hours since the group’s inception, including work with NY Common Pantry to help address food insecurity.
The ESPN-led ceremony will be broadcast with a 90-minute television special that airs July 24 at 2 pm ET on ABC. The event is being held within New York City’s Seaport district and will be hosted by actor and author Taye Diggs, featuring a performance by Grammy-nominated Cordae.
