In partnership with Boeing, the Seattle Sounders established “Change Champions,” an initiative that highlights local organizations and the impact they have in their communities.
Prior to the April 19th match against Nashville SC, the club honored Para los Niños de Highline during Scarves Up, a non-profit that works toward giving back to the Latin American community within the Highland School District.
“The mission for Para los Niños is to support the success of the Latin American community by building leadership skills, celebrating diversity, promoting art expression and cultivating long life curiosity,” said Para los Niños Youth Organizer Alondra Gonzalez.
What started in 2003 by Latino parents who wanted their kids to have more resources within the community, has turned into a flourishing organization that offers an abundance of different programs for both children and adults. Whether it be in relation to education, early childhood development, learning English as a second language or encouraging their own language and culture, Para los Niños has taken significant strides in ensuring their community gets the support they need to thrive in the complex educational system that makes up the U.S.
“The first program starts with [ages] zero to five [where] they have classes Monday through Thursday, and they have first-hand experience in classroom settings with other kids their age, preparing them for that preschool or kindergarten age,” said Gonzalez. “We also have another [program] called “Help Me Grow,” where moms who are pregnant or have kids up until the age of five have workshops on how to manage with kids and what they need to learn for that age.”
Additionally, the non-profit offers “Aprendemos Juntos,” which means learning together, where parents learn English level one and two while their kids are learning how to read and write in Spanish and engage in activities like math, sports and science experiments. And as the kids get older and into highschool, Para los Niños continues its support through internship opportunities and after-school programs such as coding and art.
As the youth organizer of the non-profit, Gonzalez focuses a lot of her time on making sure these initiatives come to fruition.
“My main role is planning after-school programs for high schoolers, or looking for different workshops, different activities that sometimes are not always offered in their school, [or] different learning experiences for them, whether it's team building, personal growth, promoting mental health and physical health as well.”
Having been affiliated with Para los Niños for the past two and a half years, Gonzalez has found solace in seeing the significant impact the organization has brought to those who have grown up through these programs from a young age.
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“It’s [fulfilling] seeing the kids feel comfortable in our organization and seeing how some of them have been with the organization since they were really small, and now they're in high school, as well as just seeing how the kids are able to wear new leadership skills and they are able to apply them to the normal day to day life,” said Gonzalez. “And as well as seeing those high schoolers, once they graduate out of our program, they want to come back into the organization and help us, whether working or doing volunteer hours.”
All that to say, the hope is to continue improving the lives of those in the Highland School District and to one day expand their advocacy efforts to other neighboring areas. To support the organization’s mission and achieve this goal, Sounders fans can donate online or sign-up to volunteer.
“We have something called madrina and padrino and what that means is godmother and godfather, and those are donations that can be done monthly, and that money goes to the organization and our different programs,” said Gonzalez. “We also have our yearly Gala in November. We're always welcoming sponsorships and we are always welcoming volunteers or people who have different resources that they can share with us for our community.”
For more information on Para los Niños de Highline, click HERE.
