America SCORES

What: This innovative program combines soccer, creative writing and service learning in the hopes of providing a basis for its students to become engaged in their communities and keep them active after school.

Why it works: The kids have to commit to attend literacy workshops every other day after school in order to play on their team. The literacy work they do also serves as the basis for a year-long community service project, which is based on the poetry they produce.

Where: What began in 1994 as a DC public school teacher's plan to keep her students off of the streets after school, has expanded to 14 cities, including Atlanta, Bay Area, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, DC, Denver, LA, Milwaukee, New England, New York, Seattle, and St. Louis.

Results: The program now reaches over 6,000 kids in 200 urban schools.

According to the SCORES website, their kids get 10 times more exercise than the national average, while producing more than 20,000 original literary works every year. Moreover, the program gives the students have the opportunity to publish and present their poems, building confidence in themselves and their abilities.

How to help: Go to the America SCORES website (http://www.americascores.org/) to donate or volunteer your services as a Writing Buddy, Assistant Soccer Coach, or Game Day Referee among the many other options for how to help out.