DC SCORES Pauses Soccer-and-Poetry Program at 9 DC Schools Over Funding Crunch

Nine Washington, D.C. schools have lost their after-school soccer-and-poetry program this fall after DC SCORES, the nonprofit behind it, paused operations there amid what its executive director called the organization's most difficult fundraising year on record. The affected schools include John Lewis Education Campus, McKinley Tech Middle School, Boone Elementary School, Bunker Hill Elementary School, Langley Elementary School, KIPP DC: AIM Academy, KIPP DC: Key Academy, Cardozo Education Campus, and Meridian Public Charter School.

Executive Director Katrina Owens described writing the letter announcing the pauses as one of the most difficult moments in her 20 years with DC SCORES, according to WTOP News. Owens attributed the decision to high inflation costs layered on top of fundraising struggles, and said the region needs to help restore the joy the program's paused schools have lost. She also said government grant funding has stayed flat even as inflation has driven up the cost of running the program.

A Program Built on Soccer Cleats and Poetry Journals

DC SCORES runs after-school programming for elementary and middle school-aged students that blends soccer, poetry, and service learning, according to the same WTOP report. Poet-athletes take part in weekly soccer matches, poetry reading events, and seasonal tournaments, while the organization covers a journal, free transportation, and a full soccer uniform at no extra cost to families. Running the program isn't cheap: DC SCORES pays for permits, field painting, transportation, and coach stipends, and now spends about $1,400 per poet-athlete annually, a figure that has climbed 50 percent since before the pandemic.

The organization traces its roots to 1994, when Teach For America fellow Julie Kennedy founded it at Marie Reed Elementary School in Adams Morgan after noticing female students had few after-school extracurricular options, pairing soccer drills with indoor poetry writing sessions, according to the Planet Word Museum. Three years later, in 1997, the group received the first grant ever awarded by the U.S. Soccer Foundation, funded by financial surpluses from the 1994 FIFA World Cup matches hosted in the United States, according to the SCORES Network. Early expansion of its soccer leagues also leaned on infrastructure built by former Howard University men's soccer head coach Keith Tucker, whose 1974 Howard team was the first HBCU squad to win an NCAA Division I men's soccer national championship; Tucker turned his District-wide youth leagues over to DC SCORES in the 1990s and later coached for the program himself.

From D.C. Roots to a National Network

DC SCORES now serves as the founding chapter of the national SCORES Network, formerly known as America SCORES, which reaches more than 15,000 students across 13 cities in the United States and Canada at over 300 Title I schools, per Cleveland SCORES. Hoodline previously reported on the network's Bay Area affiliate as part of a look at how rising youth sports costs squeeze free programs, a pressure now landing squarely on the D.C. chapter that started it all.

Owens began her own career with DC SCORES in 2006 as a middle school after-school coach at Fletcher-Johnson Educational Center before being appointed executive director in March 2021, succeeding former CEO Bethany Rubin Henderson after developing the organization's middle school curriculum, according to DC SCORES. In March 2026, the national Afterschool Alliance selected Owens as one of 16 Afterschool Ambassadors nationwide for the year, a role meant to help advocate for expanded after-school access amid inflation and rising family expenses.

The Money Problem Behind the Pauses

DC SCORES reported total expenses exceeding $5 million in its 2024 tax filings while raising $5.6 million in grants and contributions that same year, per the WTOP report. Even so, the nonprofit now serves 2,500 remaining students and plans to fundraise for 60 schools going forward. The organization used a rubric based on attendance, alternative programming, and feeder patterns to decide which nine schools would pause first, and it says it will focus on restoring programming at those schools once funding allows. DC SCORES is also cutting its Junior SCORES programs, an abridged offering for first- and second-graders, at 20 other schools.

Owens said the effects of hosting World Cup matches in the U.S. this year have largely bypassed direct-service organizations like DC SCORES, even though the nonprofit's own history is tied to World Cup legacy funding from three decades ago. The contrast underscores a broader trend: the U.S. youth sports market has grown into a $40 billion annual industry, with outdoor soccer alone generating an estimated $5.2 billion, as rising pay-to-play fees push families toward free community leagues even as those leagues struggle to keep the lights on, Hoodline has reported. Project Play data cited in that reporting shows youth sports spending has surged 46 percent since 2019.

A $3.5 Million Fund and an October Fundraiser

DC SCORES has launched a Poet-Athlete Impact Fund with a goal of raising $3.5 million to help stabilize its budget and eventually bring programming back to the paused schools. The nonprofit will also hold its annual One Night One Goal fundraiser on October 6 at Audi Field, featuring live poetry readings, a live auction, and opportunities to meet Washington Spirit and D.C. United players.

The pauses come just months after a string of high-profile wins for DC SCORES students. In May, ten of the program's poet-athletes were selected to represent Team USA at the Street Child World Cup 2026 international youth tournament, following the organization's earlier fielding of a USA girls team at the 2018 Street Child World Cup in Moscow. That same spring, poet-athletes Melany and Avery won regional recognition through Atletas Poetas, a national bilingual youth poetry celebration co-launched by Telemundo Station Group across seven major U.S. markets ahead of the 2026 World Cup, according to NBCUniversal Local.

Owens has also taken the funding fight to the D.C. Council directly, delivering formal testimony before the Committee of the Whole during its municipal budget oversight hearing in June 2025 to push for public funding for District after-school programs. Whether that advocacy, combined with the new impact fund and October's fundraiser, will be enough to bring soccer cleats and poetry journals back to the nine paused schools remains an open question for the families now waiting.