Chicago, Illinois — A new public soccer field in the Logan Square neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois was dedicated by His Excellency Yousef Al Otaiba, United Arab Emirates Ambassador to the United States, on Thursday afternoon. The field, a gift from the U.A.E. Embassy in Washington, D.C. and Manchester City Football Club, was built in partnership with the Pritzker Traubert Family Foundation’s “Take the Field Initiative” and the Chicago Park District.
Ambassador Yousef Al Otaiba was joined Thursday by Mayor of Chicago Rahm Emanuel, senior local government officials, representatives from the Pritzker Traubert Family Foundation and the Chicago Park District, Manchester City’s U.S. Representative Gary Hopkins, and hundreds of neighborhood children for the field dedication ceremony in Logan Square’s Haas Park. In his remarks at the ceremony, the Ambassador underscored the importance of the “City Soccer in the Community” initiative to the Embassy of the U.A.E., its partners, and the communities it serves around the U.S. — including Chicago.
“We are here today to celebrate the dedication of a new soccer field that will provide a place for children from the surrounding Chicago neighborhoods to play, learn, and develop,” said Ambassador Al Otaiba. “Occasions like today are great opportunities to bring communities together and, on a grander scale, to show the depth and multidimensional nature of the U.S.-U.A.E. relationship.”
- Ambassador Al Otaiba (third row, right), Mayor Rahm Emanuel (third row, second from right), senior representatives from Manchester City, and neighborhood children celebrate the opening of the new Haas Park soccer field in Chicago
Following the opening ceremony, Ambassador Al Otaiba welcomed children onto the field and joined them for a kick-around before conducting interviews with local and national media covering the event.
The dedication in Chicago marked the fourth soccer field built by the Manchester City Football Club’s “City Soccer in the Community” initiative and the U.A.E. Embassy in the last two years.
City Soccer in the Community (CSITC) is a community development program developed by the U.A.E. Embassy and Manchester City in 2010 to provide facilities and complimentary training for inner city youth across the United States. According to the Embassy of the U.A.E. in Washington, D.C., over 3,300 children every week have received coaching from CSITC since the program’s founding. For more information on the program, visit http://www.city-soccer.org/.
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About Take the Field
The Take the Field initiative is led by the Pritzker Traubert Family Foundation and joins public and private resources to build 11 artificial turf athletic fields in underserved and geographically diverse Chicago parks. The Pritzker Traubert Family Foundation has committed to donate up to $5 million on a 1:1 matching basis for the new facilities to encourage community residents, particularly youth, to engage in sports and healthy activities. To date, over $13 million has been dedicated to the initiative thanks to its partners. Six fields were constructed last summer and five fields are scheduled to open by the end of 2012. For more information, visit www.ptffoudation.org.
About The Chicago Park District
Chicago Park District owns more than 8,100 acres of green space, and offers thousands of sports and physical activities as well as cultural and environmental programs. The Chicago Park District is also responsible for 77 indoor and outdoor pools and 26 miles of lakefront.
About Manchester City Football Club’s Social Responsibility
Manchester City FC was founded in 1880 by the family of Arthur Connell, the first rector of the newly consecrated St Mark’s Church in West Gorton. The family believed that football can create opportunities and a sense of community, a belief that remains at the heart of the Club to this day. Twenty-six years ago, MCFC was one of the first football clubs to set up a Community scheme, City in the Community. Each year, City in the Community works with over 200,000 people throughout Greater Manchester, with a particular focus on our local East Manchester community.
About The United Arab Emirates
The U.A.E. is a source of stability, tolerance, innovation, and growth in the Arabian Gulf and around the globe. The United States and the U.A.E. are reliable allies, with historical and present-day shared security and economic interests. In fact, the U.A.E. is the largest export market for US goods in the Middle East and more US naval vessels visit U.A.E. ports than any other port outside the United States. The United States and the U.A.E. also enjoy growing social and cultural ties, and many US institutions in education, healthcare and the arts have formed collaborative partnerships with U.A.E. entities. For more information: www.uae-embassy.org.
