Do our kids get soccer fields?

by Shawne Fitzgerald
published Jan. 5, '09

A proposal to build new soccer fields and a covered picnic facility in the northeast corner of Powderhorn Park was announced by Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board staff at a hastily called August meeting after a toddler was shot in a drive-by shooting last summer.

The park board has yet to meet with the Powderhorn Park Neighborhood Association or the broader Powderhorn community about this new development. Park Board Commissioner Scott Vreeland says there is no money to build new
soccer fields. Park board staff planned to use Local Government Aid (LGA) funds for the soccer/picnic facility. These funds were appropriated but not paid to the park board. The governor and State Legislature may take back these funds to help solve the state’s financial crisis. Dave Garmany, facility director at Powderhorn Park, says a community meeting on the soccer field issue will not take place until February or later— until the status of the LGA funding is known. Comm. Vreeland is looking forward to the community meeting as a way to jumpstart the comprehensive planning process for Powderhorn Park. He is hoping residents will present issues beyond soccer fields—including other needed capital improvements.

In the meantime, the Powderhorn Park soccer field proposal has shed light on
the need for increased youth recreation services. A major force behind this message is Rosi Cruz.

Rosi Cruz, a dynamic community organizer, is a woman with a cause: She wants Minneapolis parks to serve all children within walking distance. At the top
of her wish list is the addition of three junior soccer fields in the
northeast corner of Powderhorn Park.

Ms. Cruz founded East Midtown Phillips Youth (EMPY), a nonprofit with a focus on soccer and leadership skill development. Ms. Cruz literally recruits from city sidewalks—when she sees kids outdoors, she invites them to join her program. This winter, EMPY is coordinating 33 junior soccer teams that play in the Green Central Gym on Sundays. Volunteers cook and sell food at the games, and the food sales pay for rental of the gyms and the kitchen. Referee fees are covered by free will donations at the games. EMPY charges no fees to participants. All kids are welcome and Ms. Cruz delights in the cross-cultural sharing.  Participants come from Latino, Somali and Hmong cultures.

For outdoor soccer in the spring, summer and fall, EMPY uses city park fields. The park board charges EMPY $8 per hour per field. Ms. Cruz has to
fundraise for these fees. The EMPY athletes have been unable to use primo park board facilities like the Neiman Sports Complex and the Parade Stadium field because of high fees.

While EMPY is a citywide program, about 100 of the young athletes live within four blocks of Powderhorn Park. EMPY kids and parents have submitted over 500 postcards asking for new soccer fields at Powderhorn. Thanks to Ms. Cruz, I was able to meet with three of these neighborhood kids: Both Kueth, Reak Kueth and Martin Acosta.

These kids play on park board teams as well as EMPY teams. wish that the park board would offer soccer in summer as well as during the official autumn season. They support more soccer fields at all Midtown parks—not only at Powderhorn. They would be interested in park board sponsored team competition between parks (and we talked about Green, Phelps, Sibley, Powderhorn, Corcoran and Stewart). Transportation was a key issue: The young athletes need playing locations they can reach by walking.

They also identified barriers to participation:  The soccer fields in the Powderhorn bowl are so busy that they don’t have a place to play. Some parks, like Green Central, don’t have soccer fields. Other parks, specifically Phelps, are perceived as unsafe. Like all kids, they want to be with their friends and Powderhorn is a central meeting point. Finally, the modest fees charged by the Park Board keep some kids from joining soccer teams and participating in other Park Board programs.The park board no longer offers fee waivers per the discretion of the rec center director. Today, only partial fee waivers are granted.  Even the poorest families who might be subsisting on unemployment, welfare and disability payments are required to pay fees. “I would love to tell every kid who wants to play a sport to come in,” says Dave Garmany, Powderhorn Park staff. But Dave is restricted by park board policy (and the park board need for funds).

The poorest of our kids, in the larger Powderhorn and Phillips communities, are shut out from our taxpayer-supported park board programs because of financial barriers. Thanks to the soccer field planning question at Powderhorn Park and the advocacy of Rosi Cruz, this issue is apparent. Now, it is up to the large communities of Powderhorn and Phillips—plus the Park Board—to come up with solutions to serve our kids.