Groundbreaking Anti-Racism Education Program Returns to Oakland

Created in Oakland and presented by The PG&E Foundation, ‘Switch the Pitch’ is now growing across the USA

Oakland’s latest edition of ‘Switch the Pitch’, a groundbreaking education program for youth soccer coaches, kicked off recently at Oakland Roots & Soul Sports Club.

‘Switch the Pitch’ was created to help eradicate the systemic discrimination and bias throughout the US youth soccer system which is excluding minority players and future coaches from the game. This unique program uses practical soccer lessons and drills to help coaches to understand both interpersonal and individual forms of racism and explores themes like identity and perspectives, activism and leadership, power and policies and allyship and collective action. The Oakland program is funded by the Oakland Roots & Soul Foundation thanks to the support of The PG&E Corporation Foundation.

“We believe that youth sports should be a safe and inclusive place for young people and their coaches to learn and grow” said Stephanie Isaacson, PG&E Community Relations and Executive Director, The PG&E Corporation Foundation. “We partner with the Oakland Roots and Soul Foundation and Switch the Pitch to help make every child’s experience with sports a positive and uplifting one, free of racial bias. This is one way we are showing up for our hometowns with caring and empathy.”

 Switch the Pitch was created by the non-profit organization Soccer Without Borders and Common Goal - a global movement led by some of the world’s top soccer stars like Naomi Girma, Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan. In 2023, Oakland became the site of the first-ever Switch the Pitch program, which Common Goal has since expanded to Chicago. Of the 2023 graduates, 100% reported their awareness of racial justice increased, while 93% said they were better equipped to facilitate difficult conversations, 93% felt better able to establish trust with their players and 88% reported they will act to reduce bias.

“The Roots and Soul remain driving forces behind the success of Switch the Pitch” said Taylor Green, Racial Justice Program Manager at Common Goal. “We are immensely proud of our partnership and look forward to continuing creating inclusive spaces for all to thrive in soccer. In such a polarized time, it is easy to diagnose problems. Switch the Pitch offers each of us the power to be part of the solution and to model what racial justice can look like within our communities.”

For more information about Switch the Pitch, visit https://switchthepitch.org/ 

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ABOUT COMMON GOAL

Common Goal is a pledge-based philanthropic movement that exists to unite the soccer community in tackling the biggest challenges of our times. The movement aims to inspire and mobilize every stakeholder of the soccer economy to play a meaningful role in serving the wellbeing of our people and planet. To do so, Common Goal provides a simple and impactful mechanism for professional soccer players, managers, officials, clubs, and other stakeholders, to pledge a minimum of 1% of their earnings to high-impact initiatives that use the game to drive progress towards the Global Goals -from advancing gender and racial equality to driving jobs and growth and promoting greater peace and social justice. In doing so, Common Goal aims to establish an intrinsic link between soccer as a business and soccer as a tool for social change. The movement’s long-term vision is to unlock 1% of the entire soccer industry’s revenues —estimated at €50 billion per year—to drive progress towards the Global Goals.

Since its inception, more than 250 professional players and managers have joined – including Dani Olmo, Paulo Dybala, Pernille Harder, Timo Werner, Serge Gnabry, Casey Stoney, Jürgen Klopp and Megan Rapinoe. Also, influential figures have joined the movement, such as UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin, and the iconic Eric Cantona, plus professional clubs such as FC Nordsjælland, from the elite league in Denmark, and Oakland Roots SC from the USL in North America.