A winning match: NYC partners to get communities on the pitch

In 2013, a public-private partnership formed to turn underutilised public spaces into 50 mini football pitches to bring about a greater sense of community and promote healthy living within disadvantaged areas across New York City’s five boroughs.

New York City government departments, the nonprofit US Soccer Foundation, the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City, Adidas, Etihad Airways and New York City FC (NYCFC) formed a partnership to launch the New York City Soccer Initiative, each playing a different role.

To date, 30 mini-pitches have been built and an investment fund for continual maintenance has been established, but it’s not always easy getting multi-agency projects off the ground.

Bureaucratic processes and a lack of funding can limit government agencies’ agendas. Partnerships can be an effective alternative to gain support for the creation of social projects, but a lack of clarity of job expectations, different organisational cultures, misalignment of goals, poor data sharing and limited communication can derail collaborative projects.

Here’s how the NYC Soccer Initiative is overcoming these barriers to success.

Own-goal: realigning your target

OneNYC — the city’s strategic action plan for the future — includes a push to add public spaces to create active, inclusive communities and improve health.

But in the densely populated city, a lack of investment in disadvantaged communities has led to a disproportionately low number of public spaces in these neighbourhoods compared to wealthier ones.

To address this, the Mayor’s Fund and the parks, education and housing departments within the city government have been identifying neighbourhoods that would benefit from turning public spaces into mini football pitches.

Good data sharing is a crucial aspect of collaboration. Parks are selected for the project based on information held by the three departments. For instance, the parks department identified city parks that haven’t received funding in several years to correct the funding shortfall.

The US Soccer Foundation oversees construction and works with community boards –– an advisory group to districts in the boroughs –– to get approval for pitches to be built.

Adidas, Etihad Airways, and NYCFC have all invested in the project and have been on board for promotion. The partners have also established a $600,000 maintenance fund to ensure that repairs can be made years after the pitch has been built without putting any onus on the city.

Every organisation involved in the scheme has a somewhat different agenda But Alex Bard, director of Safe Places to Play at the US Soccer Foundation, said all of the partners’ goals were aligned — an element that’s often missing in multi-agency partnerships.

Often, when government works with private industries the exchange of resources may come with certain political expectations while competing priorities can complicate the delivery and the initial stages of the project, said Michael Vaughan Cherubin director of national and regional partnerships at the US Soccer Foundation.

For this initiative, the partners were able to avoid this challenge because all the partners had the same goal when setting out to form the partnership. In line with the OneNYC strategy, partners’ aim was to improve health outcomes for the community and bring public spaces to underserved areas.

Identifying an initiative with a public mission being pursued and matching it with a private organisation’s goals is the best way to form public-private partnerships. This allows the government to form partnerships without having to change their priorities, said Bard.

Collaboration within different government agencies can also be a challenge. Public servants may not get the chance to coordinate or develop strategic cross-agency projects due to simply not having an opportunity to engage with people outside of their department.

For the NYC Soccer Initiative, the Mayor’s Fund was able to be an intermediary between not only private partners and city officials, but also for city agencies as well, which the US Soccer Foundation attributes to the success of the project.

Getting people on the same team

The Mayor’s Fund, which works with 30 city agencies and offices, has a reputation for being able to navigate cross-agency collaboration because of its ability to link up its strong network within different government agencies. Actively communicating with all partners and directing them to the right people has been a crucial element for success.

Bard said in some instances it has been a struggle to find relevant people to assist with the project – no one at the organisation knows anyone within the in the state of Oklahoma’s school district, for example, making it harder to build mini-pitches on school grounds. Having a partner that has a good relationship with different agencies can move the project along quicker and lead to more resources.

To build relationships, policy and program managers at the Mayor’s Fund hold monthly meetings where they meet with government agencies to discuss policy problems and upcoming projects, according to Ashleigh Fryer the communications manager at the Mayor’s Fund.

The meetings help identify areas where multiple departments can coordinate and exchange information. Also, all the partners meet quarterly to discuss how the project is moving along.

Meeting with department leaders and residents can also lead to greater opportunities. After coordinating on the NYC Soccer Initiative, The Mayor’s Fund and Adidas have now launched two additional initiatives for the city: a running club and basketball league.

But not every city has a Mayor’s Fund to act as a liaison within agencies and with private partners.

The US Soccer Foundation said that each city requires a curated approach to partnering – some are easier than others. The majority of their partnerships are done with only one government agency, which is still effective but has limitations.

“Every city has a different challenge, the biggest thing to note is that we are more successful as an organisation when we have a champion on the ground and someone who can advocate for us,” said Bard. - Amelia Axelsen

(Picture credit: Pixabay)