Sounders FC is more than just a soccer organization.
It is a club that uses its platform to support youth in the Seattle and Washington region through its social impact initiatives. Through the power of sport and specifically soccer, the Sounders find different ways to uplift the lives of young individuals.
In collaboration with the RAVE Foundation, the Sounders live out their values through advocacy by producing events and long-term projects in underserved communities that focus on youth empowerment and personal growth.
“Soccer is a vehicle to talk about bigger issues, whether that be mental health and wellness, whether that be inclusion, whether that be valuing diversity,” said Youth Curriculum and Initiatives Manager Reid Sundblad.
The investment of over 30 RAVE mini-pitches throughout Washington has been arguably one of their biggest projects to date, providing places where kids have access to free-play while supporting their mental and physical health.
“We're not just delivering soccer lessons, soccer clinics that are focused on just the skill, but we're actually looking at what soccer does as a whole in terms of making the person, or the youth in this in this case, not only a stronger soccer player, but just a better human being as a whole,” said Sundblad.
In the lead-up to next year’s FIFA World Cup, the Sounders and RAVE Foundation made a promise to establish 26 mini-pitches by 2026 for local schools. Having achieved that two years early from the projected timeline, a new goal has been set to double the number of mini-pitches to 52 prior to the world-renowned competition.
“RAVE has continued to grow as a foundation with staffing and we've been really, really blessed with generous donors and support of the foundation so that we can continue to grow not only the locations of mini pitches, but to continue those relationships [with local schools and communities] across all of those locations,” said Associate Executive Director of the RAVE Foundation Midori Hobbs.
Other philanthropic efforts include PE takeovers at schools, motivational assemblies, and career development opportunities. Sundblad specifically reflects on the Sports Media Institute — a sports journalism summer program — as something he has found especially impactful for local youth during his time with the club.
“What I appreciate about a program like that is the interactions that youth and students get with business professionals, soccer professionals, and they can start to kind of understand the importance of connection, of relationship building, of establishing a positive relationship, because you might need that positive relationship in the future for advice, for support, for help,” he said.
In 2024 alone, the Sounders and RAVE Foundation served 23,291 youth through their efforts. The objective is to grow that number even more so as the two entities look to utilize the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup in a way that will benefit their partnering schools and communities moving forward.
“When the World Cup has concluded, the goal is to really be able to take and capitalize that momentum to continue great work,” said Hobbs. “I would love to see continued and increased programming across the state, ways that we can scale that, especially as we are growing and being in more communities, and how we can be there when we can't always physically be there. So how can we still show up as a really great partner and relationship with the communities and really be able to scale that in a real way that still feels genuine and that they know that we are always still here for them.”
