The Power of Sport & Play

Our mission is to use the power of sport and play to empower Chicago’s youth to achieve academic success, develop social-emotional skills, and build social capital.
We provide free sport and play opportunities for 50,000 Chicago Public Schools students annually and are on track to do so for 100,000 by 2025. UI empowers Chicago’s youth to achieve success in life.

Play is a Game Changer
We believe that play has the power to make Chicago safer, more equitable, and more connected. We provide complementary approaches to youth and community development, each of which expands on the inherent power of play to support youth as they learn and grow.

Continuum of Programming

We encourage students to hone their leadership skills and build social capital.

Our Continuum of Programming builds on the foundation of social-emotional learning (SEL) youth develop in elementary school. Our leadership development and high school readiness program offers middle school students the opportunity to serve as Team Captains for younger students on the soccer team. Captains participate in group mentoring sessions that build on social-emotional skills taught in our elementary school programs.

Our high school program pairs participants with mentors from Chicago’s professional community and hosts workshops that teach the skills needed to succeed after high school. The program provides work-based learning opportunities that expose participants to diverse examples of success.