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Looking for healthy alternatives to youth gangs and violence, a group of activists working with public housing residents in San Francisco identified the need for challenging activities that hard-to-reach youth would find engaging and rewarding. The young people we talked with wanted to be involved in something exciting, where they could grow and be safe. We recognized the exuberant energy of these growing children and wanted healthy outlets that could teach them how to manage this energy and develop healthy lifestyles. With the many challenges facing families in public housing, we wanted to develop activities that would bring positive support into the lives of children and their families. We wanted activities that would bring parents and children closer together and would build a sense of pride in self and community. We decided on team sports.

The highly regarded national Pop Warner amateur football and cheerleading program, established in 1929, offered a ready-made system for helping our local group get started. Pop Warner’s framework combines scholastic expectations with a season of hard practice and spirited competition. The model involves exposure to diverse communities and opportunities for travel outside the neighborhood. For our inner city youth, this combination has proven to be highly successful.

Since 1999, at least one of our five teams has made it to the regional conference, having successfully competed in division and league championships. As a result of our participants’ determination and winning ratio, SF Junior 49ers is assigned to Division 1, for the toughest teams. Our group sponsors Mighty Mites (7-9 year olds), Junior Peewees (8-10 years old), Peewees (9-11 years old), Junior Midgets (10-12 years old) and Midgets (13-15 years old). These teams average 35 young people each, the cheerleading squads average 7-10, for an annual total of 180-240 participants. In 2003, all five teams went to the Division 1 Conference playoffs.