Golden Goals 2018 Funds for the Aztecas Youth Soccer Academy

My passion and dedication to advocacy began years ago when I realized that by speaking up and taking action I could help other families affected by incarceration. I believe in programs that not only support those loved ones on the outside and on the inside, but also prevention programs that show another choice to incarceration. Many years ago I reached out to an eighteen year old girl, Gina, and became her mentor because she, even at her young age and with a family entrenched in gangs, poverty, and homelessness, was pulling herself into a better life by playing soccer. Today she is a Juvenile Probation Officer and founder of the Aztecas Youth Soccer Academy, a leadership program that has helped hundreds of youth out of gangs and into being productive, healthy men in the community. http://www.aztecasyouthsocceracademy.org/

I’ m so proud of our youth for speaking out and sharing their story of how joining the Aztecas saved them from being in gangs and leading a life of violence that could result in being killed or in prision for life. As the founder and director of Golden Goals, I am always inspired by the turn out from the community that knows how important the Aztecas program is for saving lives of our most at risk youth.