Sport at the Service of Humanity and Save the Dream
Launch “Humanity Sports Club” Flagship Program in Milwaukee
Sport at the Service of Humanity Foundation (SSH) and Save the Dream, through the generous support of the Solow Art and Architecture Foundation, today initiated a flagship pilot project of the “Humanity Sports Club” global digital platform.
Initially launched in December 2021 as the GDC with inspiration from the Vatican Dicastery for Culture and Education (DCE), the Humanity Sports Club global digital platform is geared towards local sport providers, faith-based organizations and civil society collaborators who are willing to embrace the use of sport as a tool to promote social inclusion and inter-faith dialogue. The Humanity Sports Club global digital community aims to mobilize local communities by providing access to technical resources, expertise, knowledge.
With the goal of harnessing the practice of sport and promoting its educational and societal values across communities from different faiths, the Humanity Sports Club global digital community pilot project will be initially tested on the ground by a group of over 30 local stakeholders in and around the City of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA.
Milwaukee was chosen as the ideal environment to implement the project and to serve as a model for sport collaboration with faith-based communities in other US cities and other nations across the world. The long-term vision is for communities to be able to use the resources accessible through the Humanity Sports Club global digital community to build local self-sustainable ecosystems directly connected, through technology, to global knowledge.
Milwaukee has often been referred to as a City of Steeples, with a rich immigrant history that created a melting pot of various cultures and faith traditions. Each group formed close-knit communities centered around neighborhood places of worship, with services in their native languages. As a result, a diverse spectrum of denominations has emerged, with more than 1,000 historic and contemporary places of worship. At the same time, Milwaukee’s local sports culture is steeped in passion and success around major professional teams, college and university athletic departments.
The kick-off meeting of the Milwaukee digital community took place on April 6th, during a special event held at Marquette University to commemorate the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace – which, coincided this year with Holy Thursday and Ramadan.
The event brought together local experts and sport providers from NGOs, non-profits, faith institutions, academia, civil society and other relevant organizations, to identify local needs and end-users, and to help identify existing capacities, cooperation and collaboration opportunities, unique challenges and specific needs.
The workshop was opened by Father Jim Voiss of Marquette University, which will host the Sport at the Service of Humanity (SSH) Regional Conference in November 2023, to explore how to leverage the passion of sport combined with the passion and power of faith to serve humanity. Philip Leopold, CEO of SSH Foundation said, “Marquette’s generosity and willingness to support this conference legacy project is remarkable and on behalf of Sport for Humanity, I would like to express our sincerest thanks. The Humanity Sports Club digital platform will undoubtedly deliver positive impact in and around Milwaukee, and allow us to learn and revise, improve, and eventually replicate and scale. This launch meeting was an early critical learning opportunity for us to hear directly from grassroots providers what pain points might be relieved by a digital platform solution.”
Participants took part in three thematic sessions, including the Intersection of Sport and Faith; Sport within Faith-Based Organizations and vice versa; and Bridging Global Knowledge to Local Solutions. They discussed and issued initial recommendations on specific local needs, priorities, and a timeline for testing the digital platform, featuring networking structure and tools, and knowledge-sharing case studies, good and best practices, surveys, and other resources.
Mr. Massimiliano Montanari, CEO of Save the Dream, said, “This is a great opportunity to work together to use the combined power of sport and faith to reinforce connection among faith-based local communities. Sport and faith share similar values such as respect, love and togetherness.
About Sport at the Service of Humanity (SSH)
Sport at the Service of Humanity is the only global faith and sport movement that combines the passion for sport with the values and power of faith to serve humanity. “Live Like You Play” embodies the movement’s ethos – rooted in Pope Francis’ inspirational words – “Challenge yourself in the game of life, as you do in the game of sport”. Sport for Humanity’s beliefs and aspirations are founded on Three Pillars – Inspiration, Inclusion and Involvement and Six Principles – Compassion, Love, Respect, Enlightenment, Balance and Joy. For more information, please visit: www.sportforhumanity.com
About Save the Dream
Save the Dream is the global initiative established by the International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS) with the support of Ooredoo as Technology Partner, to empower youth through safe access to sport and its educational and social values.
Save the Dream serves as a global movement of organizations, people, and athletes who believe in the power of sport to build more fair and inclusive societies and are therefore committed to promoting and protecting its core values for the good of youth and future generations.
For more details please visit: http://savethedream.org/ and/
