Southwest Youth Services (SYS) History:

     Southwest Youth Services (SYS) is a 501 (c)3 organization founded in 2004 by Alec Rekow and four founding board members: Kara Bobroff, Ezra Bayles, Clayton Small and Marie Valdez. The mission of SYS is to provide positive youth development programming through educational, health & wellness and youth leadership components in partnership with Native American communities and organizations. SYS has partnered with Native American communities and organizations in an effort to grow youth soccer to promote a healthy lifestyle.

      Since its inception, SYS has used soccer as its venue to grow partnership and programming. In 2007, SYS partnered with the New Mexico Youth Soccer Association (NMYSA) which let to the creation of Native American Soccer Start (NASS). This program was created to introduce the game of soccer to Native communities and offer youth soccer skills and coaching skills. In its first years SYS lead introductory soccer clinics in 19 Native communities across New Mexico, reaching about 500 participants each summer.

      The Indigenous Soccer Cup stemmed from the great success of NASS and a wonderfull experience after the North American Indigenous Games (NAIG) in 2006. NAIG is a tri-annual celebration of sport and culture featuring Indigenous athletes from the United States and Canada. Over 450 youth soccer players representing, eight different Canadian territories and the U.S., delegations competed in 2006. SYS leadt two U-15 teams to Denver, the boys team took bronze and the girls took silver. The following summer 275 Indigenous youth from across the United States and Canada gathered at the University of New Mexico to compete in the sport of soccer. SYS was able to partner with various Native American organizations to provide youth leadership workshops, life skills, college preparatory components while promoting a healthy lifestyle.

     Also in 2006, SYS partnered with the New Mexico Forum for Youth and Communities to recieve its first two AmeriCorp VISTAs. Each served as program coordinator the worked to expand the vision and goals of SYS while serving the community. In the Fall of 2009, SYS was awarded a 3-year contract as an AmeriCorp VISTA sponsor site in New Mexico to create the Native Youth Wellness Project (NYWC). The NYWC will focus on the pressing youth development needs of at least 21 Native communities to develop and increase the capacity of Native youth resiliency, health & wellness and prevention support. The overall goal of the NYWC is to create youth-led positive youth development projects that will evolve and have sustainability within each partnering Native community.

     One of SYS’ most important partnerships has been established with the Native American Community Academy (NACA), where SYS offices are currently located. Founding Board Member and Principal of NACA, Kara Bobroff, has been an active and supportive member of SYS and it programming. SYS has been apart of NACA since the start in 2006. The successful introduction of soccer at NACA had lead to a 25% participation rate of the total student population.

     SYS’ collaborative efforts with Native American communities through its programming and positive youth development has introduced hundreds of children and adults to the game of soccer. SYS has partnered with 42 Native communities and organizations across the U.S. and Canada to promote its vision and programming. Its long term vision is to promote a healthy lifestyle, resiliency, higher education and youth leadership skills, all of which have been a bridge for many Native communities to gather and encourage each other. SYS and its programming hopes to offset the harsh statistics of suicide, high school dropout rates and drug and alcohol abuse that stand against Native communities and its youth.