The pitfalls, tribulations, and successes of being an immigrant in the United States are well documented and discussed at length. In truth the terribly sad stories, often dominate the news cycle, suppressing the truly inspiring ones. In Rochester, Minnesota however we have a story of a community organizing effort that is so simple yet inspiring, it had to be shared. The Meadow Park Initiative is a community organization looking to bring together two unique immigrant communities from different sides of the globe, to simply play soccer. The initiative brings together both Somali-Americans and members of Rochester's Latin-X community. While the group highlights their effort to bring children and families together over sport, the imitative does not stop there. In fact they are using the shared enjoyment as a building block. The other functions of the group are, a campaign to clean the neighborhood of litter and working with waste management officials to create a more regular schedule for trash pick up. While there are many more pressing issues in the daily lives of those in the neighborhood, than a lack of soccer (the area has seen a rise in violence.) Organizer Hindi Elmi said "Safety is a key concern that's come up over and over, but improving safety requires building trust among the people living there...When you know your neighborhood, you build the trust" So that is the current aim of the organizers, is the build a diverse community where once there only was a neighborhood.
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2019/08/27/to-build-trust-safety-neighborhood-looks-to-soccer
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