Puente de Hozho Receives Grant to Fund Improvements on School Campus
FLAGSTAFF — Puente de Hózhó Elementary today announced it has been awarded a $11,650 grant from the U.S. Soccer Foundation, whose programs serve as the national model for sports-based youth development in underserved communities. This grant is intended to fund professional grade outdoor soccer court that will be available for community use. Puente de Hózhó was one of nine organizations to receive grants.
“We are incredibly grateful for the support of the U.S. Soccer Foundation,” said Principal Robert Kelty. “This furthers our efforts in providing world class academic and athletic opportunities for our students and community.”
As a community tri-lingual school supporting learners in the areas of Navajo, Spanish, and English, Puente de Hózhó seeks to create cultural bridges between students and there is no better way for those connections than through the world’s most popular sport – soccer.
Bryan Taylor, the physical education teacher for PdH and visionary for the project, stated, “I am so proud to not only bring something unique to this school, but to have the opportunity to bring this community a safe place to come together and play. It is amazing to be part of an organization that sees the value in the vision that we have for students here at Puente de Hózhó.”
This grant was awarded as part of the U.S. Soccer Foundation’s Safe Places to Play program. Across the U.S., children living in underserved communities often lack safe places to play in their neighborhoods, either due to absence of space or absence of funding. The Safe Places to Play grant program seeks to provide kids with safe and accessible areas to play by funding the costs of design, construction, surfacing, and enhancement in these communities through three grant cycles during the year.
Support for the U.S. Soccer Foundation’s three Safe Places to Play grant cycles is provided by the Foundation’s corporate partners, including Hunter Industries, Musco Lighting, and Sport Court. AstroTurf’s support is used for opportunities on a rolling basis.
About Puente de Hózhó: Puente de Hózhó (PdH) Elementary School is a trilingual language school located in Flagstaff, Arizona and is a part of the Flagstaff Unified School District. PdH has two dual-language programs comprised of a Navajo Immersion Language Program and a Spanish-English Bilingual Program. We serve students from Kindergarten through 5th-grade, and a 6-12 International Baccalaureate Continuum is being established to complement PdH’s programming. Featured in the Harvard Education Review for “best practices” for culturally sustaining and revitalizing teaching, PdH holds a radical belief in the potential of children, culture, and language in a local, regional, national, and international context.