After the huge success of projects across Europe, southern Africa, South America, the Middle East and the UK, the Wembley to Soweto Foundation started its US rollout in 2022. Focusing on young people affected by gangs, the charity uses photography as a catalyst to improve participants’ self-esteem and confidence and teach life skills to help disadvantaged youth into employment and tertiary education
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he backdrop of sport has been a constant in the Wembley to Soweto Foundation’s projects, and the foundation has encouraged the young photographers to reflect how their communities are shaped by football, rugby, athletics, cricket, boxing and the like.
Since the 2010 Fifa World Cup in South Africa, the charity has worked alongside the Premier League, the FA, the Olympic Games, the Cricket World Cup, the RFU and now the MLS in North America. Ultimately the US cohorts will be given the opportunity to photograph at the US Soccer World Cup in 2026 and the 2028 LA Olympics.
Over the past three years, the students from Los Angeles have had their work exhibited in the US and Europe and have been trained as teachers themselves. This is extraordinary given these young people are often from backgrounds of abject poverty, bypassed by formal education, employment opportunities, shelter and basic nourishment.
