Regent Park United Soccer Club Struggling to Continue Free Children’s Soccer Program

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The Regent Park soccer house league for kids that has been a free Saturday program at Nelson Mandela soccer field for the past 10 years, announced their disappointment with the City Community Funding Unit for turning down their 2022 Regent Park Social Development Plan Grant Application funding.  

T’ai James Simm-Smith, Director of Operations of Regent Park United soccer club, released the following statement on Facebook.

 “It’s sad, but the Regent Park United Soccer Club did not get funding needed to sustain our growing program. Some of our coaches feel that the community let them down and will be moving on to helping other communities who also need a soccer program like the one we ran for ten years. It’s a sad day when bureaucrats cannot provide organizations who actually do great work with the proper funding. We will be lucky if we have our U16 rep team and another younger rep team playing, as we want to continue our Friday night practises at Regent Park Athletic Grounds. Very sad start to 2023. Unfortunately, it’s the children in the community who will suffer,” he wrote.

The Social Development Plan funds provide annual grants in the amount of $500,000 to community groups that support the prioritized actions on an annual basis through a public process managed by the City and the Regent Park Social Development Stakeholders Table. The fund is scheduled to end in 2025.

Although the Regent Park United soccer club did not receive funding from the 2022 SDP call for proposals, the city of Toronto did award the Toronto Futbol Athletic Advancement, another Regent Park soccer group, a grant.  Other awarded projects include SEAS Centre for the Filipinos in Regent Park, FOCUS Media Arts Centre for Regent Park TV, CSI for support of the SDP Community Building Working Group and the Regent Park Women’s Entrepreneur Group, Neighbourhood Information Post to support a tutoring program, Street Haven at the Crossroads to support vulnerable women, Toronto Birth Centre to support their responsiveness to needs in Regent Park.

 By Fred Alvarado


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