Healthier Glades Advocate Creating Belonging on the Soccer Field

This Healthier Glades Advocate is Creating Belonging on the Soccer Field and Off

Jun 21, 2022

When Pahokee resident Josie Hernandez first became involved with Healthier Glades in 2018, the initiative’s program director at the time, Inger Harvey, knew she had the potential to become a community leader. Hernandez, an administrator at Pahokee High School, already had the passion and the vision for how she could bring the Hispanic community together in the Glades and advocate for their health and wellness through a shared cultural experience—soccer.

“Soccer is a cultural experience that brings Hispanics together,” said Hernandez. “We felt that we needed a soccer field in the Glades for our Hispanic community, parents and kids to share our lives and our identity, something that is very important to our family-oriented culture.”

A Pahokee soccer field had been on the table for many years, but never materialized. Realizing Hernandez had the passion to fight for it, but would benefit from advocacy training, Healthier Glades sponsored her to attend Community Organizing and Family Issues in Chicago. There, Hernandez learned to develop skills, confidence, and the power to be a catalyst for positive change.

Once Hernandez returned from Chicago, she utilized her learning to make her vision for the soccer field a reality. She worked with the City of Pahokee to create an agreement for the field and asked teachers and coaches to volunteer their services to oversee the program. She recruited eight coaches and two referees, and when registration opened for the very first youth soccer club, “Pahokee SC,” 66 kids signed up immediately. What is even more remarkable is Hernandez started the club during the pandemic with the first soccer clinics commencing in March 2020.

Healthier Glades has been behind Hernandez every step of the way, providing hand sanitizers, masks and wellness kits to the soccer families at the start, and recently purchasing soccer balls and cones for the field. Recognizing Hernandez’s leadership and ability to create belonging among the Glades’ Hispanic community, Annie Ifill, Healthier Glades current program director, appointed her to chair the initiative’s Hispanic Wellness Committee.

Today, soccer has become the uniting force for Hispanic families in the Glades and a central force for promoting health and wellness with support from Healthier Glades and many other community partners. Providing food for families in need, sponsoring street clean ups and school backpack drives, and inviting the Red Cross and fire department to provide wellness trainings are just some of the initiatives that have grown out of the soccer club. Hernandez and her colleagues have also expanded their scope of support for students on the teams by offering help with homework and guest speakers on a variety of health and wellness topics when the kids are off the field, reaching children from 5-14 years old.

“Our program fills so many needs,” said Hernandez. “Many of our kids have parents working in the fields, so they are left home alone until later in the evening without anything to eat. We provide healthy snacks, homework assistance and wellness programming—physical and mental.”

When it comes to mental health, Hernandez notes that the mere presence of the field and the team has benefitted the children. “The soccer field wasn’t just to benefit their physical wellness,” said Hernandez. “The kids knew they didn’t have the same resources as other kids, and that takes a toll on their mental health. This whole project started with a vision to offer our kids the same chances and opportunities as other kids.”

Now, Hernandez’s goal is so much more. “Our goal is to build not just great athletes, but great leaders in our community to impact the lives of others,” she said. “I am so grateful to Healthier Glades. Getting here hasn’t been easy, but they believed in me. It took that little push from them to say, yes you can do it, and now my dream has become a reality.”

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