Fifty soccer fields are expected to be built over the next five years across the city, and in the Bronx, as part of a public-private partnership to “leveling the playing field” and increase mentorship opportunities, city officials announced.

Mayor Bill de Blasio visited Millbrook Houses in Mott Haven to announce NYC Soccer Initiative, a $3 million venture among the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City, sports apparel Adidas, U.S. Soccer Foundation, and the New York City Football Club (NYCFC). The club’s base of operations is at Yankee Stadium.

Millbrook Houses, falling under the city housing authority, is one of eight locations to see an upgraded soccer field by the summer of 2017. Mentorship programs and soccer clinics also come with the upgrades.

“What we’re doing here today is not just about soccer, it’s about developing these young people and letting them reach their potential,” said de Blasio, flanked by officials involved in the initiative.

Locations will be solely based on how underserved they are and whether there is space to fill the need for soccer. Officials have already pinpointed possible locations thanks to the Building Healthy Communities initiative and Youth Mentorship Initiatives, city-backed mentoring programs targeting underage youth in low-income neighborhoods. City officials also plan to stop by local community boards to determine how much of a need there is for such a program in their neighborhoods.

Norwood’s key park, the Williamsbridge Oval Park, is ripe with near year-round soccer activity. The soccer is popular among Norwood residents hailing from Mexico and Central America.

Once fields are identified for the initiative, the US Soccer Foundation will take the lead in instituting a mentorship program.

The project is expected to be fulfilled by 2021.

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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.