Playing soccer isn't a well-traveled path out of homelessness. But for one formerly troubled Santa Rosa man, it's working.

Cornelius Bracy, a formerly homeless  soccer player from Sonoma County, will be  part of the American team at the Homeless World Cup that takes place in Australia next month. The Homeless World Cup began in 2003 as a "catalyst for lasting change through the development of street soccer worldwide in a way that creates maximum social impact for the players involved--the socially excluded, homeless people and people living in poverty."

 

Julius Ujeh, a soccer coach from Nigeria, began a Street Soccer league for homeless young adults in Sonoma County. The program, originally started in Australia, has given young adults a purpose that teaches discipline and self-motivation. 

Street soccer is a mini-version of the traditional game of soccer, which can be played on any hard, flat rectangular surface, roughly the size of a tennis court. The new "traveling field" (shown below) gives the U.S. team an attractive, safe surface on which to play, and a sense of identity for the players.

Four players compete on each side (one of them is a goalie) and games last for 14 minutes each. While games are short, they are very fast-paced. The name of the event was coined in 2003 during the first Homeless World Cup.

 

An unusual gathering of educators, service providers parents and tomorrow (Tuesday) will look at ways local schools can meet the needs of the rapidly growing number of students diagnosed with autism.

Andrew Bailey is  Executive Director of Anova Center for Education , which has campuses in Santa Rosa, San Rafael and American Canyon in Napa County. Anova was founded in 200o.

SONOMA COUNTY'S 1ST ANNUAL AUTISM COMMUNITY SYMPOSIUM

When:             Tuesday, October 21st, 3:30pm-6:30 pm

Where:            The Anova Center for Education 

                         3033 Cleveland Avenue, Santa Rosa, CA

Cost:                FREE to participants and attendees

For more information or to reserve your seat, contact Anova at: (707) 527-7032

 

Anova will be hosting the Autism Community Team (ACT!) of Sonoma County in the First Annual Autism Community Symposium, "Meeting Challenges and Creating Opportunities". This forum brings together parents, public schools, regional centers and private providers to increase understanding of what services are currently available to those impacted by autism, and to discuss all that remains to be accomplished.

Autism is the fastest growing disability in the US.  With 1 out of every 150 children diagnosed with autism, autism is more prevalent than childhood cancer, juvenile diabetes, and pediatric AIDS combined. Here in California, the number of students with autism in grades K-12 has increased more than 1000% over the past 20 years. With statistics such as these, there is no question: autism has a widespread emotional, social and economic impact on our community, and has ramifications our community must be prepared to fully address.

 

As autism spectrum diagnoses become more frequent among local students, Andrew Bailey says it is increasingly important for schools to implement cost-effective approaches to meeting their needs.

 For a visiting group of educators from Ukraine, seeing American school classrooms in action was a learning experience.

  To read about the mission and design for the Open World Leadership Center, click here .

The Open World exchange program was established to increase partnership and sharing of economic and democratic practices between the two nations.  Sonoma County is one participant in the education program of having Ukraine educators visit for two weeks.

 To find out more about the US-Ukraine non profit organization, click here .

 

 

 

The power of art to aid in healing grief is one theme of a new documentary about Petaluma's David Best, and the temples he creates for Burning Man.

French filmmaker, Laurent Le Gall , focused his work on Petaluma artist David Best,who is known worldwide for the temples he has designed and built at Burning Man. Voyage to Utopia tracks the creation and response to Best's Temple of Honor at the 2003 Burning Man. See two different views of the Temple below.

 

 

 

 

 To see more of David Best's creations, click here.

 

For more information about filmmaker Laurent Le Gall, click here .

 Burning Man: Voyage In Utopia premieres in Sebastopol on September 18^th. To purchase tickets, click here .