Costa Rica's Fútbol Field of Dreams
Standing under the new roof of the field, one cannot help but dream about the future Army leaders who might be playing there today.
There are some community members who still remember the frustration they felt many years ago when The Salvation Army moved into their neighborhood of Concepción just outside San José, the capital city of Costa Rica. There was an empty field near the middle of town where friends would regularly go to play football, until one day they showed up and found a fence encircling the property with signs that The Salvation Army had bought the land to create a new corps and men’s rehabilitation center. In a hilly region with few level areas, their main location for neighborhood games and community had come to an end.
The frustration faded as the Army’s service began. Community members soon learned of the good work being done to help local men battle alcohol and drug addictions through their residential program, and of the spiritual and practical help that was offered through the Centro Modelo Corps Center, also on the property. Many joined the corps and several from the neighborhood even became officers.
Decades later, with the rehabilitation center scheduled to wrap up operations, local Salvation Army leadership sensed an opportunity to both repurpose a beautiful location for new community needs and to reestablish the neighborhood activity that had been accidentally displaced by the Army in the first place: a new community football field.
Once installed, the Concepción football field quickly became a favorite location for the community, offering a top-level turf for hourly or daily rental. However, they still faced the constraint of Costa Rica’s rainy season, which brings steady drizzle after noon almost every day for half the year. Choosing to view this challenge as a strategic opportunity, the territory reached out to the Salvation Army World Service Office (SAWSO) and its International Business & Economic Development (IBED) department.
IBED is a new initiative and focus area within SAWSO that empowers international Salvation Army territories to achieve wholistic sustainability and establish innovative projects that can support the local mission and programs. Together they create comprehensive territorial strategies for local resource generation and provide funding to iteratively test a variety of ideas. The ultimate goal is to develop their own capacity to innovate to meet local needs. It is a new way of thinking and operating that complements and supports the work of the Army to continue and increase its work around the world.
Together, the Latin America North Territory and SAWSO-IBED explored the potential community and financial benefit of further investment in the football field. They conducted market research and testing on current and potential customers, primary competitors and pricing structures. The result was to verify and create a social enterprise business model that would offer a valuable service at affordable prices, year-round.
With funding from SAWSO for a new roof for the field, the facility now serves as a prime location for the community to meet and engage with The Salvation Army on a daily basis. In addition, it is a beautiful activity space for the Army’s summer camps and is a steady source of local income support for the Army’s social programs.
SAWSO is now working with the Latin America North Territory on further investment ideas designed to expand the enterprise and services by adding a snack shop, grill area, separate bathrooms and locker rooms and even a second field. Using IBED methodology and business tools, The Latin America North Territory will evaluate each concept based on its community and financial impact and create a long-term strategy for sustainable service.