Marietta awarded grant from U.S. Soccer Foundation

Marietta has been awarded a $45,000 grant from the U.S. Soccer Foundation for lighting at the new Franklin Gateway Sports Complex.

The city was one of nine organizations nationwide to receive a foundation grant.

The sports complex will be comprised of three full-size regulation soccer fields that will be owned, operated, managed and maintained by the city and affiliated with Major League Soccer’s newest franchise, Atlanta United.

Marietta is developing a joint-use community park, bringing multi-use soccer fields to youths in the community within walking distance of Atlanta United’s training complex.

This grant was awarded as a part of the foundation’s Safe Places to Play program for underserved communities, an area where the city bought and demolished run-down apartment complexes to make way for Atlanta United’s headquarters and adjacent soccer fields.

Since its inception in 1994, the foundation has awarded more than $100 million in grants to nonprofit organizations in the U.S.

Information: USSoccerFoundation.org.