**Community partner:** DITAK (Interdisciplinary Social Studies Club)

**Social issues:** Community Cohesion – At Risk Youth

**Ambassadors:** Berk Ugurlu, Jonah Matthews

**Main Life Skills:** Self-confidence, social skills

**About the program:**

Besiktas Emlakjet Istanbul is implementing its first-ever One Team program as the club collaborates with DITAK, a student social studies club at the University of Istanbul. Their main mission is to find more effective and humane solutions to social problems and organize activities to put it into practice. The club is working with their group of 18 children between the ages of seven and 12 who have been affected by the earthquake that struck in Turkiye in February 2024. 

They’re aiming to facilitate the re-adaptation of children who have lost their connection to social life due to what they have experienced in the past. The goal is to do this by creating an environment that fosters their ability to socialize with one another without experiencing anxiety, as they communicate through the power of basketball. The program started in December and will continue until March 2024 with the involvement of 13 volunteers from DITAK and two coaches from the club, with Berk Ugurlu and Jonah Matthews acting as One Team Ambassadors. 