AURORA, Colo. — In a community where people from around the globe come together, local educators and activists are leveraging the planet’s universal language to bring immigrants into the fold: soccer.

Aurora schools and local programs created to help immigrants from everywhere find their way in the United States say the “world’s game” makes a natural link from far away places, such as Afghanistan, to the Aurora metroplex.

More than a game, some immigrant assistance volunteers are using soccer as a touchstone to help immigrant and refugee kids find a sense of belonging.

Soccer “provides a sense of familiarity and a connection to home that a lot of newcomers don’t find in many other places in their new communities,” said Casey Thomas, the Colorado director of Soccer Without Borders.

Soccer Without Borders operates in four U.S. states as well as Nicaragua and Uganda. It has had a presence in Greeley since 2012, and in fall 2019 launched a program in partnership with Aurora Public Schools.

Despite operating for only six months before the pandemic began, the program has been immensely popular in Aurora and has continued to grow, organizers say. As the city has received an influx of evacuees from Afghanistan since this past fall, program and district employees hope they can help new arrivals find a sense of connection.

In Greeley, the group worked mainly with refugee youth, Thomas said. Since Northern Colorado has fewer resources for immigrants than the metro area, particularly ones that are free, the program filled an important gap in the region. But because metro Denver is the largest refugee resettlement area in the state, the group wanted to open up a branch there as well.

Thomas and the rest of her staff started a months-long search for the right location, speaking to community leaders and people who worked locally with immigrants and refugees. The nonprofit’s main goals were to make sure that they were filling a need and not duplicating any existing…