Sport4All Advocacy Project
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October 2013 Update - Project Wrap Up
As we wrap up this project, we can't help but say that we've had a very moving experience working on this project. It has been incredible to see so many people come together to work with us to make sport and physical activity more inclusive for all. It is obvious that there is still a lot of work that needs to be done in this area, but we are happy that we have been able to develop a few resources, and also have ourselves become resources in this area. Please feel free to look through some of the documents we have produced as a result of this project, including the Sport4All Diversity in Sport Advocacy Toolkit, and the Sport4All Summit Summary document, which can both be found below.
As we wrap up this project, we can't help but say that we've had a very moving experience working on this project. It has been incredible to see so many people come together to work with us to make sport and physical activity more inclusive for all. It is obvious that there is still a lot of work that needs to be done in this area, but we are happy that we have been able to develop a few resources, and also have ourselves become resources in this area. Please feel free to look through some of the documents we have produced as a result of this project, including the Sport4All Diversity in Sport Advocacy Toolkit, and the Sport4All Summit Summary document, which can both be found below.
September 2013 Update
Our summer students were busy working away on our Heart and Stroke Foundation Spark Grant this summer, and were able to coordinate two focus groups. They had a wonderful experience hearing from Chinese youth at Ryerson University about their experiences in sport and physical activity. There was a very rich discussion about what factors contribute to their successes in sport,and what culturally specific barriers they have experienced. We were happy to hear that the participant’s voices echoed and confirmed much of what we have heard from this demographic already.
We also held a focus group with a number of South Asian youth in the Flemingdon Park community. We found that both groups were passionate about increased access to sport and physical activity for theirrespective communities, and were excited to take part in brainstorming how to make that happen.
In acknowledgement of their great work, our summer students were also invited to conduct surveys at anevent called Youth United, orchestrated by the United Way. Over 300 youth attended, and we were able to survey over 90 of them. This overwhelming response was only paralleled by the youths’ enthusiasm for sport – a very encouraging outcome for all of us!
Our summer students were busy working away on our Heart and Stroke Foundation Spark Grant this summer, and were able to coordinate two focus groups. They had a wonderful experience hearing from Chinese youth at Ryerson University about their experiences in sport and physical activity. There was a very rich discussion about what factors contribute to their successes in sport,and what culturally specific barriers they have experienced. We were happy to hear that the participant’s voices echoed and confirmed much of what we have heard from this demographic already.
We also held a focus group with a number of South Asian youth in the Flemingdon Park community. We found that both groups were passionate about increased access to sport and physical activity for theirrespective communities, and were excited to take part in brainstorming how to make that happen.
In acknowledgement of their great work, our summer students were also invited to conduct surveys at anevent called Youth United, orchestrated by the United Way. Over 300 youth attended, and we were able to survey over 90 of them. This overwhelming response was only paralleled by the youths’ enthusiasm for sport – a very encouraging outcome for all of us!
May 2013 Update
Yes to sport! In a little over a week, we have held three more focus groups with youth and adults in Thorncliffe Park, Scarborough and Toronto and the overarching theme has been that they want more opportunities to play sports. Thorncliffe Park is a local community that values sport so much that they applied for and recently won a MLSE grant to fund a newcomer youth hockey program. In addition, at a recent town hall, they identified the creation of a women’s only gym as their number one priority to improve their community. For this session, we collaborated with the Thorncliffe Youth Centre to host a focus group with female youth.
We gained more of a newcomer perspective on May 2nd from the eight adults and one youth we met at the Scarborough CICS office, most of who were parents. These young families spoke about the need for more family-oriented physical activity opportunities as well as information about sport programs in their nativelanguage, Mandarin. Finally, on Saturday, May 4th, we were thrilled to have Pan Am and World boxing champion and Ojibway athlete, Mary Spencer, share her inspiring story ofperseverance and dedication at our Aboriginal Sport Forum. We were pleased to also have Elder Mark Cat Criger and fitness professional EJ Kwandibens to help facilitate this session with Aboriginal families living in and outside of Toronto. As well, David Carr-Harris of Kidsport Ontario spoke briefly about the Aboriginal FunZone program and their grants.
Yes to sport! In a little over a week, we have held three more focus groups with youth and adults in Thorncliffe Park, Scarborough and Toronto and the overarching theme has been that they want more opportunities to play sports. Thorncliffe Park is a local community that values sport so much that they applied for and recently won a MLSE grant to fund a newcomer youth hockey program. In addition, at a recent town hall, they identified the creation of a women’s only gym as their number one priority to improve their community. For this session, we collaborated with the Thorncliffe Youth Centre to host a focus group with female youth.
We gained more of a newcomer perspective on May 2nd from the eight adults and one youth we met at the Scarborough CICS office, most of who were parents. These young families spoke about the need for more family-oriented physical activity opportunities as well as information about sport programs in their nativelanguage, Mandarin. Finally, on Saturday, May 4th, we were thrilled to have Pan Am and World boxing champion and Ojibway athlete, Mary Spencer, share her inspiring story ofperseverance and dedication at our Aboriginal Sport Forum. We were pleased to also have Elder Mark Cat Criger and fitness professional EJ Kwandibens to help facilitate this session with Aboriginal families living in and outside of Toronto. As well, David Carr-Harris of Kidsport Ontario spoke briefly about the Aboriginal FunZone program and their grants.
Want to learn more about the results from our SPORT4ALL project? Join us on Saturday, May 25th for our Sport4All Diversity in Sport Summit hosted with the Toronto Sports Council where we will highlight cultural outreach promising practices, and together, create an action plan for sport and physical activityproviders to respond to Ontario’s changing demographics.
June 2013 Update
What’s that you say? You wish you could have attended our Sport4All Diversity in Sport Summit on May 25th? So do we! There’s nothing like spending a bright Saturday morning at the brand new Edithvale Community Centre with 65 sport and physical activity leaders – all of whom are passionate about the same thing: making sport more welcoming for diverse participants! We were so pleased to see such a great uptake on this cause which we are also so passionate about. Throughout the morning, the room was buzzing with excitement from a group of movers and shakers eager to see positive change in their communities. Many new connections were established in what we hope will foster long-lasting relationships around our collective goals of making sport and physical activity more accessible to everyone.
A special thanks goes out to all of the wonderful individuals who contributed their time to make the event a success. Specifically, we would like to thank our awesome Keynote Nikesh Amit from the Peel Newcomer Strategy Group, who gave an inspiring talk on how sport has helped facilitate his own integration into Canadian society. We would also like to thank Mona ElSayeh, our presenter from DiverseCity onBoard who is doing such great work for organization that want to increase the diversity of their board of directors. We can’t forget about out incredible panellists - Jeff Carmichael (City of Toronto), Jordan Miller (Motivate Canada) Mike Auksi (Motivate Canada), Justin Bobb (Toronto Community Housing), Louroz Mercader (Mississauga Youth Games), and Matt Greenwood (Ontario Soccer Association) who are doing tremendous work to change the face of sport in Ontario. And last, but not least, to all of the attendees, all of whom contributed so meaningfully to our discussions – the day wouldn’t have been what it was without you! On a high from the event, we have already begun reviewing evaluations and mapping how we can make the event even better next year. We hope to see you all there!
Our summer students were busy working away on our Heart and Stroke Foundation Spark Grant this summer, and were able to coordinate two focus groups. They had a wonderful experience hearing from Chinese youth at Ryerson University about their experiences in sport and physical activity. There was a very rich discussion about what factors contribute to their successes in sport, and what culturally specific barriers they have experienced. We were happy to hear that the participant’s voices echoed and confirmed much of what we have heard from this demographic already.
What’s that you say? You wish you could have attended our Sport4All Diversity in Sport Summit on May 25th? So do we! There’s nothing like spending a bright Saturday morning at the brand new Edithvale Community Centre with 65 sport and physical activity leaders – all of whom are passionate about the same thing: making sport more welcoming for diverse participants! We were so pleased to see such a great uptake on this cause which we are also so passionate about. Throughout the morning, the room was buzzing with excitement from a group of movers and shakers eager to see positive change in their communities. Many new connections were established in what we hope will foster long-lasting relationships around our collective goals of making sport and physical activity more accessible to everyone.
A special thanks goes out to all of the wonderful individuals who contributed their time to make the event a success. Specifically, we would like to thank our awesome Keynote Nikesh Amit from the Peel Newcomer Strategy Group, who gave an inspiring talk on how sport has helped facilitate his own integration into Canadian society. We would also like to thank Mona ElSayeh, our presenter from DiverseCity onBoard who is doing such great work for organization that want to increase the diversity of their board of directors. We can’t forget about out incredible panellists - Jeff Carmichael (City of Toronto), Jordan Miller (Motivate Canada) Mike Auksi (Motivate Canada), Justin Bobb (Toronto Community Housing), Louroz Mercader (Mississauga Youth Games), and Matt Greenwood (Ontario Soccer Association) who are doing tremendous work to change the face of sport in Ontario. And last, but not least, to all of the attendees, all of whom contributed so meaningfully to our discussions – the day wouldn’t have been what it was without you! On a high from the event, we have already begun reviewing evaluations and mapping how we can make the event even better next year. We hope to see you all there!
Our summer students were busy working away on our Heart and Stroke Foundation Spark Grant this summer, and were able to coordinate two focus groups. They had a wonderful experience hearing from Chinese youth at Ryerson University about their experiences in sport and physical activity. There was a very rich discussion about what factors contribute to their successes in sport, and what culturally specific barriers they have experienced. We were happy to hear that the participant’s voices echoed and confirmed much of what we have heard from this demographic already.
April 2013 Update
Our most recent adventure for our SPORT4ALL Project took us to the Hershey Centre in Mississauga for the Little Native Hockey League, or the tournament, orthe “Little NHL” which celebrated its 35th birthday this year! We had a great time atthe tournament, which is also referred to as a “festival” and we also had the pleasure of interviewing one of the main organizers, Lloyd McGregor who spoke of the incredible response and subsequent growth of the tournament from 200 to over 2,000 athletes participating annually. Hearing this reminded us once again of the immense opportunities for the “festivalization” of sport that Norm O’Reilly spoke of atour February Ontario Sport Forum. To learn more about the Little NHL, visit www.lnhl.ca. And stay tuned for clips fromour interview with Lloyd which will be posted on our website soon! Meaghan and Susanna are busy setting up additional focus groups with both youth and parents.
Our most recent adventure for our SPORT4ALL Project took us to the Hershey Centre in Mississauga for the Little Native Hockey League, or the tournament, orthe “Little NHL” which celebrated its 35th birthday this year! We had a great time atthe tournament, which is also referred to as a “festival” and we also had the pleasure of interviewing one of the main organizers, Lloyd McGregor who spoke of the incredible response and subsequent growth of the tournament from 200 to over 2,000 athletes participating annually. Hearing this reminded us once again of the immense opportunities for the “festivalization” of sport that Norm O’Reilly spoke of atour February Ontario Sport Forum. To learn more about the Little NHL, visit www.lnhl.ca. And stay tuned for clips fromour interview with Lloyd which will be posted on our website soon! Meaghan and Susanna are busy setting up additional focus groups with both youth and parents.
March 2013 Update
Oh, the good ol’ hockey game is returning to Malton. What a treat to spend a few hours on Sunday, March 10th with the people behind the new Malton Shinny Hockey program. This 12 week program for kids ages 7 – 13 came to be through the collective efforts of three Malton residents, Imtiaz Rangrez, Binder Singh and Abdul Kazi, with the support of Councillor Bonnie Crombie, the Community Foundation of Mississauga and others. Notable features of their program include its affordability ($50 registration fee, equipment on loan) as well as the ethno-cultural diversity of their young players. You can learn more about the reasons for their success in our video to be featured on our soon to be launched SPORT4ALL web site. We also conducted a focus group with some of the parents whose children are currently in the program. They had so many positive things to say about the program and are keen to engage their children in other sport experiences. So let’s engage them!
Oh, the good ol’ hockey game is returning to Malton. What a treat to spend a few hours on Sunday, March 10th with the people behind the new Malton Shinny Hockey program. This 12 week program for kids ages 7 – 13 came to be through the collective efforts of three Malton residents, Imtiaz Rangrez, Binder Singh and Abdul Kazi, with the support of Councillor Bonnie Crombie, the Community Foundation of Mississauga and others. Notable features of their program include its affordability ($50 registration fee, equipment on loan) as well as the ethno-cultural diversity of their young players. You can learn more about the reasons for their success in our video to be featured on our soon to be launched SPORT4ALL web site. We also conducted a focus group with some of the parents whose children are currently in the program. They had so many positive things to say about the program and are keen to engage their children in other sport experiences. So let’s engage them!
February 2013 Update
On January 22, SPORT4ONTARIO conducted another focus group, this time with 14 Chinese youth in Markham at the CICS Immigrant Youth Centre. The group was mostly newcomers to Canada who have lived here less than five years, and participate in sport recreationally or at school. At left is a picture of the facilitywhich was covered in beautiful murals painted by the youth.
This month we are looking to hold two additional focus groups with parents to learn more about how tomake it easier and more attractive for their children to participate in sport programs. To help us connect with Chinese parents, we have reached out to the organizers of the Asian Community Games. Thisexperience has really shown us how essential it is to work with community groups and social serviceagencies to reach diverse populations, and we strongly encourage you to do the same
On January 22, SPORT4ONTARIO conducted another focus group, this time with 14 Chinese youth in Markham at the CICS Immigrant Youth Centre. The group was mostly newcomers to Canada who have lived here less than five years, and participate in sport recreationally or at school. At left is a picture of the facilitywhich was covered in beautiful murals painted by the youth.
This month we are looking to hold two additional focus groups with parents to learn more about how tomake it easier and more attractive for their children to participate in sport programs. To help us connect with Chinese parents, we have reached out to the organizers of the Asian Community Games. Thisexperience has really shown us how essential it is to work with community groups and social serviceagencies to reach diverse populations, and we strongly encourage you to do the same
January 2013 Update
It has become increasingly evident that the wold of sport is often plagued by racism, homophobia and sexism. Most recently, the sport of soccer has been inundated with racist remarks, causing players to walk off the field and suspend the game in protest. While these events are upsetting, they are neither isolated nor unusual in sport and certainly not exclusive to soccer. In such times, it is vital to reflect on the need to create inclusivity and cohesion among people of all nationalities, genders, ages, abilities and orientations, and the special potential for sport to achieve this.
The Heart & Stroke Foundation of Ontario has provided SPORT4ONTARIO with an opportunity to examinethis further through our Spark Grant project, SPORT4ALL. The SPORT4ALL project’s intent is to advocate for the elimination of barriers that Aboriginal, Chinese and South Asian peoples may experience when accessing and participating in sport and recreation activities.Together with support from the Toronto Sports Council, Ophea, Toronto Public Health, and the Aboriginal Sport and Wellness Council of Ontario, we will shed light on the issues which persist in the Ontario sport sector and compile strategies to address them. We have also received permission to work with TO2015 through the IGNITE program, which will allow us to leverage TO2015 communication resources, speakers and athletes to promote our project. Currently, we are in the process of creating additional partnerships and planning several focus groups for Aboriginal, Chinese and South Asian parents and youth in various GTA locations including Markham and Scarborough. In the meantime, you can follow us on our social media sites (@sport4all_on &www.facebook.com/sport4all.on) which are updated regularly with valuable content.If you have any questions, please contact Meaghan Griffin at mgriffin@sport4ontario.ca
It has become increasingly evident that the wold of sport is often plagued by racism, homophobia and sexism. Most recently, the sport of soccer has been inundated with racist remarks, causing players to walk off the field and suspend the game in protest. While these events are upsetting, they are neither isolated nor unusual in sport and certainly not exclusive to soccer. In such times, it is vital to reflect on the need to create inclusivity and cohesion among people of all nationalities, genders, ages, abilities and orientations, and the special potential for sport to achieve this.
The Heart & Stroke Foundation of Ontario has provided SPORT4ONTARIO with an opportunity to examinethis further through our Spark Grant project, SPORT4ALL. The SPORT4ALL project’s intent is to advocate for the elimination of barriers that Aboriginal, Chinese and South Asian peoples may experience when accessing and participating in sport and recreation activities.Together with support from the Toronto Sports Council, Ophea, Toronto Public Health, and the Aboriginal Sport and Wellness Council of Ontario, we will shed light on the issues which persist in the Ontario sport sector and compile strategies to address them. We have also received permission to work with TO2015 through the IGNITE program, which will allow us to leverage TO2015 communication resources, speakers and athletes to promote our project. Currently, we are in the process of creating additional partnerships and planning several focus groups for Aboriginal, Chinese and South Asian parents and youth in various GTA locations including Markham and Scarborough. In the meantime, you can follow us on our social media sites (@sport4all_on &www.facebook.com/sport4all.on) which are updated regularly with valuable content.If you have any questions, please contact Meaghan Griffin at mgriffin@sport4ontario.ca