Physical Activity Promotion in
the After-School Time Period:
Key Learnings from Government
Action Across Canada
Graham R. Clyne, MA
302, 333 22nd Ave. SW
Calgary AB. T2S OH3
Report on Key Learnings from Government-Led After-School Physical
Activity Programs Across Canada
Introduction:
This report is intended to provide some concrete ideas on how governments
at all levels might further support the development of After School physical
activity (ASPA) programs. Based on a review of existing and developing
government-led After School strategies and programs across Canada, the
report outlines some common learnings and promising practices. Although
there is great variety in how the inter-ministerial, interdepartmental and
intergovernmental support for After School has been structured across the
country, the similarities – in terms of issues, opportunities and benefits – are
striking.
Recognizing that the development of ASPA programs across Canada is still a
work in progress, we have captured what is being learned, what seems to be
working, and what might be done to further develop and sustain effective
investments in this area. The report identifies common themes across
jurisdictions, describes some unanticipated benefits and provides some
overarching principles for success.
One thing is abundantly clear: the support and enthusiasm for ASPA
programs is growing rapidly, with new and innovative partnerships forming
across Ministries, departments and levels of government. Increasingly seen
as a cost effective opportunity that provides a shared platform to improve
outcomes for children, ASPA programs are being embraced as a highly
visible, community- based demonstration of governments’ commitment to
addressing physical inactivity.
Federal/Provincial/Territorial (FPT) government investments in the
development of ASPA programs continues to grow, with seven provinces and
territories currently active, several with bi-lateral support, while others are
at various stages of considering a plan and the best course of action. This
report is intended to build on this momentum, sharing the insights of
practitioners across the country, and offering informed ideas and key
learning for continued action by governments and others in the area of ASPA
promotion.
Method: An update and review of provincial and territorial government
‘scans’ outlining the current strategies to support After School programs;
review of all relevant prior FPT memos and reports; a survey of all provinces
and territories conducted with relevant physical activity and recreation
officials; key informant interviews with those provinces and territories (7)
who are actively involved in ASPA program development; and a synthesis of
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findings and key learnings from government
action.
Table of Contents
Section One: Leadership on After School Physical Activity Programs ............................... 4
Section Two: Lessons from Implementation ...................................................................... 5
Section Three: Partnerships, Inter-Ministerial and Intergovernmental Collaboration...... 8
Section Four: Program Content ........................................................................................ 11
Section Five: Evaluation and Program Quality ................................................................. 14
Section Six: Social Messaging ........................................................................................... 15
Section Seven: After School Physical Activity Programs in Context................................. 17
Section Eight: ASPA Program Sustainability ..................................................................... 18
Section Nine: Unanticipated Benefits: ............................................................................ 19
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Key Learnings from Government Action Across Canada:
What is Happening?
1
Section One:
Leadership on After School Physical Activity Programs:
1.1
After School Physical Activity programs just needed some leadership.
The (shared) leadership shown by sport,
recreation and other entities charged with
encouraging physical activity during the After
School period, has filled an important vacuum in
many jurisdictions. While the outcomes that
can be attained through high quality After
School programs are very well aligned with the
goals and objectives of multiple FPT ministries
and government departments, there is generally
no one group clearly assigned responsibility for
improving outcomes for children and youth
during this critical out of school time.
1.2
“Turns out, everyone
had thought about
doing it (after school
programming) and
wanted to do it, but no
one ministry or
department could do it
on their own.”
Physical activity remains a key element of the
broader, blended, after school strategies that are developing.
FPT efforts to address inactivity and generally improve the health of
children and youth through After School physical activity programs
has, in most cases, only been “kick-started” by those with leadership
responsibility for sport, recreation, and health promotion. Since then,
quite a number of other partners have seen an opportunity to improve
outcomes that are important to their mandates during the after school
period. Although most PT strategies are now blended program models
that include other content and partners, recreation and physical
activity have remained the one constant program element across the
country.
1.3
Good ASPA Programs include a range of personal, social, community,
developmental – and health - outcomes in their goals.
There is now an evidence base, and growing acknowledgement across
ministries, that high quality physical and recreational activities have
measureable benefits that go well beyond physical health and sporting
abilities. In fact, the goals of programs that have been established
4
prominently include psycho-social outcomes, personal capacities,
community and school engagement and other important
developmental indicators. While these benefits are critical to
developing funding partners, the real strategic and critical link – and
driver behind support for these programs - remains the anticipated
relationship between improving activity levels and better health
outcomes.
1.4
Engaging all aspects of the Sport and Recreation Sector is a prerequisite
to effective implementation.
At a very practical level, those involved with
physical activity and recreation have the skills,
expertise, facilities, existing partnerships,
shared use agreements, and links to sport
associations that will be essential to developing
and delivering high quality After School physical
activity programs. Successful programs have,
and continue to develop, strong working
relationship with municipalities and regional
governments.
Although the configuration of partners engaged
in After School programming continues to
evolve across jurisdictions, the leadership and
the full engagement of FPT Ministries
responsible for sport, recreation, physical
activity and health promotion, is absolutely
critical - especially if we hope to realize the
greatest potentials of program.
2
“We need to strike a
balance. Sure we can
encourage and support
certain things – like
physical activity – but we
have to be prepared for the
reality at the community
level, especially in small
towns and villages, where
you have to start with
what they’ve got.”
Section Two:
Lessons from Implementation:
2.1 We are using the “Ready.. Fire... Aim, Aim, Aim” model of implementation.
The actual development of ASPA programs and the mechanisms to
implement and support the effort have generally, though not always,
followed the announcement of funding and sometimes target
numbers. While somewhat problematic, the need to get something
started has led to a great deal of innovation and a number of
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important insights on how After School strategies might be better
implemented.
2.2
Funding strategies drive the development and distribution of ASPA
programs, or; Form follows funding.
There are a number of imperatives to immediately engage new or
targeted communities not the least of which are the interests and
goals of other partners and the tendency for funding streams to focus
underserved or high risk populations. Those who have moved forward
with significant implementation strategies find the development of
new sites, particularly in under resourced communities, is a difficult
way to start, often requiring additional time, considerable community
development work and more ongoing support from ministry and
departmental staff. Given the visibility of these initiatives, equity
considerations also drive the expansion and distribution of sites to
‘targeted’ neighbourhoods.
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2.3
A more gradual approach to program development and community
targeting is needed.
Experience is suggesting a more gradual
approach might be better. This strategy sees
existing programs embraced, supported and
secured; programs are expanded where capacity
and readiness exist; then more purposeful
efforts to grow the initiative can start in
completely new and/or underserved
communities.
Importantly, this approach provides the time
that is needed for the parallel development of
the critical partnerships, support systems and
facilitative policies that are required before local
groups – especially new ones – can be expected
to succeed, much less provide high quality
programs. In practice, the more labour
intensive community development work
involved in outreach is better undertaken after
some capacity to actually help local groups, has
been established.
2.4
“We’re only now getting
started on building the
kinds of supports these
programs need to
succeed. It’s really not
enough to just provide
funding – especially to
brand new groups - and
assume they will be able
to provide a quality
program”
Better training, development and support for program staff is the missing –
and most critical link - in program success.
While the commitment, skills and abilities of After School staff is
consistently flagged as the most critical success factor in program
implementation, strategies to train, develop and provide ongoing
support to program leaders are not well developed in most
jurisdictions.
While some existing training tools are being used (High Five, etc.) thus
far, an inadequate amount of resources and energies have been
dedicated to program and staff development, the skill gap particularly
apparent when issues of language, disability or special needs arise.
Often times, staff are unable to provide much by way of basic
instruction or skill development even in the important area of physical
activity and sport and volunteers are not often a feasible alternative.
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2.5
Human resource planning, with institutional partners, will help with
workforce and sustainability issues.
While the solutions to the training and development issue will vary,
the search for strategies to institutionalize human resource support is
underway, including efforts to engage senior students for school
credits; creating placements opportunities for post secondary faculties
(education, kinesiology, nursing, etc.); recruitment of sport
development associations; and the sharing of municipal staff and
expertise. Hiring Educational Assistants, often with complementary
skills has proved effective and while it is difficult to get exact numbers,
engaging teaching staff in ASPA programs has generally been a less
successful and more costly alternative.
2.6
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3.1
Invest in support systems and program resources - not simply site and
participant expansion.
In most jurisdictions the distribution of effort has focused on
developing and launching new After School programs, then developing
the kinds of supports that are critical to the success of local groups and
the quality of programming. Others are now providing Regional
Coordinators, Sport Animators and local ministry staff to help facilitate
the success of groups that are keen to get started but need help
(almost as System Navigators). Most of the provincial and territorial
strategies already launched are now planning to address some of the
support, capacity and systems issues made clear by the early
experiences of program implementation.
Section Three: Partnerships, Inter-Ministerial and
Intergovernmental Collaboration.
Local collaboration and partnerships are shaping the development
of ASPA programs.
There are wide variations across the country in terms of the
governmental partnerships, inter-ministerial groupings and blended
departments responsible for the development and support of ASPA
programs. In smaller jurisdictions, personal relationship and proximity
have certainly helped, while larger PT governments have developed
various processes to bring together those ministry partners who might
best align with and support some aspect of these programs.
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The specific incentives created by funding and the program’s design
tend to vary, making the development of formal partnerships either
helpful - or absolutely necessary.
3.2.
ASPA programs start with core partners and expand to involve others
over time.
While some After School initiatives are launched by single ministries or
departments, most soon engage a core group of partners – a
combination of those most necessary for implementation and facility
support (e.g. sport, recreation, education, childcare) and those whose
goals and objectives are most obviously aligned with those of the
program (e.g. health and wellness, child and youth services). The
design of programming, including the nature of the content, the target
populations, locations chosen, and the alignment with broader
agendas (e.g. poverty, community safety) has further expanded the
number of variety of governmental partners who can participate in a
way that fits their own policy objectives (e.g. Justice, Immigration,
Employment, Advanced Education, etc.). Engaging those ministries
responsible infrastructure spending – absolutely critical to long term
success – has not been a great success thus far.
3.3
Quality ASPA programs require a wide variety of ‘contributions’ –
including supportive policies and cooperative systems.
The exact nature of the contributions made by
various “partners” also varies, and funding
contributions, especially for operational and
infrastructure costs, are proving the hardest to
leverage. There is however, considerable value
being found in “facilitative policies” – where
organizations commit to addressing and
eliminating barriers created by their staff,
systems and practices – especially true of school
systems.
Similarly, the sharing of facilities, equipment,
staff training and program expertise with other
partners and local governments has become a
key component and increasingly important
contribution in successful programs
9
“There’s a culture that’s
developed here. We don’t
do anything alone as a
ministry. Everything we do
has partners from the
community and other
levels of government.....and
in a smaller jurisdiction we
have the benefit of
knowing one another
pretty well.”
3.4
Local ASPA programs are creating innovative partnerships and new
opportunities for service providers during the after school period.
Partnerships at the community level are particularly important
especially where program time is dedicated for ‘local interests’ and
children are involved in identifying suitable content. While many of
these relationship are still personal and locally based (e.g. who knows
and likes who), the growing number of groups that are partnering (e.g.
4H Clubs, Farm Safety, Lions, etc.), and the incorporation of some
curriculum and smaller single issue health strategies into ASPA
programs is positive and growing. In fact, many partners are excited by
new opportunities to support healthy child and youth development in
the after school period.
3.5
Investments in ASPA programs are leveraging existing community
capacities and new contributions.
While it is difficult to estimate accurately, given the diverse nature of
contributions, there is good evidence to suggest that government
investments in these programs have leveraged a considerable amount
of support, and from a wide range of governmental, institutional and
community partners. Properly valued, in-kind contributions and
support from community partners constitutes a significant, and
growing, percentage of the actual costs of After School physical
activity programs. Consequently, most are working or planning to
expand their network of supportive partners - and finding ASPA
programs a great platform on which to do it.
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4
4.1
Section Four:
Program Content:
ASPA program content is dictated by circumstances, funders and the
link to broader agendas.
Appropriately, there is considerable variation in the programs and
content that have been developed across the country, generally
reflecting the local capacities and circumstances, but also linked to the
interests of the funding partners and any broader governmental
“agendas” or policy pronouncements to which the program has been
linked (e.g. poverty, community safety, and childcare).
4.2
Communities, kids and parents prefer blended after school programs
that include more than physical activity and recreational opportunities.
While it might be appropriate for funders to better encourage, incent
and support the programming associated with physical activity and
recreation, ‘blended’ programming is the preferred approach in most
jurisdictions. In fact, before any significant government investments
were made, almost all the existing After School programs (e.g. Boys
and Girls Clubs) provided some mix of programming – a clear
reflection of community interest. The three most common program
elements include recreation and physical activity; support for
education and learning; and various nutrition, health and wellness
strategies. Free time, or time dedicated to the specific and local
interests of children and youth is invariably included in successful
programs.
4.3
The actual quality of physical activity is difficult to assess, and can be
hard to implement at the community level.
Across jurisdictions, physical activity remains the central component of
all After School strategies, with various lengths of time (e.g. 25% 100%) dedicated to this purpose in virtually every program. While
most groups keep records, the actual time spent, the nature of the
facilities, equipment and programs available, the skills of staff and
volunteers, and the broad definitions of what constitutes recreation
and physical activity make it extremely difficult to assess the quality of
these commitments - or their likely impact on physical health. The lack
of skills, training, equipment and facilities continues to compromise
the ability of local groups to meet recommended targets for rigorous
or even moderate physical activity in many communities.
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4.4
Local Schools and school systems are critical often essential - partners.
As school engagement and the use of their
facilities is critical to the success of many
programs, time for home work, remedial, or
enriched education opportunities has become a
central, if not core component of most
strategies. In fact, profiling the time dedicated
to homework or education seems to increase
participation rates, particularly among the
children of new Canadian families. Most able to
help identify the children and youth who would
benefit, school staff and shared use agreements
are essential to help to facilitate and coordinate
facility use.
4.5
“Many of the after school
programs that have been
around for years, have
really survived in spite of
the support they received
from various systems – not
because of them. It’s all
done by personal
connections at the school
and community level and
really hard to sustain”
Engaging Ministries of Education and School Boards takes strategic
alignment with their goals and interests.
Every effort to improve outcomes for children soon asks to “partner”
with local school boards with little regard for the benefits that accrue
to that system, their schools, staff and students.
ASPA programs however, are proving a natural fit with the efforts in
several jurisdictions to ‘open’ schools to greater community use (e.g.
all day schools; schools as community hubs). Support for student
attainment, greater community engagement, additional employment
for Educational Assistants, and the ability to include existing
curriculum and/or school based health strategies into ASPA programs
are just some of the benefits that align with their interests.
Recognizing that Education Ministries and School Boards function with
varying degrees of hierarchy, finding sympathetic local schools and
communities is no substitute for a systems level commitment to adopt
facilitative policies and address barriers as they arise.
4.6
A range of health promotion strategies are being included ASPA
programs and may prove more effective as part of a “bundled”
approach.
Providing healthy snacks and sometimes meals has long been a stable
in After School initiatives, particularly those that target lower income,
marginalized communities. Increasingly however, healthy eating,
nutrition and cooking programs are being developed (where facilities
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allow) and proving remarkably popular. There is also some sense that
single focus issues (e.g. smoking), lifestyle messages (e.g. exercise) and
school based curriculum (e.g. bullying) are in fact more likely to
succeed when they are embedded in a broader, blended, Afters School
health promotion and physical activity strategy. Certainly the range of
possible health outcomes supported through ASPA programs, aligns
well with many strategies focused on physical activity, nutrition,
mental health, inclusion, and general wellness.
4.7
Regardless of the ASPA program mix, investments are needed to
develop and sustain quality – a prerequisite for measurable outcomes.
Across the country there is an acknowledgement that more needs to
be done to encourage and support the development and delivery of
high quality programs – physical activity and other components –
along with concerted efforts to better train, mentor and ensure
qualified staff. If FPT ministers and their partners are interested in
measurable health outcomes and other impacts from these initiatives,
a greater focus on quality programming, delivered with integrity and
fidelity, is the next logical step for existing programs and a should be a
prerequisite for the development of new sites.
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5
Section Five:
Evaluation and Program Quality
5.1
Evaluation is an underdeveloped, but growing, priority.
Perhaps not surprisingly, given the need develop new partnerships,
create funding mechanisms, expand and incorporate new sites,
evaluation is only now becoming a greater priority for most ASPA
programs. While almost all groups have process and satisfaction
surveys, only some have been able to develop and implement
evaluations that include pre and post outcome
measures or use methodologically recognized
scales. Now that programs are operative these
“It’s relatively easy to get
systems need support.
5.2
Evaluation needs to inform program development
and ongoing quality improvement.
Where evaluation data and information is being
collected, there has often not been the time or
resources to generate the kind of useful findings
that support innovation and the ongoing
development of quality programming. At the
same time, compliance with requests for
evaluative information is greatly improved when
a “feedback” loop ensures the data is used to
provide good suggestions for local groups.
5.3
collect data from the
programs, even some good
evaluation information...
but we haven’t had the
resources to turn all the
information we have into
meaningful feedback, or
really improve program
quality in any way”
Developing cost-effectiveness measures and leverage calculations for
ASPA programs would be beneficial - and strategic.
The description of costs and benefits has thus far constituted a rather
informal assessment of value based on the total program budget and
the number of sites sponsored or opened. Despite its political appeal,
at best this sort of analysis describes “outputs” not outcomes – and at
worst, it values and incents program expansion over quality. While it is
difficult to assign concrete value to some of contributions needed for
ASPA programs (e.g. facilitative policy change) it would not be difficult,
and might be strategic, for FPT governments to approximate the many
partner contributions that are being leveraged by their investments.
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5.4
Linking ASPA program evaluations to existing research, FPT health scans
and established data sets is practical and effective.
Some jurisdictions are in the process of developing partnerships and
contractual arrangements with university based researchers, while
others have started selecting and/or providing tools to local ASPA
programs. Efforts to adapt and use the indicators from existing data
sets, like the National Longitudinal Study of Children and Youth
(NLSCY) and the Early Years Development Index (EDI), not only offer
the promise of better measurement but allows for longer term and
comparable outcome data. As these programs are targeting
behaviours and outcomes with influences well beyond the after school
period, it would similarly be effective and practical to incorporate
ASPA variables into existing FPT surveys of population health and
wellness.
5.5
There’s a good case for the development of useable, common, high
quality tools to measure outcomes at the FPT and community level.
Plans to improve the evaluative tools and implement new, more
outcome focused methods, are being developed in every jurisdiction
active in ASPA programs and while there is a need to ensure important
community-specific variables are captured, the quality and duplication
of effort is problematic. Local evaluation strategies can be helpful but
serve to preclude meaningful analysis between and among programs /
regions and miss the opportunity to identify best practices from
among similar approaches. There would be considerable value for FPT
governments to develop and provide accessible,
shared, and high quality evaluation tools, linked
to the indicators used in other existing research
“It’s relatively easy to get
and data sets.
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6.1
Section Six:
Social Messaging:
Invest in local marketing strategies first.
There is strong support among those who are
implementing, and/or considering an After
School physical activity strategy for social
marketing and common messaging about its
importance and the many benefits for kids and
families.
15
collect data from the
programs, even some good
evaluation information...
but we haven’t had the
resources to turn all the
information we have into
meaningful feedback, or
really improve program
quality in any way”
Thus far however, efforts have been focused on ensuring local
communities and potential partners were aware of the opportunity to
seek funding or other support for their After School physical activity
programs, and then marketing the availability of these programs to
parents, care-givers, children and youth. These efforts alone have
proven to be a challenge, often requiring multiple approaches to reach
and engage different audiences. In some jurisdictions, they are
proceeding with no significant public announcements to support
awareness about the development of programs.
6.2
ASPA programs could be readily incorporated into
many of the existing health promotion and
wellness campaigns of FPT governments.
“It’s relatively easy to get
collect data from the
programs, even some good
evaluation information...
but we haven’t had the
resources to turn all the
information we have into
meaningful feedback, or
really improve program
quality in any way”
Recognizing the results of social marketing
campaigns can be difficult to measure, and
require a longer term investment with sufficient
penetration (e.g. dose – response) most
jurisdictions have not adequately budgeted for
this expense. There are however, a
considerable number of ongoing social
messaging, from various levels of government
and publically funded groups on the importance
of active living, exercise, health and
participation that could easily be adapted to
include (or reference) After School physical
activity programs as part of their campaign –
just as a number of single issue health promotion campaigns have
been included in the After School platform and program mix.
6.3
Social messaging campaigns on ASPA programs may help, but should
reflect and incorporate local and community circumstances.
While the Federal government might be best suited to support
common longer term messages about participation in After School
physical activity across the country, the lack of actual program
opportunities in some jurisdictions may make a single social marketing
strategy premature. At the same time, there are the usual concerns
that large social messaging campaigns do not reflect local culture,
traditions, or demographics, and often struggle to reach local
audiences in an appropriate and effective way.
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7
7.1
As with successful After School programs, a balance must be struck
between ensuring local diversity and circumstances are reflected while
advancing on the broader goals and objectives of the investment.
Section Seven:
After School Physical Activity Programs in Context.
ASPA programs provide a visible demonstration of commitment by FPT
governments to achieving progress on important policy goals.
After School physical activity programs have proven to be a very
practical, tangible and relatively inexpensive manifestation of the
many, often vague, FPT policy pronouncements about the need to
improve population health and well being. With the potential to help
reduce physical inactivity and obesity rates among children and youth,
the expansion of these programs and the number of willing partners, is
not surprising. Still in the early stages of development however, it is
neither practical nor realistic to imagine that population level health
indicators will be measurably moved by the investments made thus far
in After School physical activity programs.
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7.2
ASPA programs must be part of a ‘suite’ of complimentary FPT
strategies for physical activity and health levels to measurably move.
Practical issues of staff training, program quality, and evaluation
methods aside, these programs must be understood as only one
strategy – however well integrated – to move forward on these issues.
Family engagement, participation in other activities, sport subsidies,
taxation, community facilities, a supportive ‘built environment’, and
larger social messaging are all part of a what might constitute a real
campaign to move these critical markers. Characterizing these
programs as a single aspect of a broader commitment or community
plan to increasing physical activity levels is both prudent and realistic.
Understandably popular, After School physical activity programs are a
relatively inexpensive, potentially effective and highly visible policy
instrument, but cannot and will not succeed as a stand-alone strategy.
8
8.1
Section Eight:
ASPA Program Sustainability:
Expanding partnerships is the ‘de facto’ approach to sustaining ASPA
programs.
Concerns about program sustainability are not new, and the
reluctance on the part of all parties to commit long term, especially for
operational costs, is well understood. The majority of investments in
After School physical activity programs have consequently provided
one time funding, sometimes spread over a period of years. Efforts to
involve other governmental and community partners and diversify
support, is for most groups the de facto strategy to sustain the
program over time.
8.2
Sustainability requires ongoing policy and system level support and
longer term strategies to address capacity and resource issues.
Certainly engaging organizations at a policy or systems level builds
credibility for the program but short term and/or one-time funding
makes community buy in, organizational engagement and partnership
development more difficult. If these programs are to be sustained,
strategies to address other longer term issues, like equipment and
facility depreciation, will be required. Income strategies, where
successful programs cross subsidize others; tax allowances to support
or reduce fees; and strategies to engage and incent private donors and
philanthropists, could also help with longer term sustainability.
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8.3
Sustainability efforts should focus on quality programming with
measurable outcomes.
Perhaps it is premature to discuss sustainability although governments
frequently demand such a plan before contributing to community run
services. While there are some promising signs about the potential
benefits of After School physical activity programs in Canada – and on
some critical indicators – the quality of evaluation is generally not yet
sophisticated enough to measure and report meaningfully on
outcomes that would be important to sustaining investments. At the
same time, the wide variety of activities, intensity, program design and
rigour currently being employed, precludes any sweeping conclusions
at this point about exactly what should be sustained.
9
Section Nine:
Unanticipated Benefits:
In the implementation of any initiative, there are a number of
consequences that are not anticipated and happily in the case of After
School physical activity programs, many of these have been positive,
identifying new opportunities and benefits for partner organizations
and funders.
9.1
Youth Employment and Development:
Engaging senior high and post secondary students and neighbourhood
young people is good for employment, but is also helping to develop
and recruit young leaders into coaching, athletics, refereeing, and
additional voluntary community service.
9.2
Information Sharing:
Efforts to determine where programs might best be located have
required input and information from different local systems, all of
whom know particular aspects of the overall “picture”. Given that the
overlap of priorities and areas of concern has been striking, local
systems (education, health, recreation, etc.) are now finding new ways
to share information and even decision making.
9.3
Creating New Tables:
As more and varied partners are engaged from different FPT
ministries, departments and governments, local groups engaged in
ASPA programs are discovering they have other shared interests and
the trust and working relationships to tackle common issues and
opportunities at the same table.
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9.4
Addressing System Issues:
For many groups, the implementation of After School physical activity
programs has highlighted the need to address the longer term
structural and system barriers that affect the use and sharing of their
limited recreational and community facilities. The number of new,
renegotiated and more cooperative agreements around the shared
use of facilities continues to grow (e.g. Joint Use Agreements).
9.5
Easy Alignment:
Many jurisdictions have been struck by how readily the policy goals,
outcomes and objectives of numerous ministries, branches and
departments have aligned with the programming and platform
provided by an After School physical activity strategy.
Intergovernmental and interdepartmental cooperation, often
cumbersome, is going well.
9.6
Community Response:
The After School physical activity programs that have been launched
seem to have a disproportionate profile – for the size of the
investment – and have proven quite popular both with local
community leaders and elected officials.
“It’s been really amazing
to see the number of
ministries and
departments in our
government who have
come to the table around
after school programs, and
we’re only getting
started...people are
interested so it’s been
relatively easy.”
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