Having volunteered with youth with developmental disabilities over the past few years I have become aware of the need to make recreational programs more accessible to members of this community. From my experiences, many activity programs tailored to special needs children are often time consuming and expensive. I came across an article by the American Academy of Pediatrics which I found interesting and which brings up a lot of good points related to community development in general and the specific niche of disabled youth and recreation. If I were to sum up the article in one sentence it would be: Developing a way to increase involvement of niche communities in the greater community through recreational programs. I feel like many of the ideas presented in the article can be related to community development for many different communities and groups worldwide.
The article is entitled “Embedding Field Research on Mentored Inclusive Recreation in an Urban Population the Evolution of Opening Doors: Project Adventure”. This article takes a look at the development and implementation of a community-based recreation program to include children and youth with disabilities and special needs from underrepresented minorities. The researchers based the intervention “Project Adventure” out of Boston Massachusetts, as part of a national rehabilitation center called Opening Doors. By collaboration with community-based organizations (serving minority groups) and professional partners (YMCA, Partners for Youth with Disabilities) a recreation based mentorship program was developed to provide disabled youth with the opportunity to develop physical skills alongside able-bodied individuals within the city of Boston. Ultimately the intervention was able to enrol 47 children with a wide range of intellectual and physical disabilities from low-income and numerous immigrant communities, and help them to develop their skills. This field project was a way to expose the youth and their families to the recreation opportunities available to them in the Boston area and has become a base for which Project Adventure can build upon the relationships they have established and grow their inclusive recreation vision within the Boston Community in more innovative ways.
The things I loved the most about what this article presented was the collaborative effort of the partners, the researchers and the community and how the intervention was considered inclusive. From my experiences with Special Olympics Calgary (SOC) the idea of a mentorship program of disabled youth with able-bodied individuals is a great idea we could run with to not only to improve the experiences for the athletes but also to enhance volunteer retention, as this is an area SOC has struggled with over the years. A mentorship program could allow volunteers to create strong relationships with the athletes and the programs and this could be a contributing factor to keep them coming back season after season. One of the outcomes of the project was that the volunteers involved with the mentorship program found themselves more engaged with working with the disabled youth and their experience helped set a foundation for their future career goals. I feel like by creating programs to engage all the individuals involved we would be able to strengthen the effectiveness of these programs.
The collaborative effort behind the design was probably what made me the most happy about finding this article. A lot of my courses this semester are team/group focused and I feel that is important to be able to see projects that require group effort in order to be successful and sustainable. I feel this project provides a good example of collaborative effort and how each distinct group was important in developing a successful intervention. It is evident in how the project is presented through this article the importance of each group’s involvement in the development of Project Adventure. Without the efforts of each community-based organization, professional partnership and the researchers involved the success of the program would more than likely have been a great deal less, if it was at all successful. The lessons learned by breaking down the participation barriers could be transferred into interventions for other minority groups facing similar barriers, or for the same minority groups into other areas such as involvement in education.
Overall I feel like “Project Adventure” is a good example of the collaborative effort to develop a community by getting uninvolved members involved. Lessons learned from the inclusion of community members, no matter how minimal the numbers of these members seem, can provide us with a great base to grow from in the area of community development.
The words highlighted in orange are links to articles if you want to read them!
ReplyDeleteI really liked your post Lindsey! I participate in an athlete mentoring program to help get troubled youth involved in sport and recreation. The program is great because it invites the children to become part of the Cougars athletic community and builds a sense of confidence and belongingness within the children. I agree that mentoring programs successfully use collaborative efforts to build communities and invite more members to join!
ReplyDeleteGreat article, im kind of jealous on how much you wrote!
ReplyDeleteBut i totally agree with you, trying to help fund a special needs program for children is difficult and expensive sometimes.
I work with the Calgary Flames and they always try to provide underprivledged kids the opportunity to come to a game or meet the players.
I think alot more communities should do this in order to help build their community and keep it stronger.
I also played hockey in British Columbia 3 years ago and as a team we were forced to go play floor hockey again a team that represents Canada in the summer special olympics, and tell you what, its a great feeling to see when they score or they are playing well!
good job. I think opening doors is a great idea as sometimes people forget that there are others with specail needs and as bad as it is they get left out of progrms and are not able to develop skills. They are often underestimated on what they can really do so with this idea it obvioulsy brings them into the mix and helps them become a more active member in community.
ReplyDeleteNice post Lindsey! Project advendure sounds like the perfect program to get people involved within a community no matter how big or small! I also really liked the mentoring program, and how it helps the kids get into the rec world! Very Well done.
ReplyDeleteVery well done Linds! Just as interesting as you described it! “By collaboration with community-based organizations (serving minority groups) and professional partners (YMCA, Partners for Youth with Disabilities) a recreation based mentorship program was developed to provide disabled youth with the opportunity to develop physical skills alongside able-bodied individuals within the city of Boston.” I feel as though community development can only be created through collaboration. I feel as though this is why the program was so effective. I also like how you touched on the idea of building relationships between the volunteers and the athletes! It makes a lot of sense!
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