The government says that the After School Programs improve the health and well-being of children and youth. Pictured: Minister of Sport Neil Lumsden. Photo Credit: Neil Lumsden/X.
The Ontario government is investing $15 million in local sports and recreation, including in after school programs for children and youth.
The funding, announced by Ontario Minister of Sport Neil Lumsden, will go towards 100 different organizations to provide supervised activities for children and youth across the province.
Lumsden also serves as the Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) for Hamilton East-Stoney Creek.
The funds will help more than 13,000 children and youth from Kindergarten to Grade 12 in more than 80 communities.
A total of $14.6 million will go towards Ontario After School Programs, $550,000 to Special Olympics Ontario, $100,000 to Jays Care, and $59,000 to Canadian Women and Sport.
Of the $14.6 million in After School Program funding, $928,428 will go towards Hamilton-based organizations.
There are six organizations in Hamilton that will receive help with their programming, including BGC Hamilton-Halton (formerly the Boys and Girls Club of Hamilton), Eva Rothwell Centre, Wesley Urban Ministries, YMCA of Hamilton Burlington Brantford, YWCA of Hamilton, and the City of Hamilton.
The government says that the After School Programs improve the health and well-being of children and youth through safe and supervised sport and recreation.
They say that participants are also provided with a healthy snack and additional programming such as academic support and arts and culture activities.
“Our government is proud to support opportunities for children and youth throughout Ontario to lead active and healthy lifestyles,” said Lumsden.
“This funding will expand access to vital resources and enable partner organizations to continue delivering high-quality, tailored active recreation programming that aligns with the needs of local communities.”
The province also provided further details about the other three portions of funding that are not related to the After School Program.
The $550,000 for Special Olympics Ontario will be used to expand their Unified Sport Program to more schools across the province, which provides inclusive team sport activities for students with and without intellectual disabilities.
Meanwhile, the $100,000 for Jays Care will help their Girls At Bat baseball program so that more girls benefit from sports programming.
Funds will also be used to train educators and coaches on how to promote inclusion in sport.
Finally, the $59,000 for Canadian Women and Sport will reportedly be used to “research the underrepresentation of girls, young women, and marginalized youth in sport/physical activity and share findings with school boards.”
Duane Dahl, the Chief Executive Officer at BGC Hamilton-Halton, says, “This funding allows us to provide high quality programs for children during the critical after school hours when parents are often still at work or school.”
With our focus on helping young people to be active and well, these programs promote physical literacy and activity, nutrition and wellness education, and positive social development; all key factors in enabling healthy, confident, and resilient young people.”
Based in Hamilton, he reaches hundreds of thousands of people monthly on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. He has been published in The Hamilton Spectator, Stoney Creek News, and Bay Observer. He has also been a segment host with Cable 14 Hamilton. In 2017, he received the Chancellor Full Tuition Scholarship from the University of Ottawa (BA, 2022). He has also received the Governor General’s Academic Medal. He formerly worked in a non-partisan role on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
