expanding sports to non-participating youth · 2019-01-28 · expanding sports to non-participating...

Hennepin County SHIP Report 1

Expanding Sports to Non-participating Youth

DATE: October 25, 2018 TO: Alliance Board of Directors and Hennepin County Public Health FROM: Alliance Strategy Team & SHIP Youth Sports Task Force

Rebecca Gilgen – Executive Director Executive Summary The Brooklyn Bridge Alliance (BBA) is a joint powers agreement between the City of Brooklyn Center, Brooklyn Park, Hennepin County, and the school districts of Osseo, Brooklyn Center, Robbinsdale and Anoka-Hennepin, and Hennepin Technical College and North Hennepin Community College. Our mission is to coordinate a system of high-quality, accessible, and fully resourced opportunities that lead to an increase in high school graduation, pathways to college or career, and youth safety and well-being.

In 2017 partners began to focus on the issue of youth sports in the Brooklyns. We learned from research (CDC 2010, Lumpkin & Favor 2012) that physical activity and sport has a positive impact on improving grades, attendance and graduation rates. We also knew from our biennial Youth to Youth Survey (2008-2018) that young people consistently expressed interest in participating in sports. In the 2018 Survey, 53% (roughly 8,000) of youth surveyed were not currently participating in any afterschool/summer programming. And of those non-participating youth, 68% (about 5,500) said they were most interested in sports.

Thus, our shared goal is to increase participation in sports for youth who are low, or non-participating - so that they may develop the social and emotional skills, and connections needed to succeed in school and in life. To understand how to increase participation, we needed to build a broad view of the ‘youth sport ecosystem’. We engaged three key stakeholder groups: Sport Providers, Parents, and Youth. We surveyed each group and invited them to participate in developing solutions for our community.

Findings from the Data Data was gathered from 29 providers, 81 parents, and 699 youth to understand what opportunities exist, and what the barriers to participation are. Overall: 1. There is an access gap. Overall, the data show that there is significant room for connecting youth to

existing opportunities. Collectively providers reported currently serving 2,280 youth. They also reported that they could serve a maximum of 12,680 with existing resources.

2. The barriers to access are clear. Cost was the #1 barrier, followed by transportation, and not-knowing what’s available.


Findings from Community Engagement Sessions Three sessions were held. First, providers were convened. With a few minor exceptions they validated the findings and built shared definitions of equitable access. Second, youth, parents, and providers were gathered to brainstorm ideas on how to expand access. Third, the Alliance strategy team members reviewed all the research, engagement information and developed 6 recommended actions. Provider and Innovation Session Results:

1. Equitable Access: Providers, Youth and Community built a shared definition of equitable access: “Youth who want to participate in sports can do so, regardless of the barriers they may face.”

2. Game Changers for increasing access include: a. Sports are all in schools, so parents could connect easily. b. Create a tool/website that all families/kids can see what activities are available, how to

register, scholarship availability, and how to get there (transportation tool). c. Give scholarships, be more transparent about sliding fees, and use self-reported income. d. Have culturally/language specific persons on staff to provide information, registration,

and engagement for those who do not speak English or are from another culture. Strategy Team Recommendations for Immediate Action:

• #1 Priority – PUBLIC PROVIDERS LAUNCH “SPORT SAMPLE” OPPORTUNITIES: Community Education and Recreation programs could offer sample classes for free, using existing program resources, that expose and connect to new sports.

• #3 Priority – Build a TRANSLATION RESOURCE HUB: Alliance partners would identify, and then share with all providers, resources available to communicate and connect with parents who are non-English speaking or new Americans.

• #4 Priority – Shift to COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT: Develop relationships and Enlacé [bring together]. This would entail an immediate re-design of the Alliance Access Outreach and Coordinator team, to shift towards a Community Engagement team. This group would connect directly with parents to market existing sport and other youth opportunities. The Alliance staff will continue to develop the BrooklynsConnect.org program locator as tool for this group to sign up parents for ongoing information. This is a redirection of existing resources.

Strategy Team Recommendations that will require new resources and comprehensive planning: • #2 priority – Launch a “YOUTH SPORTS DRAFT DAY” • #5 priority – Expand BrookLynk Internships to CREATE TEEN COACHING JOBS • #6 priority – Explore a COMMON REGISTRATION FOR YOUTH SPORTS • #4 priority – Expand COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT: bring together community and providers to

implement several recommendations. This would require new resources, and personnel.

Next Steps • Share results with the County and explore next steps for SHIP investments • Share results with the Alliance board of directors to seek approval for immediate action • Share this report with our community: youth, parents, providers, and funders • Mobilize resources to act on other priorities


Expanding Sports to Non-participating Youth

Hennepin County SHIP Report

October 25, 2018

Thank you to our Task Force: Liliana Tobon-Gomez - Hennepin County, Libby Rau – Youthprise, Kaysone Syonesa - BBA, Jasmine Stanley - BBA, Ivan Lui - BBA and Patag Xiong – Community member. *A special thank you to our community – to youth sport providers, youth, parents, and Alliance partners who contributed to this project.


Background

The Brooklyn Bridge Alliance (BBA) is a joint powers agreement between the City of Brooklyn Center, Brooklyn Park, Hennepin County, and the school districts of Osseo, Brooklyn Center, Robbinsdale and Anoka-Hennepin, and Hennepin Technical College and North Hennepin Community College. Our mission is to coordinate a system of high-quality, accessible, and fully resourced opportunities that lead to an increase in high school graduation, pathways to college or career, and youth safety and well-being.

Since 2008, the Brooklyn Bridge Alliance for Youth (BBAY) has been surveying young people in the Brooklyns about afterschool participation rates, interests, and barriers to participating, among many other topics.

Consistently, it has been found that young people in the Brooklyns are interested in participating in sports (about 73% of those surveyed), but around 53% of them are not currently participating in any afterschool/summer programming (roughly 7,950 youth). Of youth who said they were not currently participating 68% said there were most interested in participating in sport (roughly 5,406 youth).

Alliance partners recognize that participation in sports has numerous benefits to young people’s health, well-being, and education. Research shows that participation in sports has a variety of benefits. In recent report by the Aspen Institute – “Reimagining Youth Sports in America”, active kids were found to do better in life. The benefits are listed below.

• 1/10 as likely to be obese • Up to 40% higher test scores • Less smoking, pregnancy and risky sex • 15% more likely to go to college • 7-8% higher annual earnings • More productive at work • More likely to be active with their own

children, thus repeating the cycle of benefits to their children

A meta-analysis completed by the CDC in 2010 found that there is substantial evidence that physical activity can help improve academic achievement, including grades and standardized test scores. Regarding extracurricular physical activities, “The evidence suggests that superintendents, principals, and athletic directors can develop or continue school-based sports programs without concern that these activities have a detrimental impact on students’ academic performance. School administrators and teachers also can encourage after-school organizations, clubs, student groups, and parent groups to incorporate physical activities into their programs and events.”


Lumpkin & Favor found in their study of comparing the academic performance of high school athletes and non-athletes that, “High school athletes earned higher grades, graduated at a higher rate, dropped out of school less frequently, and scored higher on state assessments than did non-athletes.”

Our central question for this project was: How do we get more kids to participate in sport opportunities?

Goals In 2017, the BBA and Hennepin County Public Health partnered to explore the issue of youth participation in sports to understand what we can we do together to increase the number of non-participating youth in high-quality sport opportunities. This partnership is supported by the Alliance partners, and funds from the Statewide Health Improvement Partnership (SHIP) from the Minnesota Department of Health.

The SHIP is working to create healthier communities across Minnesota by expanding opportunities for active living, healthy eating, and tobacco-free living. SHIP, at its core, is a locally driven effort. SHIP supports initiatives shaped by community voices, chooses strategies that are based on the latest science, and focuses on making long-term, sustainable changes in communities.

Goals: 1. Assess the ecosystem of youth sport, recreation, and physical activity opportunities in the

Brooklyns. 2. Convene the community to create a vision and ‘prototypes’ for what access to youth sports

could look like that would fit the cultural, economic, and social needs of youth, families, and public institutions.

3. To understand how to increase participation, we needed to build a broad view of the ‘youth sport ecosystem’.

Community Research Results We began with assessing the assets, opportunities and needs in the Brooklyns through three key stakeholder groups: Sport Providers, Parents, and Youth. We did this through three separate research projects.

• Part 1: Survey providers serving youth in Brooklyn Center and Brooklyn Park (Appendix 1) • Part 2: Survey youth 10-19 who are low or non-participating (Appendix 2) • Part 3: Interviews with parents of non-participating youth (Appendix 2)

In May and June of 2018, the Alliance partners identified the primary sport providers and reached out to them to complete a 15-20-minute survey. These included all of the major high schools, colleges, city


recreation departments, non-profits (e.g. Athletic Associations), and some for-profits providers who serve youth who live in or go to school in Brooklyn Center and Brooklyn Park.

During June and July, a team of five BrookLynk Youth Interns were hired to complete the 2018 Youth to Youth Surveys. Data were collected at parks, summer school programs, libraries, and community events with youth ages 10-19. Six hundred sixty-nine (669) youth, representing diverse racial and ethnic groups in the Brooklyns, completed the survey.

At the same time, a team of five culturally-diverse, trained parent outreach specialists completed a 30-45 minute interview with parents. Eighty-one (81) parents representing Asian American, Asian, African American, African born, Hispanic, and Caucasian communities participated. Interviews were done in different languages according to the participants’ preferences.

Summary of Youth, Parent and Provider Results In summary, we found that there is an access challenge to existing opportunities. Providers reported that with existing capacity they could serve potentially serve nearly 12,000 annually. For context, there are nearly 15,000 youth ages 10-19 in the Brooklyns. We estimate that roughly 5,000 of these youth are non-participating and would want to access these opportunities but cannot due to several barriers.

Across providers, parents, and youth, they all agreed that not knowing what’s available, programs costing too much and don’t have a way to get there or get home were key barriers.

Youth

Parent

Provider

• 699 Youth• Targeted disconnected youth• Face to Face survey

• 81 Surveys• Targeted non-participating parents• Face to face interview

• 29 providers• Targeted major sport providers in BC and BP• Online survey


For the most part, sports offered reflect parent and youth interests except for swimming, archery, and gymnastics.

Specifically, youth said they were most interested in opportunities that are designed as weekly practices and games. These types of programs, when co-located at school, can result in increased attendance and academic performance.

What set-up of practices and/or games would you prefer? Total Currently not participating AND

interested in sports Weekly practices and games 72% 77% Informal: pick-up games or open gym 21% 16% Only skill-building, drills, lessons, practices, etc. 13% 13% Weekly games with no practices 10% 12%

Overwhelmingly non-participating youth have caring adults in their lives. For some youth, adults may not know how to connect, or be aware of positive youth development opportunities. This suggests that direct outreach to these caring adults, sharing the benefits of participation and providing barrier free opportunities could accelerate participation.

Do you have an adult in your life who: Total Currently not participating AND

interested in sports Shows you that you matter to him/her 95% 96% Pushes you to keep getting better 96% 95% Helps you complete tasks and achieve goals 93% 91% Treats you with respect and lets you have a say 91% 92% Connects you with people and places that broaden your world 85% 86%


Providers, Parents, and Youth agreed that to expand access to existing opportunities, providers needed to improve marketing and access to information, reduce costs for both fees and equipment, and eliminate transportation barriers by co-locating sports at home or school, or developing transportation solutions.

Specifically, parents #1 preferred method for being contacted was to sign up for email updates. They would like to understand the opportunity first, then stay connected via email. Parents said they needed to trust the provider for both ‘receiving information’ and allowing the child to participate.

We learned that providers primarily collected youth data regarding age and gender – so we can determine if opportunities are being accessed for these groups. However, were unable to determine access as it relates to race/ethnicity, income, and other demographics (city, school, level of play, language spoken at home). In the Brooklyns nearly 75% of all youth are youth of color. To ensure equitable access, providers would need to collect more data.


Lastly, we know that 43% of all youth have foreign-born parents in the Brooklyns (American Community Survey). Providers may need to consider new ways to connect with parents - 95% of whom said they wanted their kids to participate! Most providers cannot support registration in languages other than English.

Community Session Results There were two community sessions held to help the Alliance partners move from data to action. The data showed that our challenge was related to access. So we engaged participants to understand the data and to explore what equitable access means to them, and how we could expand access.

Youth Sport Provider Session On September 26th, twenty stakeholders in youth sports came together to learn about the data collected by the Brooklyn Bridge Alliance for Youth related to youth sports participation. The goal of the session was to ‘make meaning’ of the data and build a shared definition of ‘equitable access’ to sports. Overall, the data collected in the provider survey was validated. Providers worked in small groups to digest the information and concluded: Parents want kids to participate. Kids are interested and want to patriciate. Providers want more

kids to participate. And there is more capacity to serve kids. We also know that there are barriers that for the most part, all providers are familiar with –

cost, transportation and not knowing what is out there. Providers are not currently reaching everyone. One key reason is that the way we currently

market our programs doesn’t work for non-participating youth and families. We also know there are bigger barriers like costs, fitting it into family schedules, and

transportation – and solving these problems will mean that we must do things differently. Providers can help get more kids participation by asking and acting on:

What do we need to do to improve? How can we communicate and engage differently? What can we do together to break down these barriers? What are providers going to do to address barriers? Would you like to be a part of a parent advisory group?


Equitable Access

Providers then created shared definitions of equitable access. Overall providers seem to agree that: Equitable access means removing barriers through individual and systemic action to ensure that youth who want to benefit from participation in sports can do so.

Closing comments from providers:

The group was successful at both goals and was invited to the October 2nd youth, parent and provider session at which they would build solutions to the barriers unearthed during this research. Youth, Parent and Provider Innovation Session There was a good turnout of youth and parents for this event. There were several providers who intended to attend but were unable at the last minute to do so. There were tables for Spanish, Hmong, and Lao speakers, with the presentation delivered in English. Table discussions were held in the language preferred by participants. 52 parents, youth, providers and partners, formed 7 design teams (appendix 1), who Brainstormed 307 ideas (appendix 2), that were refined into 21 recommendations to increase access to youth sports! Overall, 1 strong community thinking, learning, and generating ideas together!

Equitable Access Parents reviewed provider definitions of equitable access and agreed that equitable access means: “Having plans in place so all youth can have the same opportunities to participate.”

“Excited about people coming

together to build equity.”

•"Thankful for people taking time to tackle issue at something we’ve been looking at for the last 10 years, it seems ‘untackle-able’ by ourselves.”

“It’s clear we are not

reaching people we

need to reach.”

•“Came into this thinking I’m going to protect what we do and what I know, and now I feel much more relieved that we have the right end in mind and the right purpose in front of us.”

“Not knowing can leave us

stuck, but knowing can

lead to action.”

•“Hearing that parents want information by email is great, we can afford that, and we need to build access.”


When asked what would be “Game changers” in shifting towards equitable access participants said:

1. If sports were all in schools, parents could get connected easily, and improve communication and accessibility.

2. Create a tool/website that all families/kids can see what activities are available, how to register, scholarship availability, and how to get there (transportation tool).

3. Give scholarships, [fundraise money], welcome to all squads, or sliding fee scale based on self-reported income.

4. Having culturally/language specific persons on staff to provide information, registration, and engagement for those who do not speak English or are from another culture. “Enlace”: Spanish speaking and cultural competent staff to guide us, written information we can understand, low cost activities and scholarships, family activities, and indoor winter activities.

Solutions / Big Ideas to Expand Access

The following are the ideas, listed in order of priority, created by participants that would most likely expand access. Easier registration

1. Clearly explain how to register for classes. Catalog information is confusing. 2. Cultural sign-up nights for sports/activities at rec center/schools (include translated materials

and interpreters). 3. Provide various ways to register – in school, brochures, apps through social media, email with

links. 4. Have applications in different languages so it will be easier for all to sign up. 5. Make easier to register in person (Many do not have computers. Do not understand the

computer form. Have a language barrier. Many of us rely only on phones.) 6. Have people who can guide us and orient us to use the services. People who understands our

culture and speaks Spanish 7. Provide face to face communication, do not rely only on internet communication

Cross-cultural communications, connecting, and engagement

1. “Parent Leaders” that work with schools, city, associations, that can connect parents and children to sports.

2. Advertise on social media. 3. We need “enlace” which means liaison/bond/connection - Have staff who speaks fluid Spanish

and understands our culture (7 comments around this idea) Comments: families have tried to register kids to programs coming in person to the Recreation Centers. None of them reported a positive experience. Many of them could not register the kid/youth even after visiting the center because nobody was able to help them in Spanish or use an interpreter or language line. When a “Spanish” speaker was offered, the person could not hold a conversation because their Spanish was very basic. There were complains about unkindness by some reception staff.

4. Have a language line as some schools have. 5. Have a cultural liaison as some schools have (best than a language line according to

participants). 6. Provide catalogs and written information in Spanish.


7. Provide more information in Spanish about activities for different age groups. (Many mentioned hearing about classes for adults and were very interested to learn more, but didn’t know where to look for them.)

Provide new types of activities to better connect with families

1. Provide activities for the whole family so we can participate at the same time (5 families commented the same).

2. Provide activities during the weekend when most of our families have some time to participate (having 2-3 jobs makes difficult weekday participation).

3. Provide more indoor activities for winter (highly voted idea): We are not accustomed to be outdoors during cold weather. We want activities indoor for the kids and families. People goes to St. Paul parks to be able to play indoor soccer during winter because we do not know how to reserve park space in this area. We don’t know what is available in this area.

4. Offer art classes, dancing. 5. Offer swimming for adults. Many of us do not know how to swim. 6. Offer swimming classes for the family. 7. Have trainers [coaches] who are patient with our immigrant kids (they had comments about

their kids being discriminated and mistreated in schools, sometimes physically abused). Solutions for transportation

1. Set up a ride share service where retired seniors can transport kids to sports/activities for free. 2. State to provide the funds for cost of transportation. Provide special transportation to practice

and games. 3. Providers [build programs that] provide transportation. 4. Create a bus, or shuttle from apartment complexes to parks. 5. Parents get organized and transport group of kids: Many of our [Latinx] families have only one

car. The working parent uses the car to go to work. We have 2-3 jobs. There is no public transportation that allow us to bring kids to the places where classes are offered.

Build resources to reduce or eliminate costs 1. Have sponsors volunteer to take up costs such as registration fees, uniforms, and snacks/drinks

so families can pay little to no fees. 2. Low or no cost. 3. Provide reduced/free costs for low-income level families. Offer scholarships for fee-based

programs with free or low cost coaching and equipment. 4. Provide help with uniforms: classes are already very expensive and with the cost of uniforms we

cannot afford them. 5. Decrease the cost. Offer some classes for free or low cost.

Teen leadership

1. Teens share knowledge with younger kids and the cycle perpetuates. 2. Teen night lock in. All night sports like a tournament. 3. Develop interesting ways to engage youth. 4. Recognition award: Provide a diploma to the kid for participating in a [fitness or sport] class (3

families shared same idea).


Entry points into sports 1. Draft Sport Day: All youth register and attend a sport day where you sign up, get equipment

(loaned if needed), pay fees (or get scholarships), and get transportation. 2. Free camps for kids at parks. Try the sport and if you like it stay with it. Essentially like a sports

sampling day in the park. 3. Have an open house event where families can come and learn how to ice skate or play hockey

(comments: they are all very curious, but don’t know how to do it). Spaces and places for sports

1. Build indoor field house for winter access.

Alliance Recommendations Following the community engagement sessions, the Alliance Strategy Team, consisting of leaders from Community Education, City Recreation, College Access, and Hennepin County Libraries met and developed a shared statement on equitable access that would communicate our mutual intent and guide our implementation recommended action.

Alliance Equitable Access to Sports Statement

The Alliance seeks to ensure that youth who want to participate in sports can do so, regardless of the barriers they may face. We know that for our community to prosper, each family needs access to high quality opportunities for their kids.

Through this work we intend to impact youth who are not currently participating. We know that oftentimes these are youth who experience barriers: program costs are too high, not knowing what is available, location of the programs is too far from home or there is no transportation.

We know that youth participation in sports can improve young people’s health, well-being, and social connections that are key social and emotional skills needed to succeed in school and life.

Through this work we (Alliance members) intend to create the conditions for program providers to try new things, and to become open, flexible, and intentional about delivering programs and services in NEW settings, in NEW languages, and with NEW customers.

Lastly, through this work we know that throughout our community we need to become aware of our implicit biases; so that we can ensure that programs and services meet the needs of each family in our community.


Recommendations for Action

Based on the data and community input the Strategy team recommends the following action in order of priority.

#1 – PUBLIC PROVIDERS LAUNCH “SPORT SAMPLE” OPPORTUNITIES

Description: Community Education and Recreation Services recognized that they have already experiences some success in creating ‘SPORT SAMPLE’ opportunities. Kids can come for a one-time or multi-session class to explore multiple types of sports. For example, community education at Brooklyn Center Schools is offering Zumba, Dance and Tumbling.

Offering this type of opportunity is a low-risk way for parents to expose their kids to a variety of physical activity options without a big investment.

Providers could develop a template for this program design that could be shared with all providers. This could also include an Implicit Bias Training for providers to ensure service delivery meets youth and families where they are culturally. Also, the design may also include sport specific skills training and reflection on social and emotional skills learned.

Barriers Eliminated: • Cost • Cost for equipment • Transportation; if delivered afterschool with busing, or via Rec On the Go

Potential Impact: • Entry points into sports • Provide new types of activities to better connect with families • Easier Registration – explore multiple sport opportunities • Cross-Cultural communications, connecting and engagement • Solutions for transportation

Potential Costs:

• Bussing for afterschool community education • Transportation for city recreation services • Equipment costs for recreation or community education programs • Implicit Bias training costs


#2 – Launch a “YOUTH SPORTS DRAFT DAY”

Description: Alliance partners will host “YOUTH SPORTS DRAFT DAY” at their college, school, or community center prior to leagues kicking off. This could be sport specific or could be for multiple sports. Youth and parents can explore different sport options and take care of all their registration needs on site – so they are ready to participate.

Most importantly, YOUTH SPORTS DRAFT DAY will include

1. Registration in English, Spanish, Hmong 2. Scholarship information in English, Spanish, Hmong 3. Equipment supplies on site: shoes, hockey equipment exchange

Potential Partners: Rec On the Go, Parks and Recreation staff, Play-it-Again sports, Sanneh Foundation, Leagues/Associations who want to boost recruitment.

Barriers Eliminated: • Not knowing what’s available • Cost • Equipment costs

Potential Impact:

• Easier Registration • Cross-Cultural communications, connecting and engagement • Provide new types of activities to better connect with families • Solutions for transportation • Build resources to reduce or eliminate costs • Entry points into sports

Potential Costs

• Event coordination

#3 – Build a TRANSLATION RESOURCE HUB

Description: Many providers, including schools, non-profits, leagues etc. do not have easy access to services that can translate materials into Spanish, Hmong, etc. Alliance partners could scan existing resources used for this purpose to understand what resources are available. We would also gather constraints – existing policies or procedures with public agencies related to translating materials.

We could partner with experts in this discipline to find resources, connect them to providers, and improve communications to parents.


Barriers Eliminated: • Not knowing what’s available

Potential Impact:

• Easier Registration • Cross-Cultural communications, connecting and engagement • Build resources to reduce or eliminate costs

Potential Costs:

• Coordination of bringing resources together • Ongoing efforts to connect translation services to providers

# 4 – Expand COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT: develop relationships and Enlacé [bring together]

Description: Alliance partners would establish a new team coordinated with existing resources at the Alliance to bring together community engagement experts from each Alliance partner. This may be different ‘titles’ for each partner, but might include the following: School Equity Specialists, City Community Engagement liaisons, Parent Liaisons, or other.

This team would be charged with organizing translations resources, and outreach to parents – where parents are – to connect them to opportunities throughout our community via an online program locator (sports included). Partners would mutually promote one another’s programs and services and build a calendar of outreach events that could include – Earle Brown Days, Tator Days, Back to School, YOUTH SPORTS DRAFT DAY, Motivation Youth Festival and other community events.

This team would also participate in Implicit Bias training, and explore ‘train the trainer’ options for bringing this training back to their organizations.

The Alliance staff would manage a tool/website that all families/kids can see what activities are available, how to register, scholarship availability, and how to get there (transportation tool).

Together this team would seek to engage 1,000 parents: inform them of the online program locator and get their email/cell number to share updates on new programs and special events for youth.

Barriers Eliminated: • Not knowing what’s available • Cross-Cultural communications, connecting and engagement

Potential Impact:

• Cross-Cultural communications, connecting and engagement • Entry points into sports • Teen Leadership – if youth hired for outreach


• Build resources to reduce or eliminate costs for marketing • Solutions for transportation • Provide new types of activities to better connect with families

Potential Costs:

• Coordination of the Community Engagement Team (CET) • Participation of members of the CET • Additional staff resources to organize youth sport providers, not already in the program locator,

to include these opportunities in the program locator • Building capacity of providers to upload their program information to this online hub • Implicit Bias training costs • Maintenance and growth of the Online Program Locator

#5 – Expand BrookLynk Internships to CREATE TEEN COACHING JOBS

Description: Teens and older youth can help providers solve the shortage of coaches. Through an existing summer youth employment program – BrookLynk. Youth who are trained and support coaches can increase program quality. If children have positive, high-quality experiences they are more likely to continue in physical activity.

We would create professional internships in Recreation and Education settings that would include:

1. Employer hires 8 BrookLynk Youth Sports interns 2. Interns learn about career pathways to recreation, community education, education, sports

industry, and are trained in high quality coach practices 3. Manage a sports team for middle or elementary aged youth 4. Work together to develop league play over the summer 5. Work together to develop transportation plans with parents, co-located practices where youth

live and using open space at college campuses to expose both the interns and participants to college campuses in our community

6. Organize playoffs for the 8 teams 7. Recognize all youth participants, recognize transportation/cost/communication champions

Or

Explore a partnership Between BrookLynk and existing leagues, swim teams, or associations to develop paid summer internships.

Barriers Eliminated: • Transportation • Costs


Potential Impact: • Teen leadership • Spaces and places for sports • Entry points into sports • Build resources to reduce or eliminate costs • Solutions for transportation • Provide new types of activities to better connect with families • Cross-cultural communications, connecting and engagement

Potential Costs:

• Staff costs to supervise and support these interns • Each BrookLynk intern salary ($3,000) • Equipment costs for teams • Transportation costs

#6 – Explore a COMMON REGISTRATION FOR YOUTH SPORTS

Description: Parents could register their kids all at once – providing permission for release of information, income verification, address, etc. for ALL of their kids. One form across sports providers. There would be multiple phases of development needed for this common registration system.

1. Gather all current registration forms 2. Determine commonalities 3. Determine constraints – policy requirements for collecting during registration 4. Determine gaps 5. Negotiate agreement on common form 6. Use common form at individual sites 7. Build online tool for ‘ONE STOP’ registration 8. Build link/e-verify/electronic transfer of registration data to provider 9. Monitor, support and manage online tool

This would REVOLUTIONIZE easy access to opportunity. It would also be used not just for sports, but for any youth program opportunity. Mirror the college “Common App” application process.

This would require significant investment and political leadership to change registrations processes.

Barriers Eliminated: • Not knowing how to navigate registration systems

Potential Impact:

• Easier Registration for sports (#1 issue recommendation from parents) • Potentially, easier registration for ALL afterschool and summer programs


Potential Costs:

• High; personnel and technology

Project Summary Through extensive collaboration and engagement, we accomplished our goals. We learned through our opportunity assessment that access was the prevailing issue in the Brooklyns. We generated hundreds of ideas that would be ‘prototypes’ for expanding access to youth sports to address cost, transportation, and marketing/communications.

Finally, the Alliance partners identified the following recommendations that could based on reallocation of existing resources:

1 – PUBLIC PROVIDERS LAUNCH “SPORT SAMPLE” OPPORTUNITIES 3 – Build a TRANSLATION RESOURCE HUB 4 – Expand COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT: develop relationships and Enlacé [bring together] (re-

design and 6 month outreach effort) New resources will need to be mobilized to implement the following:

2 – Launch a “YOUTH SPORTS DRAFT DAY” 5 – Expand BrookLynk Internships to CREATE TEEN COACHING JOBS 6 – Explore a COMMON REGISTRATION FOR YOUTH SPORTS 4 – Expand COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT: develop relationships and Enlacé [bring together]

These results will be shared with the County and Alliance board of directors to approve recommendations for action.

expanding sports to non-participating youth · 2019-01-28 · expanding sports to non-participating...

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