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Help shape the future of sports and recreation in Edmonton! Share your voice until December 20 2024
Edmonton is working on a plan for the future of sports and recreation in our city! This project is called Engage and Play: Shaping Public Recreation in Edmonton. We want to know what's important to you so we can make smart choices about programs, facilities and how we spend money.
Here's how we're doing it:
We want to know:
Engage and Play - It's your chance to help shape the future of sports and recreation in our city!
The community engagement aims to gather input from residents across Edmonton, ensuring broad insights, which is in keeping with the City's goal for equal access and representation across demographic groupings. The community engagement will be completed in two phases.
The first phase, taking place November 27 - December 20, includes a general household survey representing a wide range of groups, conducted online, through telephone interviews and via Engaged Edmonton. The focus will be on identifying current and future sport and active recreation needs at the district level, and understanding the needs and expectations of the community.
The second phase, taking place in 2025, will involve interviews and focus groups with Edmontonians, partners and user groups and continued use of the Engaged Edmonton page. This phase will seek to gain deeper insight into the specific needs expressed via the survey including clearer understanding of equitable programming needs as well as the similarities and differences expressed by specific groups.
The online survey will run until Friday, December 20, 2024. Opportunities to participate and information on engagement activities will be listed on Engaged Edmonton.
Public service recreation plays a vital role in promoting health, community engagement and quality of life by providing accessible, equitable and inclusive recreational opportunities for people of all ages, abilities and backgrounds. The City is looking forward to hearing from Edmontonians on their specific needs regarding sport and active recreation. With the city on track to reach a population of two million residents, this research will assist the City in planning for the needs of Edmontonians, both now and into the future, while delivering on commitments in the City Plan and improving access for all.
With Edmonton’s population on track to reach 2 million people, it is essential that the city be prepared for the needs of our growing and changing community. This research will help the City make informed decisions that support both immediate and future needs and uphold the commitments found in the City Plan, including equitable access to services and amenities for all Edmontonians.
The research aims to ensure the City can meet growing demand for more varied and accessible recreational opportunities across all districts and demographic groups. The jurisdictional scan will be to identify best practices and innovative approaches that could be adopted or adapted from elsewhere to address similar issues or challenges here. The review of the current state of sporting activities in Edmonton and beyond will be to gain a deeper understanding of the growth and trending of various sports to inform current and future programming and infrastructure needs. The community engagement being conducted seeks to understand the types of sport and active recreational programs and facilities residents need to serve the city’s diverse population. All of this will be used to inform policy direction, service improvements, operational model adjustments and budget considerations.
The research will guide forward-thinking planning and budgeting allowing the City to more effectively make investments in recreation that maximize the benefits for residents. This will help the City better address population growth and demographic shifts impacting future wants while meeting current recreational needs.
This research benefits residents by ensuring the City’s sports and recreational amenities are better aligned with their needs, both now and in the future. As the city grows, it will be better informed and equipped to expand and diversify recreational options, making them accessible and relevant for residents.
Once the research findings are gathered and analyzed, the City will use the insights to inform short and long-term sports and recreational planning while balancing fiscal realities in order to create a sustainable model for growth and equitable access to services.