SPORTIFIED
Introduction
In Canada high school dropout rates average 5-14% and increase as high as 50% or more in low-income communities. Youth in low-income communities face significant barriers to education that impact their chances of graduating and continuing their education. Many don’t have access to nutritious food, financial stability, educational resources, and/or support like transportation to and from school.
Leaving school before graduating limits a young person’s potential for the rest of their life and cost billions to the community in lost tax revenue, social assistance, and health care.
Sportified is one of Urban League’s hosted programs. The aim of this program is to help youth gain access to educational opportunities. The target members for this program are high-school students who practice sports. The target members for this program are high-school students that practice sports. These youth most likely live in low-income and at-risk communities. This means that they probably don’t have access to the necessities needed to thrive in the area of sports such as, basic equipment, training facilities, and someone to help guide them to have opportunities to be part of leagues that are well positioned among scouts, in order to have a chance to potentially receive a scholarship offer.
Project Summary
Urban League will be running an education and sports training program for youth ages 13-18 in the GTA. Through our research we have identified the primary issue with youth at risk is the lack of opportunities to continue their education. Our project differs from other programs in that we focus on both education and sports combined, and not as individual entities.
Sportified will break the negative cycle that is created due to lack of opportunities, using sports as a tool to keep the students in school and helping them obtain a scholarship to advance their education.
We will accomplish this through a combination of 4 sequential activities including: counseling, sport assessment, education mentoring, and scholarship plan. To ensure a feeling of support and get to know the participants and their needs better, our program will begin with a one-on-one counsellor meeting to work through any type of hardship the students may be facing. They will use these sessions to develop their career/life plan. After the first meeting with the counsellor, they will go through a sports assessment to evaluate their performance in the sport they practice so the coaches may identify the areas they need to work on to get into the next level.
Before every sport practice they will have an education mentoring session so they can also succeed in their education, improving grades and identifying necessary skills for their chosen studies.
After the first six months in the program, participants will start working developing their scholarship plan which includes: essays, motivation letters, videos practicing their sport and other supporting material to improve their scholarship chances.
Get Involved
To be announced when the program is ready to begin.
Program Director
Would you like to refer an athlete?
Under the direction of the Executive Director, the Urban League of Canada Sportified Program Director (PD) is responsible for ensuring the operational success of all sports programs offered through our organization. The PD is responsible for the general planning and operation of program training and coordination, general marketing and advertising, managing office duties, and maintaining physical inventories. This position requires general knowledge of sports leagues and tournaments, including basic rules for the sports training we offer. The program coordinator works closely with the Executive Director, providing additional support for the organization as necessary. Mostly works during the week, 9 am to 5 pm, with some weeknights and weekends
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