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| | AN ARPA e-Newsletter | october 2011
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Alberta's New Premier brings changes to Alberta Ministries
On October 13th, 2011 Premier Alison Redford's new Cabinet was sworn in with the purpose to create and promote positive change for Albertans.
While, for the most part, the ministries remain unchanged there are a few notable changes: Culture and Community Spirit is now Culture and Community Services, and the new ministry of Human Services has consolidated Children and Youth Services and components of Employment and Immigration into one ministry.
New Ministers of allied Ministries were announced for Education, Health and Wellness, Municipal Affairs, Culture and Community Services, Environment and Water, and Tourism, Parks and Recreation.
The new Minister of Tourism, Parks and Recreation is the Honorable Jack Hayden, who is the MLA for the Drumheller-Stettler constituency and former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development as well as former Minister of Infrastructure. He replaces Ms. Cindy Ady, MLA for Calgary Shaw Constituency.
"We'd like to recognize outgoing Minister Ady for her contributions to recreation and parks," said Terry Welsh, ARPA President, "Her outstanding service to Alberta parks and recreation is greatly appreciated."
Minister Hayden has a vast background in municipal and provincial government which includes his former membership on the Alberta Government's Agenda and Priorities Committee, his former position as County Councillor and Reeve for the County of Stettler, and Director of the Central District of the Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties (AAMDC) and was President of that Association from 1998 to 2004.
With Minister Hayden's experience in the municipal realm we anticipate that he will bring a lot to the management table for community recreation and parks development and delivery. ARPA looks forward to establish a productive relationship with the new Minister of Tourism, Parks and Recreation and is excited to have Minister Hayden onboard.
The new Deputy Minister for Tourism, Parks and Recreation is Brad Pickering who formerly served as the Deputy Solicitor General and Deputy Minister of
Public Security. Deputy Minister Brad Pickering replaces outgoing Deputy Minister Bill Werry.
"Bill Werry's leadership and support over the past number of years has helped to advance strategic initiatives as well as reinforced and supported the importance of community recreation and parks across Alberta," stated Rick Curtis, ARPA CEO, "We sincerely thank Bill for his dedicated service to the sport, physical activity and recreation sector."
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 Get Connected with the National Recreation Summit!
Did you know that you can get involved with the National Recreation Summit happening later this month? You can follow everything happening via live web-casts that will be streamed online, as well as have access to all the commissioned papers that are being discussed.
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PLAY - It's Serious Business paper released
PLAY is both fundamental to human nature and critical to child development. It has been defined as being freely chosen, personally directed and intrinsically motivated behavior that actively engages the child. Despite the value of PLAY being recognized internationally for decades, Canadian society has seemingly systematically eliminated the opportunities for children to PLAY.
The growing popularity of programs focused on bringing sports training and equipment to children often ignores the value of free PLAY and the importance of providing safe and creative spaces that support PLAY. This shift to structured activities can be linked to an inability to focus, an inability to solve complex problems, a lack of risk identification, and an over-reliance on parental direction.
A recent discussion paper prepared by ARPA entitled PLAY- It's Serious Business, recognizes the current PLAY deficit and provides recommendations to support change. Taking the position that no significant process will be made without new policy development, cross-sector leadership and without involving children in designing play spaces, this paper reviews the research on PLAY providing information surrounding the current deficit and future provision.
Using this discussion paper to create a provincial dialogue, ARPA hopes to position the recreation and parks sector as a champion in the movement to re-integrate PLAY into the lives of children. Recognizing that it is only through thoughtful dialogue and input that change will actually occur ARPA is seeking additional input from members of the recreation and parks sector along with allied stakeholders.
Using strategic questions to guide this provincial dialogue, PLAY- It's Serious Business takes the position that if we are to address the developmental and health issues of our children we need to take a deliberate and proactive approach.
Access the discussion paper PLAY- It's Serious Business and get involved in the provincial dialogue here.
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 2011 Alberta Communities in Bloom Awards
ARPA acknowledged the participating communities in Alberta's Provincial Edition of the Communities in Bloom program at a provincial awards banquet held in Forestburg, Alberta on Saturday, September 17, 2011. "We are pleased to celebrate with all of the communities participating in this year's Communities in Bloom Alberta program. Through involvement in Communities in Bloom, these communities have demonstrated their commitment to improving the quality of life for their citizens," stated Terry Welsh, ARPA President. "This annual Awards event gives us the opportunity to showcase and salute not only the communities throughout the province that participate in the program, but also the many dedicated volunteers that make Communities in Bloom Alberta such a great success."  2011 was also the second year for Encana as the official Provincial Presenting Partner for the Communities in Bloom Alberta program.
"Encana is proud to support the work of communities and organizations that care for our environment. We know that the Communities in Bloom program not only promotes neighbourhood beautification, it cultivates leadership and collaboration, fosters active outdoor living and enhances community pride. We extend hearty congratulations to everyone involved with Communities in Bloom this year, and especially to Alberta's 2011 winning communities for their inspiring commitment to local environmental stewardship." Patricia Etris, Director of Community Involvement for Encana. For more information on Alberta's Provincial Edition of Communities in Bloom visit www.cib.arpaonline.ca. |
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 CPRA Releases Their First 2011 Newsletter
ARPA is an active partner within CPRA and is pleased to showcase CPRA's first quarterly newsletter!
As a member of ARPA you are also a member of a national voice, the Canadian Parks and Recreation Association, and we encourage you to keep informed of activities happening across Canada.
This newsletter will help to communicate with members and partners and highlight activities and events occurring across Canada in the recreation and parks sector as well as other relevant and exciting information.
Check out the first 2011 issue of CPRA's newsletter!
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ARPA and Sogo Active Media Outreach
SogoActive is a national youth physical activity program presented by Coca-Cola in collaboration with ParticipACTION, and ARPA. It is about empowering youth aged 13 to 19 to challenge themselves and their friends to solve the physical inactivity crisis that currently exists among Canadian youth.
Recently Sogo Active and ARPA were profiled in 6 community papers and generated 206,248 media impressions throughout the province. Featured communities or organizations were all successful recipients of Sogo Active grant funding committed to making physical activity more accessible and enjoyable for youth aged 13-19. Read more about these successful communities and organizations and their initiatives.
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Collaborative Action Project: A Community-University Partnership
The University of Alberta, Strathcona County, and ARPA have recently partnered to create the Collaborative Action Project (CAP). CAP is a research project that aims to improve physical activity opportunities for youth of low income. This community-university partnership will examine the implementation of a national initiative, Everybody gets to play, at local, municipal and provincial levels. Additionally, it will examine if and in what ways knowledge mobilization can be enhanced through a community-university partnership.
Everybody gets to play is a national initiative that aims to increase recreation (including physical activity) opportunities for children and youth in low-income families. Using Community Mobilization Toolkits, communities try to identify, reduce and eliminate barriers to recreation. Through the CAP data will be collected over an 18-month period using qualitative methods. Participants will include youth, parents, service providers, decision makers and research partners.
The intended outcomes of the partnership are:
1. Develop a community-university partnership to improve the mobilization (creation, distribution and use) of meaningful knowledge between various local, municipal, provincial and university groups
2. Understand and enhance the physical activity opportunities for and experiences of youth from families of low-income
3. Improve a current national initiative that intends to increase opportunities for youth physical activity
To learn more about the Collaborative Action Project contact Bethan Kingsley, Principle Investigator, University of Alberta at bkingsle@ualberta.ca or Lisa Tink, Manager, Children and Youth Programs at ltink@arpaonline.ca.
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HIGH FIVEŽ QUEST 1- New Online Training
The Guide to Policies and Procedures (QUEST 1) is a HIGH FIVEŽ resource that provides ready to use sample guidelines to support organizations in designing, writing and implementing policies and procedures.
The new QUEST 1 online training is designed for managers who oversee children's programs allowing them to develop, adopt, and measure, the effectiveness of child-focused policies. QUEST 1 has 86 updated or new policies to support healthy child development, including sections on:
1. Interactions- Hiring policies, training criteria, leader behavior, parent communication, inclusion
2. Supervision and Safety- Emergency management, child abuse/injury/illness prevention and reporting, child supervision, transportation
3. Program Characteristics and Supports- Program planning, transitions, evaluations
4. Administrative Practices- Tracking, reports, awareness
For more information on about completing QUEST 1 online visit www.highfive.org or contact Joline Veitch at 780 638-2915 or jveitch@arpaonline.ca.
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Official Launch of Hinton's Greenhouse
The HINTON Community Greenhouse is bursting with sweet red peppers, juicy tomatoes, strawberries, peas, squash and even cucumbers. What a time for thanks and celebration!
The Hinton Community Garden Society hosted a Grand Opening Ceremony and Harvest Celebration on the September Labour Day weekend. Community residents all shared the local produce as well as the success and the new opportunities this brings for Hinton! Starting out as one of the first ten Active Communities partners (now ACE), this hard working group has created this 'Third Place' where everyone can participate and be part of ensuring a local supply of fresh, organic produce!
Greenhouse founder, Jerome Cranston said: "Since the plan was first dreamed up and presented to Council in January 2009, there has been so much community support. This is really a grassroots project thanks to the thousands of hours of volunteer labour and from the support of sponsors, especially Kinder Morgan Canada, the Alberta Recreation and Parks Association and the Town of Hinton". Hinton is pleased to have a new executive led by Noel Corser that is working hard to take this to the next level!
And to see pics of this great event, click here!
For more information on this amazing process please contact Kate Wright at kathrynwright77@hotmail.com or visit their website. |
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Sobeys 21 Days to Healthy Eating Challenge - Recap
Thanks to everyone who took up the Sobeys 21 Days to Healthy Eating Challenge!
Congratulations to Manning who has won the major community prize of a $2500 Community Grant! The grant will be used for initiatives aimed at helping the community be active and eat healthy!
Congratulations also goes to the 14 lucky families from 11 different communities across Alberta who won prizes for participating!
A special thanks to Sobeys for not only sponsoring the 21 Days to Healthy Eating Challenge, but also for being a pick up zone for the 21 Days Logbook. The logbook contains valuable information about healthy eating, active living and eating together as a family. The book also contains resources for all ages including meal planning, nutrition guidelines, colouring pages, family focused jokes and much more.
Thanks to the involvement of Sobeys, we were able to offer an additional 108 logbook pick up locations and disseminate approximately 20,000 logbooks across Alberta.
Thanks again to all the families who took part in the Sobeys 21 Days to Healthy Eating Challenge.
Feedback from Families who participated in the Sobeys 21 Days to Healthy Eating Challenge
"My family really enjoyed participating in the Sobeys 21 Days to Healthy Eating Challenge. From planning and preparing meals together to the discussions that took place as we spent quality time together have been wonderful. Our children enjoy helping with the planning, shopping and cooking and often laugh when they can cook better than mommy can already!"
"Even doing the dishes after a meal was more fun when we all gathered and worked together as a team. It is this type of activity that makes our family stronger and more open with each other. We have created a healthy and positive habit of being together. The challenge helped our family spend time together even though it is a very busy time of the year." (Vermillion, AB)
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"My family of 4 loved this event! My 8 year old daughter filled out the calendar each day and my 11 year old boy loved helping me in the kitchen. Who knew he was so good with a knife and cutting board! We decided to make a meal plan for each week by going around the table after supper and each getting a chance to "pick" what we would like to eat. Our food choices for the family have recently been a common conversation at our home as we are almost 1 year becoming vegetarian (almost vegan besides the odd egg and a little cheese)."
"So we have been trying to eat better and this really brings home the idea to everyone how important it is in the community and not just something mom is making us do. We were very successful in the challenge for sure and enjoyed engaging the kids in helping out. I am also part of a step class in town and everyone was encouraged to do it! I also was able to convince a few co-workers to participate! I have also joined a "club fed" in town where a few of us ladies get together and make new recipes we haven't tried before."
"We will definitely continue to partake in that! It's a blast and each of us bring new ideas to the table. Now that my family is vegetarian the challenge has been to keep it new and tasting good so my family doesn't get bored and it was cool to see what the kids and my husband started to "pick" as something they wanted to have. I am delightfully surprised! Hats off to the ChooseWell people, what a great program!!!!" (Three Hills, AB)
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"This challenge couldn't have come at a better time for us. With three children now all attending extracurricular activities in the evening, having a family supper has become a purposeful act. Gone are the days when my preschoolers would sit together for lunch and chat about the things they had done that morning and what they planned to do next."
"Now we have children rushing in the morning to get ready for school and frantically packing a lunch for my youngest. Then there is the homeschooling of the boys and by lunch time I would often prefer to wait till after they eat and have a quiet meal by myself. I would have missed a lot, though, since our home school lunch hour has become a wonderful opportunity to explore all the little sidetrack ideas that came into my children's head while they worked. Without the incentive of the challenge, I probably would have taken the "easy" way out and let my kids eat without me. I'm glad I didn't."
"There are still meals that we miss eating together but on the whole, meal time is a family affair and an opportunity to reconnect with each other and share our lives together. Not to mention that I have better control over how much ketchup they are putting on their food." (Leduc, AB)
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Chestermere Bakes a Pie - For a good cause!
Kudos to the ACE Community of Chestermere for taking pie making to a whole new level! This September, participants from their second community pie making workshop made 25 pies for the Chestermere Regional Food bank pie auction held recently at their Red Ribbon Competition during the town's annual County Fair.
Not only were there participants of all ages, the editor of the local paper as well as some police officers in SERIOUS flak jackets, all came together to make pies for the cause. This community effort raised nearly $1000 for the local food bank!
"Seems we love to make pies in Chestermere," says head pie maker and ACE Community leader, Jennifer 'Grannie Jen' Peddlesden. "And where did THAT come from?" she continued, "ACE Communities!"
Thanks for your fantastic work in Chestermere, Grannie Jen!
Check out pics from this latest event. And if you want to see more pie action, here is earlier an ACE video of Grannie Jen making one of her now famous pies.
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ChooseWell Iron Chef Provincial Competition 
The first-ever ChooseWell Iron Chef Provincial Competition was held on Saturday, October 15 at Edmonton Meals on Wheels . After earning the top spots in their own local competitions, teams of two from Manning, Grande Prairie, Bonnyville, Morinville, and Strathmore competed for the title of ChooseWell Iron Chef Champion!
A lively crowd gathered to watch the competition unfold and cheer on their family and friends while host Bridget Ryan of City TV chatted with competitors and judges and kept everyone entertained. The most challenging part of the competition was pleasing the prestigious judging panel: - John Berry, Celebrity Chef and television personality
- Andrew Cowan, Hundred Bar + Kitchen's Chef de Cuisine
- Elaine Wilson, Personal Chef and Cooking Instructor
- Sarah Loehr, Nutritionist
Culinary creations were judged on taste, originality, presentation and teamwork. While the judges were clearly impressed with the creations of all teams, it was Team Morinville who was declared the ChooseWell Iron Chef Champion! Grade 8 student, Cole Dribnenky, and mentor/Premium Food Services owner, Phil Hughes, were presented with $1000.00 in prizes and a $2500.00 community enhancement grant to foster healthy living in Morinville. Many thanks to all the communities in Alberta who promoted healthy eating and local foods by hosting ChooseWell Iron Chef events! Special thanks to Edmonton Meals on Wheels for providing valuable expertise, experience and a venue that enabled the provincial competition to be a great success!
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Upcoming Webinars and Other Events
Irricana Women's Health & Wellness Conference
Where: Irricana, Alberta
When: October 22nd, 2011
Time: 9:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Kids at Hope Train-the-Trainer
Date: October 19-20, 2011 Time: 9:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. Location: Prince of Wales, 10440-108 Ave, Edmonton, AB Phone: 780-944-5487 Multi-Municipal Cooperation: Why and What? (webinar)
Date: October 21, 2011
Time: 10:00-11:00 a.m.
Host: Karen Driedger
URL: http://recc.arpahub.ca/
The Canadian Playground Safety Institute Inspector Certification
Date: November 15-18, 2011
Where: Beaumont, Alberta
Host: Canadian Playground Institute
URL: http://cpsionline.ca
Phone: 1-877-536-2338
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NEWSletter is a monthly e-newsletter published by the Alberta Recreation & Parks Association. For more information, please contact arpa@arpaonline.ca.
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