Park Animators
| 02 June 2011
All summer, 4 animators will be working alternatively in Loyola Park (Monday, Tuesday,Thursday, Friday), Benny Park (Wednesday, Thursday, Friday) and Georges St-Pierre Park (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday) to animate youngsters from 0 to 12 years old from 12:30pm to 18:00pm. All the activities organized by Let’s Get Moving In The Parks will be free.
**Please note that the children’s safety remains the responsibility of the parents at all times.
** N.B. There will also be animation for teens going on this summer in many parks in N.D.G.
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Xavier Barsalou Verge
514-966-1111
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Historical information: The goal of the park animators project is to reach youth who were not members of a daycamp or other neighbourhood community organizations. We hoped to work with the youth by offering various cultural and sport activities. By doing these we hoped to be preventing some negative influences that a young person could be faced with by hanging out in a park all day, without structure. The animation team became the eyes and ears for the street worker, which allowed him to multiply his contacts and his network.
Supervision: The structure and supervision of the project was done by Marc-Alain Félix, street worker for CDN.
Work style: The majority of our work consisted of animating and organizing various activities. Our work schedule was regularly from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. from Mondays to Fridays, but flexible enough to schedule in special activities and outings.
Activities: We held various activities this past summer including discussions, arts and crafts, basketball, soccer, water games, Frisbee, cards, football, rugby, soccer-baseball, activities at the pool etc. With other organisations and day-camps we went on outings such as Super Aqua Club, Mont Saint-Sauveur, La Ronde and Dollar cinema.
We participated in the Urban Arts Festival Hip Hop You Don’t Stop 2010 and the SPVM soccer tournament with the Maison des Jeunes and BCA. We organized a type of Olympic games at Kent Park an outing at parc Jean-Drapeau, where we visited the Biosphère, and finally we participated in the Fête de Côte-des-Neiges on September 12 and Prevention NDG’s Hallowe’en Night in October.
Positive Impact on the Community: We noticed how our clientele, the young people who were not part of any structured program learned to socialize and create friendships with other kids their own age. The activities we organized also helped develop kids’ team spirit.
Also by visiting the park frequently increases the natural surveillance. Parents also appreciated this increased supervision and were more likely to send their children to play. We also saw an increased level of trust from parents to allow us to take their kids on outings, outside the neighbourhood.