Most would agree that a community development approach is critical if leisure programs, services, and facilities are to be sustainable and maximize the benefits for individuals and communities. But what does that mean in terms of the day to day reality of making it happen? Alberta Recreation and Parks Association has had a significant opportunity in the form of Alberta Active Creative Communities to “design, develop and deliver an initiative based on enhancing quality of life by strengthening community leadership, collaboration, and innovation through recreation, parks, arts, culture, and heritage”. Working from the foundation provided by the outcomes originally identified in the Benefits Catalogue (CP/RA, 1997), significant learnings have resulted from working with ten partner communities. Throughout the initiative an emphasis has been placed on identifying and supporting the essential community leadership that is required - particularly among emerging leaders within recreation, health, and social services. Moving beyond the theory to application, this initiative has identified and will share: 1. competencies for community leadership; 2. a community dialogue tool; 3. a framework for planning that has successfully utilized a community development approach 4. lessons learned. The success of the initiative has resulted in an expansion and an additional $6 million in corporate and government funding.

Access to document: A22_Herchmer.pdf

Poverty, Leisure and Social Engagement
Donald Reid & B. Leigh Golden, University of Guelph (Guelph, Canada)

Social integration for those experiencing poverty and on Government provided social assistance is difficult in a market oriented capitalist economy. Most observers acknowledge that poverty is not simply a matter of the lack of income but also incorporates issues of education, health, and the lack of social supports, as well. Many of our social attachments come through the work environment and when this element is missing in one’s life it is difficult to assemble the many other social associations that are usually found through the work environment and with workmates. This paper examines this issue by observing the life construction of 17 individuals experiencing poverty and on the extreme end of the social assistance continuum. The primary method of data collection was through multiple in depth interviews with this sample to determine their level of social engagement within the larger community and the social structure in which they lived. It also asked the question; ’Is there a significant role for leisure to play in life construction for those who are at the margins of the social assistance continuum?’. While there have been a small number of studies that have examined the leisure participation patterns of the unemployed, few, if any, have studied the issue of leisure’s contribution to social engagement and integration into the mainstream society for those experiencing poverty and on social assistance and without much prospect for working in the near term in the market economy. In this paper, society’s notions of productivity are examined with a view to determine if 20th century concepts are still relevant for the 21st century. The results of this study suggest that, the premise on which government officials attempt to integrate individuals on social assistance into the larger society needs fundamental change. Approaches to poverty and social assistance are generally framed by governments’ as economic policy (workfare) and this paper argues that a social policy approach (worthfare) that allows for multiple mechanisms for life construction, including leisure, would provide better results.