Hamilton Independent

The government says after-school programs improve the health and well-being of children and young people. Pictured: Sports Minister Neil Lumsden. Photo credit: Neil Lumsden/X.

The Ontario government is investing $15 million in local sports and recreation, including after-school programs for children and youth.

The funding, announced by Ontario Sports Minister Neil Lumsden, will go to 100 different organizations that will provide supervised activities for children and youth across the province.

Lumsden is also the Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) for Hamilton East Stony Creek.

The funds will help more than 13,000 children and youth in kindergarten through 12th grade in more than 80 communities.

A total of $14.6 million will go to Ontario post-secondary programs, $550,000 to Special Olympics Ontario, $100,000 to Jays Care and $59,000 to Canadian Women and Sport.

Of the $14.6 million allocated for the after-school program, $928,428 will go to Hamilton-based organizations.

There are six organizations in Hamilton that will receive assistance with their programs, including BGC Hamilton-Halton (formerly the Boys and Girls Club of Hamilton), the Eva Rothwell Center, Wesley Urban Ministries, YMCA of Hamilton Burlington Brantford, YWCA of Hamilton and the City of Hamilton.

The government says after-school programs improve the health and wellbeing of children and young people through safe and supervised sport and recreation.

They say participants are also provided with healthy snacks and additional programs such as academic support and arts and culture activities.

“Our government is proud to support the opportunities for children and youth across Ontario to live active, healthy lives,” Lumsden said.

“This funding will increase access to vital resources and allow partner organizations to continue to provide high-quality, tailored outdoor programs that meet the needs of local communities.”

The province also provided additional information about three other pieces of funding that are not related to the after-school program.

The $550,000 for Special Olympics Ontario will be used to expand their unified sports program to more schools across the province, which provides inclusive team sports for students with and without intellectual disabilities.

Meanwhile, $100,000 for Jays Care will help their Girls At Bat baseball program to ensure more girls benefit from sports programs.

Funds will also be used to train teachers and coaches on how to promote inclusivity in sport.

Finally, $59,000 for the Canadian Women and Sport program will reportedly be used to “research the underrepresentation of girls, young women and marginalized youth in sport/physical activity and share the findings with school boards.”

Duane Dahl, CEO of BGC Hamilton-Halton, says, “This funding allows us to provide high-quality programs for children during critical after-school hours when parents are often still at work or school.”

Because we focus on helping young people be active and healthy, these programs promote physical literacy and activity, nutrition and health education, and positive social development; all key factors in creating healthy, confident and resilient young people.”