ARPA’s Active Community Strategy (ACS)

Congrats to Airdrie, Calling Lake, Cardel Place (Calgary), Grande Prairie, High River, Leduc, Longview, Okotoks, Pincher Creek, and Sylvan Lake.  These communities have now been selected for the first year of the ARPA’s Active Community Strategy (ACS) Development initiative.

Project Overview

Alberta Recreation and Parks Association (ARPA) through a grant from the Alberta Cancer Prevention Legacy Fund, is partnering with Alberta Health Services, to work with communities to develop local Active Community Strategies.

This initiative is to take place over 2 years from April 2012 to April 2014.  The goal is to utilize community engagement to build commitment and a strategy that provides a path to get more people, more active, more often.  Using an ecological model, this project focuses most on community and in turn creates a variety of opportunities for individuals, families and groups to live active lifestyles.

The ACS initiative will work for one year with 10 communities and then with 15 new communities in the second year (5 in the form of a regional hub).  The principles of engagement and collaboration will be core to the strategy, utilizing the expertise of the many individuals, organizations and sectors of the community.

ACS Communities receive: 1) Professional coaching, facilitation and tools to guide their discussion and progress; 2) Assistance with development and writing of an active community strategy; 3) Seed funding of $10,000 to kick off implementation of their strategy.


Project Background

From 2007- 09, the Alberta Recreation and Parks Association (ARPA) partnered with 10 communities to design, develop and demonstrate a community based approach to get “more people, more active, more often”.  Partner communities in this original Alberta Active Communities initiative made progress in both developing local leadership and engaging community members in planning and projects to get the community more active.



From this initiative evolved two successful initiatives, ACE Communities (2008 – 2011) that built community capacity, and the development of Active Community Strategies (2010-11), which was a more focused community process creating community owned strategies to become more active communities.

The current and 2nd phase of Active Community Strategy (ACS) initiative is funded by the Alberta Cancer Prevention Legacy Fund and will support the creation of comprehensive strategies that connect and articulate local assets to get communities more active.


Objectives 

By the end of the first year of the ACS project, 10 Alberta communities will have:

• Collaborative, cross-sectoral partnerships (recreation, health, community services, transportation, education, business, and others invested in creating healthy communities) that provides leadership to build a more active community.

• An evidence-based Active Community Strategy (linking existing community plans, resources and initiatives) that articulates goals and long term plans to enable a more physically active community. 

• Customized action plans that include indicators of success/progress (based on community priorities) that engage and activate more people to be more active, more often.

Provincial Partners will have:

• Enhanced relationship between health and recreation to address active living 

• An Active Community Strategy Framework that can be used by communities across Alberta

• Demonstrated capacity to support Alberta communities to take action to become more active communities

•  Community stories that can be shared 

• Process and outcome learnings 


Keep an eye on this blog for updates on how the ACS initiative is progressing.  We will be looking for a new group of 10 communities in 2013 as well as one regional hub of 5 communities.

Contact Janet Naclia, ARPA Programs Manager, at jnaclia@arpaonline.ca for more info.