Grant funds active communities programmer

The Township of Clearview has successfully applied for a Trillium Grant to augment recreation programming in the municipality.

The township will receive $199,990 over two years from The Ontario Trillium Foundation’s Resilient Communities Fund, established to help organizations to build capacity, resilience and sustainability.

The funds will be used to hire an active communities programmer who will create, implement and evaluate the “Clearview Active Communities Project,” which aims to get people active.

At the March 25 council meeting, parks and recreation staff said the main goal will be to implement programming for community wide initiatives. Goals include the creation of new sustainable programs including carpet bowling, snowshoeing, pole walking, AquaMat pool programs, improve cycling opportunities and safe cycling initiatives, implement fitness classes and a new Harvest Hustle 5km run, open to all ages and abilities.

The programmer will also serve as a community liaison, attending events and meetings that are related to active sustainable programming with the goal of understanding emerging community needs and being able to respond to feedback and requests from members of the public and service providers for future enhancements and updates to programs.

Engaging youth has also been identified as a goal, both through the Clearview Youth Centre and in the wider community.

“[Youth] want more opportunity to be active but a lot of our youth face a lot of financial challenges,” said youth centre coordinator Courtney Rogers. “In participating in sport, one of the biggest challenges is finances.”

She hopes to see those barriers to participation reduced.

“I’m really excited to be able to expand access to sport and activity for our youth and for our greater community as well,” said Rogers. “Hopefully being able to use this person to get into those other hamlets of Clearview Township to be able to support all the youth in our township.”