Squash Canada is excited to announce we are a recipient of $766,000 from the Community Sport for All Initiative (CSAI) grant program, established by the Department of Canadian Heritage and the Government of Canada. The CSAI funding component of the Sport Support Program seeks to remove barriers and increase sport participation rates for underrepresented groups through community sport initiatives.
The proposed project will look to strengthen integral relationships between the provincial, territorial, and national squash bodies, and community leaders from new to Canada and people of diverse abilities communities; and build capacity within the various individuals and organizations to better know and understand the adverse barriers to those in underrepresented communities participating in sport. In addition, the proposed project will develop a variety of legacy tools including the adaptation of two Sport for Life manuals, the creation of adaptable lesson plans, the purchase of PLAYBuilder, and the training of several new Community Squash Instructors. Lastly, the proposed project will culminate in the running of an 8-week long squash program for targeted community members in various regions of the country, utilizing the relationships, knowledge and understanding, and legacy tools to help execute.
Squash Canada would like to thank the Sport for Life Society for their support and partnership in implementing the proposed project, and the Department of Canadian Heritage and the Government of Canada for funding the project.
For more information about the Community Sport for All Initiative – Click Here
Minister Qualtrough announces funding to remove barriers and increase sport participation – Click Here | Backgrounder
Squash Canada was a recipient of the CSAI grant program in 2022/2023, bringing $312,000 into the organization that helped to fund two major projects at the community level: the IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility) Encouragement Fund, and Urban Squash Centres.
The IDEA Encouragement Fund included the creation of application guidelines, program templates, and report forms with the goal to distribute over 100 grants to eligible community organizations for targeted programming, while Urban Squash Centres included two aspects: (1) research and development of a community programming pilot handbook to provide organizations with information on job descriptions, program curriculum, policies, and procedures and more; and (2) disburse funding to three to five target communities to establish new Urban Squash Centres (similar to the Urban Squash Toronto concept) to acquire equipment, hire local employees, and deliver programming.
Squash Canada was successful in allocating the funding last season and looks forward to investing once again into the sport of squash through this funding opportunity provided by the Government of Canada.
