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No thanks, just download the report.Communities in which all children have the opportunity to be active through sports
Youth sports were a personal passion for our founder Ralph Wilson, and remain so for our Trustees. This passion is rooted in the knowledge that sports can not only seed lifelong healthy habits in kids, but also build character, social skills and improve educational outcomes. For better and for worse, youth sports have fundamentally changed in this country. Often, this has led to barriers that result in fewer kids playing sports and staying active.
Taking Measure
To better understand the state of youth sports in our communities—programs, facilities, quality and access—the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation commissioned three regional studies by the Aspen Institute’s Sport & Society Program, in partnership with local community foundations. Aspen was chosen due to its substantial work in this field, including its eight data-driven strategies, or “PLAYS,” designed to increase sports participation with urban, suburban and rural youth.
While the studies will help to inform our grant making strategies in this focus area, we hope that each community will engage in this early conversation and collectively rally around our youth.
To inform Aspen’s work across this 7-county region, we engaged the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan to create a local taskforce of youth sports practitioners and leaders who provided insights, expertise and feedback throughout the research process.
The following report represents thousands of local voices—young and old across the region—gathered through interviews, roundtables, focus groups and online surveys. When asked the question, what grade would you give Southeast Michigan in getting kids active though sports, surveyed stakeholders gave the region an average grade of C+. We can do better!
DownloadA Few Highlights
IT’S ABOUT MORE THAN SPORTS
A clear majority of kids in Southeast Michigan are not active enough. The CDC recommends one hour of daily physical activity, and only 13% of youth are reaching that. If our community can help move that number up to 25% of youth becoming and staying active into adulthood, it would result in 34,227 fewer overweight and obese youth and save more than $1 billion in averted direct medical costs and productivity losses in the region.
Good news is FAMILIES WANT THEIR KIDS IN THE GAME
While the number of active children is low, 41% of parents believe it’s very important or somewhat important to have their child regularly involved in sports. How can we work together to make sports more accessible for these families?
WHERE HAVE THE NEIGHBORHOOD GAMES GONE?
Casual pick-up play for kids has dramatically changed over the generations with more youth primarily playing sports in organized, team settings and the average youth only playing 1.8 sports during the year. As Aspen identifies in its 8 “Plays,” reintroducing free play and encouraging kids to sample a variety of sports are two ways to get and keep kids active and interested in sports.
Sports and activities that kids do near their homes, according to a household survey:
To inform Aspen’s work across this 8-county region, we engaged the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo to create a local taskforce of youth sports practitioners and leaders who provided insights, expertise and feedback throughout the research process.
The following report represents thousands of local voices—young and old across the region—gathered through interviews, roundtables, focus groups and online surveys. When asked the question, what grade would you give Western New York in getting kids active though sports, surveyed stakeholders gave the region an average grade of C+. We can do better!
DownloadA Few Highlights
IT’S ABOUT MORE THAN SPORTS
A clear majority of kids in Western New York are not active enough. The CDC recommends one hour of daily physical activity, and only 16% of youth are reaching that. If our community can help move that number up to 25% of youth becoming and staying active into adulthood, it would result in 7,500 fewer overweight and obese youth and save more than $262 million in averted direct medical costs and productivity losses in the region.
good news is FAMILIES WANT THEIR KIDS IN THE GAME
While the number of active children is low, 84% of parents believe it’s very important or somewhat important to have their child regularly involved in sports. How can we work together to make sports more accessible for these families?
WHERE HAVE THE NEIGHBORHOOD GAMES GONE?
Casual pick-up play for kids has dramatically changed over the generations with more youth primarily playing sports in organized, team settings and the average youth only playing 1.8 sports during the year. As Aspen identifies in its 8 “Plays,” reintroducing free play and encouraging kids to sample a variety of sports are two ways to get and keep kids active and interested in sports.
Sports and activities that kids do near their homes, according to a household survey:
To inform Aspen’s work across this 6-county region, we engaged Rochester Area Community Foundation to create a local taskforce of youth sports practitioners and leaders who provided insights, expertise and feedback throughout the research process.
The following report represents thousands of local voices—young and old across the region—gathered through interviews, roundtables, focus groups and online surveys. When asked the question, what grade would you give Greater Rochester & the Finger Lakes in getting kids active though sports, surveyed stakeholders gave the region an average grade of C+. We can do better!
DownloadA Few Highlights
IT’S ABOUT MORE THAN SPORTS
A clear majority of kids in Greater Rochester & the Finger Lakes are not active enough. The CDC recommends one hour of daily physical activity, and only 12% of youth are reaching that. If our community can help move that number up to 25% of youth becoming and staying active into adulthood, it would result in 7,000 fewer overweight and obese youth and save more than $243 million in averted direct medical costs and productivity losses in the region.
good news is FAMILIES WANT THEIR KIDS IN THE GAME
While the number of active children is low, 81% of parents believe it’s very important or somewhat important to have their child regularly involved in sports. How can we work together to make sports more accessible for these families?
WHERE HAVE THE NEIGHBORHOOD GAMES GONE?
Casual pick-up play for kids has dramatically changed over the generations with more youth primarily playing sports in organized, team settings and the average youth only playing 1.8 sports during the year. As Aspen identifies in its 8 “Plays,” reintroducing free play and encouraging kids to sample a variety of sports are two ways to get and keep kids active and interested in sports.
Sports and activities that kids do near their homes, according to a household survey:
