Summer youth programing a success in Coalhurst

Posted on September 12, 2024 by Sunny South News

By Nikki Jamieson
Sunny South News

Feedback has been positive regarding this year’s summer programing for Coalhurst youth.

During their regular Sept. 3 meeting, Coalhurst town council receive a report regarding their summer youth programing.

Council had director administration to implement summertime program back in February, as recommended by FCSS. This included the ‘Summer Fun’ Day Camp, Family Ties ‘Fun in the Sun’ Day Camp, FCSS Leadership Youth Camp, and FCSS Pop-up programs. 

During July and August, five youth-based camps were held in town by FCSS and Family Ties. Activities at the camps included outdoor sports and games, crafts, science experiments, team building activities, leadership development, Indigenous-based learning  activities, a puppet show on the Community Centre stage, and time at the park, playground and spray park. 

The report noted that response from parents and staff was extremely positive, and while most of the camps had waitlists, all the kids who wished to attend were able to do so, with about 45 different youths attending the camps.

With FCSS and Family Ties providing the staff and resources to run the camps, the only cost to the town with use of the community centre along with staff time to help coordinate and promote the camps. Some of the feedback included:

• The Coalhurst Community Centre was a great place to host the day camps and its central location allowed for easy access to the nearby parks, playgrounds, grassy areas, and the spray park.

• The age ranges for the camps worked well with both the available programing options and local families’ needs .

Some areas of improvement include:

• Using a single title for all the weeks of camp, regardless of who runs it to simplify understanding for parents or guardians and marketing efforts.

• Implement using a singular intake system for registration, and getting permission to share that information as necessary with the applicable partner organization.

• Standardizing the age ranges for each camp.

• Making it more clear in advertising and marketing efforts that the camps are for Coalhurst residents only. In response to a follow up question, Christy Henning, director of community development for the town, said they could look into options allowing county youth or those from the immediate area to join.

• Making camp times more consistent.

Coun. Scott Akkermans asked if they had any data on spots fill vs. spots available in terms of uptake. Henning while she didn’t have that information on hand, everyone who wanted to attend could.

“There were different numbers of available seats, depending on if it was the FCSS team, or if it was Family Ties. That’s just due to the staffing that each of those organizations had,” said Henning. 

Mayor Lyndsay Montina asked if the Youth Leadership Camp, for ages 13-18, went over well with that age group. Henning said “unfortunately” it had low turn out, with just two youth attending, as they had expected members of another local youth group to join, but they had apparently been busy with other things.

“They did say it may have been our timing partially, because it was just one week after school had let out,” said Henning. “Kids are launched into summer, and then all of a sudden being told that ‘hey, we have a structured event going on’. So, they think they may reassess when that happens.”

However, Henning said both Family Ties and FCSS said that age groups was “really tough to get out” and participate in the camps. However, they were able to engage that age group in other ways, such as volunteering for a Seniors Ice Cream Social that took place in July.

In the report, it was recommended that the town offers similar youth programming next summer.