Sunday, April 23, 2023 | Special Advertising Section 1 R 54 SPONSORED CONTENT PROVIDED BY ONE ROOF FOUNDATION Team sports can be a grounding force for kids, helping them foster friendships, develop problem-solving skills and achieve better mental health and physical fitness. Still, access to the playing field isn’t always fair game. According to a 2020 report released by financial services company Lending Tree, 59% of families feel the financial strain of enrolling their children in youth sports. Of those who struggled, one in five said they spent more than $1,000 in a single season thanks to enrollment, coaching fees and buying the necessary equipment. In Seattle, Project Play from the Aspen Institute partnered with the University of Washington to examine sports accessibility in King County. Researchers found that only 19% of youths in King County met the 60 minutes of physical activity per day recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and parents who earned more than $75,000 per year were more likely to enroll their kids in sports programs. For area families struggling financially, the cost was only one barrier to sports involvement. Social and emotional stigmas can prove difficult for kids interested in participating, especially for teens. Few coaches had the training to support kids facing adverse childhood experiences. When surveyed, 5% of King County youth reported their family couldn’t afford stable housing, and about 22% said they didn’t participate in organized sports because they felt unwelcome. As barriers to inclusivity persist, pro sports teams' leadership has found ways to give back with programs that benefit the whole community. Since forming in 2021, Seattle Kraken and Closing the gap on sports access for kids One Roof Foundation unites the Seattle Kraken, Climate Pledge Arena and our community under one roof to create a more equitable society and a healthy planet where all people can realize a brighter future. Learn more at onerooffoundation.org. Climate Pledge Arena’s philanthropic partnership, One Roof Foundation, has been focused on youth issues in vulnerable communities, including homelessness, environmental justice and access to sports – especially hockey. “When kids don’t have access to sport and play, they also miss out on the many associated benefits like social and emotional development, confidence building, resilience, teamwork and mental health,” says Executive Director of One Roof Foundation, Mari Horita. “We acknowledge that, for various reasons, hockey has not been the most representative or inclusive sport, and we intend to rewrite that narrative in our region by making sure all young people feel seen and welcome in the Kraken family and story.” ORF boasts a long list of initiatives to address the challenges that homelessness, financial insecurity and inequality pose to area children, offering low- and no-cost programs. With Seattle Kraken, their Learn to Skate program provides financial assistance to more than 500 kids interested in learning hockey, figure skating, or just having fun at the Kraken Community Iceplex. Citing transportation difficulties as a barrier to sports involvement, they also partnered with the Refugee Womens Alliance to provide transportation and coaching for 60 preschoolers every Wednesday at the rink. “The program has two main objectives,” Horita says, “for the participating kids and families to find joy and a sense of belonging on the ice and at our facilities, and for graduates of the cohort to continue on to other programs at KCI – all of which ORF will pay for – with the hopes that some of these new young skaters will start to populate the youth hockey programs in the region. While only in year two of the program, over 25% of last year’s cohort have continued on to our Learn to Play programming.” Beyond transportation, providing access to safe neighborhood facilities is on the agenda. While most Seattleites (87%) have walkable access to parks, just over half of residents in the rest of the county have green space nearby. In many areas, parents have expressed safety concerns, with 72% citing multiple reasons to keep their children home, including heavy traffic, homeless encampments, drug paraphernalia and broken playground equipment as potential risks of free play in their neighborhoods. ORF has partnered with the King County Parks Department to fund and build better spaces, most recently a multisport court in unincorporated Skyway, where they commissioned a local artist to create a Skywayinspired Kraken design for the equipment. Horita believes everyone in the ORF organization feels loyalty to Seattle's youngest residents. “We believe that pro sports teams occupy a unique and powerful sphere of influence and that affiliated nonprofits can and should more strategically and intentionally leverage pro team platforms to advance positive social change.” Kids have fun at a free floor hockey clinic with Metro Parks Tacoma. Hockey fun at One Roof Foundation’s new Skyway Sport Court. Donate today! The Seattle Kraken mascot Buoy skates with participants of One Roof Foundation’s Learn to Skate Program with ReWA. (Photos courtesy of One Roof Foundation)
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