The Miyomahchihowin project, which means “in good health” in Cree was funded through the Urban Partnerships (UP) Program. The Urban Partnerships program is made possible by funding from the new Urban Aboriginal Strategy through Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada. The Miyomahchihowin project’s aim was to provide pathways for Edmonton Indigenous youth to access and build personal skills and gain employment or volunteer opportunities in the areas of sport, recreation, health and physical fitness.

The Miyomahchihowin project was supported through partnerships with: the Provincial Fitness Unit, the Aboriginal Youth Mentorship (AYMP) Program, led by Dr. Jon McGavock at the Manitoba Institute of Child Health, the Edmonton Public School Board (EPSB), and the City of Edmonton.

EAS engaged an external consultant to complete an evaluation of the 21st Century Spaces for 21st Century Learners Project. There are three initiatives within that were examined, Don’t Walk in the Hallway, the 21st Century Spaces for 21st Century Learners: Supporting School Communities in Developing Healthy Built Environments Workshops, and Don’t Sit Still in Class. The purpose of the evaluation was to explore the process and impact in the participating school communities around Activity Permissive Learning Environments (APLE), designing spaces, students physical activity, sedentary behaviour and focus, stakeholder’s readiness to participate and more.

In July 2016, Ever Active Schools and KidSport Alberta brought together a diverse group in the Action Lab - facilitated by Ben Weinlick of Think Jar Collective - to explore how a collective, community-informed approach could make sport more accessible to marginalized populations.

Bringing together the day’s learning, ideating, and brainstorming, the group created action plans to increase accessibility to physical activity and sport in Alberta, and rallied around a few key ideas to move forward from this collective.

There are many factors that contribute to the success of school-community partnerships. How the partnership is started is pivotal to the progress that can be made. There is a need to take time at the start to build relationships, plan the program and evaluation, and to make sure communication is positive and ongoing. The potential impact of a successful partnership between schools and communities is immense, with improved health, social connectedness, academic performance, and more, being possible outcomes of a very strong program.

Comprehensive School Health (CSH) is an internationally-recognized and effective approach for building healthy school communities through health and education (Joint Consortium for School Health, 2015). Partnerships and Services is one of the four main pillars that define CSH. They serve as an essential link for student achievement and the health of everyone in the school and surrounding community.

More specifically, school-community partnerships are an excellent way to build connections between schools and community individuals, organizations, or businesses to directly or indirectly promote students’ social, emotional, physical, or intellectual development (Epstein et al. 2002).

In alignment with the Federal, Provincial and Territorial Minister's support of the after-school time period and Curbing Childhood Obesity: Framework for Actions to Promote Healthy Weights, Ever Active Schools spearheaded capacity building initiatives and has provided solutions that have the ability to be scaled up through local project-based initiatives.

The target population of this initiative was children and youth in the after-school time period. Participating communities were Leduc, Thorsby, Warburg, Beaumont and New Sarepta; all located within Leduc County. The intention of the initiative was to promote current after-school programs and add more opportunities that promote healthy eating and active living, through development of multi-sectoral and local community partnerships. 

Ever Active Schools’ main objective with this project is to influence policy creation around hosting healthy sporting events at schools. The major deliverables we hope to have come from this project are suggestions towards a toolkit for schools to use in order to streamline the implementation of healthy nutritional offerings at sporting events, as well as the data and feedback on successes and challenges at each of the pilots.

Ever Active Schools (EAS) and the Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association (ASAA) supported healthy changes in Alberta school sporting events: they wanted them to include healthy eating and believe Albertans are on the same page. In a survey of Alberta school coaches, teachers and athletic directors, 76% of respondents indicated they would support a policy mandating healthy food options at sporting events. Further, 85% of survey respondents would support prohibiting advertising of sugar-sweetened beverages at these events and 83% would support restricting sales of sugar-sweetened beverages at school concessions/canteens.