2024 is coming to an end, and what a year it’s been! Are we feeling sentimental? Yes. Because we are so proud of all the things we were able to accomplish in the last 365 days thanks to the Community Sport Initiative for All (CSAI), a proponent of the Sport Support Program in Canada. This initiative allowed us to focus on four community-based initiatives this year and gave us the opportunity to really champion our motto of supporting, promoting and growing skateboarding in Canada.
Here’s what we got up to:
Our first major initiative was the Community Funding & Club Development Program, designed to empower skateboarding clubs across Canada. Our goal was to help clubs formalize, connect, and grow through networking, grant writing support, and access to funding. We allocated $50,000 to community groups and clubs, expanding skateboarding programs to over 300 underserved youth nationwide. Through grant writing education, we helped secure more than $100,000 in additional funding for various communities. Thanks to support from the CSAI, we strengthened our capacity to assist recipients by creating a comprehensive Community & Club Handbook—a valuable resource for building or enhancing skateboarding programs at the local level. As a result, we saw a 25% increase in club membership, reaching nearly 500 individuals, and built strong, direct relationships with over 70 organizations. The Club Handbook will be available to all community groups and skateboard clubs in 2025.
Secondly, Canada Skateboard prioritized active reconciliation efforts in 2024 by emphasizing Indigenous Collaboration. We worked closely with various indigenous-led organizations to provide skateboard mentorship training for leaders in their communities collaborating with them on adapting our Start Pushing program to best suit their needs. This collaboration resulted in community gatherings at The Compound in Calgary and Akwesasne Skatepark to provide coaching support and workshop resources for representatives of Cousins Skateboard Community, Akwesasne Skatepark, Indigenous Life Sports Academy, Ramptime Productions and Cinema 5 Skatepark. We continue to work closely with these groups to support their leadership development and goals.
Thirdly, we hosted a summit in February during the National Championships that brought together 20 community leaders committed to providing programming to underserved youth. The summit worked as a pilot for our We’re Pushing Program which supports skateboarding coaches and mentors nationwide through resource development. Together, we workshopped the program and collaborated to make it as comprehensive and accessible as possible. The summit also acted as an opportunity to network with key skateboarding leaders to share their experiences and learnings in building and delivering programs in their communities. It was a valuable experience for all involved, learning from and leaning on one another to effectively grow skateboarding across Canada.
Lastly, Canada Skateboard broke ground on a new community skateboard hub in Britannia Beach, British Columbia to address the lack of covered, safe and accessible skateboarding facilities in the greater Vancouver area. This covered location is meant to provide a rural programming location for underserved youth in the sea to sky corridor, with the hopes of becoming a hub for local indigenous skateboard clubs such as Nations Skate Youth, Cousins, WISH and more. The hub is partially complete, and aims to be finished and open to local clubs in 2025.
2024 was packed with hard work, networking and community building and we plan to continue grinding it out in 2025. We’re excited to continue fostering the relationships built this past year and increase our efforts to promote, support and grow skateboarding across the nation. Want to work with us? Have ideas for programming in your community? Let’s connect! We’d love to support your clubs and communities in any way we can.
