An Example Sample Project Proposal on ‘Providing Recreation Opportunities for People with Disabilities’

PROJECT BACKGROUND

Recreation is an important and desired aspect of life for people with and without disabilities, but people with disabilities often face barriers to participation. The lack of knowledge about existing resources, inaccessible facilities, lack of training by community recreation providers, and a lack of appropriate adaptive recreation equipment are significant barriers to desired recreation and community participation. A Harris Survey of Americans with Disabilities found that more than 69% of adults with disabilities report their disability prevents them in some way from getting around, attending cultural or sporting events, participating in recreation, or socializing with friends outside their home.

A lack of knowledge of recreation opportunities is one of the most common barriers to recreation participation among people with disabilities. Many people with disabilities simply don’t know where to look for recreation opportunities, how to ask about accessibility or programs and when and how to assert their rights. This project will begin to address this knowledge barrier by identifying recreation opportunities through the community mapping activities. Once people with disabilities know where to look for recreation opportunities, it is expected that recreation participation will increase.

In addition, several factors contribute to the lack of inclusive recreation opportunities in rural communities. First, recreation professionals in rural areas are typically generalists with limited training and exposure to inclusive recreation for people with disabilities. Though it may seem that these professionals show less initiative to address the needs of people with disabilities and include them in community programs, it is often a lack of training and awareness of these needs that is the barrier.

Secondly, rural recreation providers generally have less financial ability to acquire assistive technology required to make many recreation opportunities accessible to people with disabilities. Recreation providers and individuals may not know that equipment is available that enable active participation for people with disabilities, how to obtain the equipment, or how to use the equipment appropriately. Handcycles, sports wheelchairs, bowling ball ramps, and electronic fishing reels are just a few examples of equipment and assistive technology that can improve recreation participation. Funds provided by this project will bring the financial resources into these rural communities to purchase assistive technology for recreation that they would not otherwise be able to afford. This equipment will remain in the community and benefit the community for years to come.

VISION: The vision of the Rural Community Recreation Project is to increase recreation participation among people with disabilities.

MISSION: The mission of the Rural Community Recreation Project is to eliminate barriers to recreation participation for adults with disabilities living in project area and surrounding areas by increasing awareness and access to recreation through assistive technology and training.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES

Overall objectives for the project include the following:

• An increase in the awareness of existing community resources and the benefits associated with participation in traditional and non-traditional recreational opportunities and increased participation rates;
• An increase in the number of community recreational opportunities that are accessible, inclusive and have necessary adaptive equipment from which residents with disabilities may choose;
• An increase of knowledge by community recreation providers, resulting in more responsive and inclusive service provision to consumers with disabilities;
• An increase in the availability of assistive technology for recreation activities with increased recreation participation by individuals with disabilities;
• The development of community commitment to sustain project outcomes through the maintenance of assistive technology at community sites and website.

PROJECT STRATEGIES

Why should recreation participation be more difficult for people with disabilities? Why are there often few existing adaptive recreation programs that provide accessible and inclusive facilities and even fewer facilities that have the assistive technology often required for many individuals with disabilities to participate in specific self-determined recreation activities? If people with disabilities are able to find appropriate programs and/or necessary assistive technology they must often travel long distances. By focusing efforts on increasing access to existing community resources, people with disabilities will not have to seek out specialized programs outside their home community – they can participate in their neighbourhoods with family and friends. This project seeks to equip consumers and recreation providers with access to assistive technology and the training necessary to achieve quality community recreation participation.

The Rural Community Recreation Project will address barriers to recreation participation faced by adults with disabilities. The Organization, in collaboration with multiple organizations, will promote inclusion, access, and availability of assistive technology used for recreation in two rural communities. Project activities will include community mapping of local recreation resources, training related to assistive technology use, provision of assistive technology devices to community recreation sites, and information dissemination.

METHODS

Targets of change

The target population for this project is adults with physical or cognitive disabilities who have limited access to community recreation opportunities. Recreation providers are also a target population.

Mobilizing human and material resources

The human and material resources are gained primarily from the lead project organization, the project staff and collaborators. Together, they will implement the project. The lead organization, is a private non-profit organization.

The lead organization Responsibilities will include budget oversight; hiring of inventory surveyors; marketing of the project including preparation of PSAs, newsletter articles, and presentations; coordination of site trainings; liaison with community network groups; oversight of contract employees; dissemination of information and reports; preparation of required reports; and coordination and oversight of AT mini grants. The community mapping coordinator will be responsible for the community mapping process including the training of surveyors, developing the survey instrument, developing format for the community resource web page, oversight of the programmer, data entry and web developer. The third member of the project staff is the training coordinator. Responsibilities of the training coordinator include identification of training needs based on community mapping results, identification of potential trainers, assisting with specific and generic training, reviewing training materials and serving as a liaison with existing community recreation providers.

Numerous key stakeholders have been identified as collaborators in the project.  Much of the success and sustainability of the project depends on these collaborators. An initial list of collaborators and their role in the project is as follows:

• One state Park has already begun building accessible facilities and has agreed to be a pilot site for training and placement of assistive technology.
• State Senior Centre will provide space for staff who will complete the community mapping phase of the project.
• Medical partner will provide trainers, equipment for demonstrations, and training and discounts on purchase of recreation equipment.
• Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness and Health will provide in kind staff support, involvement of local fitness councils and financial support through matching funds.
• Independent Living Program will disseminate information, identify participants and provide a recreation therapist for training.
• The Centre for Recreation and Disability Studies will provide in-kind training and staff support.
• State Tourism department will disseminate information.
• Chamber of Commerce will coordinate activities within the business community and add links to website.

PROJECT ACTIVITIES AND INTERVENTION

The project activities will take place in four phases with each building upon the other to achieve the project goals.

Phase 1: Community resource mapping. Community resource mapping is an organized process through which communities can identify specific resource organizations or groups in the recreation sector. Approximately 50 resources will be identified in each community. Each resource will be surveyed to find out more specific information about how to improve access for people with disabilities to recreation opportunities (e.g., through training, modifications and assistive technology).  The surveyors will be community citizens, three at each site, who will be hired and trained to collect information from identified recreation providers. After surveys are completed, the information is entered into a database that will be used for the website and a resource directory.

Phase 2: Training and technical assistance. Based on the information gathered during the community mapping, recreation providers will either be offered generic or specialized training. Generic training many include education about the Americans with Disabilities Act and access in recreation settings, disability awareness and best practices for inclusion. Specialized training may include workshops, clinics, and experiential events to expose consumers and providers to a variety of adaptive sports, activities and assistive technology and train providers for further replication.

Phase 3: Recreation providers identified during the community mapping phase will be given an opportunity to apply for funding to purchase assistive technology.  Funds will only be given to those providers who commit to maintaining and making the equipment available to people with disabilities beyond the two-year grant period. Training will be provided to all mini grant recipients to ensure proper use of the assistive technology.

Phase 4: Information Dissemination. Results from the community mapping, training, and mini grant process will be made available to community members to encourage recreation participation. A searchable database containing community recreation information will be placed on a website and a computer will be placed in each community in a central, accessible location. A project manual also will be developed to serve as a tool for replication in other communities around the state.

ACTION PLAN

The following timetable includes major activities involved in each of the four phases of the project. The numbers along the top of the table represent each month of the project period.

EVALUATION

The evaluation process will be initiated at the onset of the project and conducted throughout the two-year period to measure:

• the effectiveness of project methods,
• timeliness of services,
• consumer satisfaction,
• accomplishment of specific outcomes, and
• replication potential.

Several evaluation strategies will be used including choice response and open-ended questionnaires in pre/post evaluation at all trainings, log of website usage, quarterly evaluation of use of assistive technology after community placement, and a review of record keeping.

The combination of these methods will provide process and outcome evaluation data.