Akron officials want to study how keeping kids active can lead to a range of positive outcomes, from reduced risks of depression, heart disease, stroke, cancer and diabetes to higher test scores — and, later in life — higher earnings.
Denico Buckley-Knight, the City of Akron’s youth opportunity strategist, asked the Akron City Council’s Parks and Recreation Committee at a June 1 meeting to support a $175,000 contract with Washington, D.C.-based Aspen Institute to conduct a Project Play study on sports access for the city’s elementary- to high-school students.
The study, Buckley-Knight said, would report on how well children are being served in the Akron area and capture “recommendations from the community on how to mobilize to build an Akron youth-centered sports ecosystem.”
City Council agreed on June 8 to spend the money, approving the request June13-0.
Buckley-Knight was joined at the June 1 committee meeting by representatives from Youth Success Summit: Isaiah Young, program coach and government affairs manager, and Ellen McWilliams-Woods, who is a consultant for the nonprofit.
Buckley-Knight said the Project Play study would involve eight to 12 months of research in several phases:
- Phase 1 would include finalizing the contract with the Aspen Institute, adapting a project strategy, starting asset mapping and engaging with action teams.
- Phase 2 would include interviewing stakeholders, conducting focus groups, launching student surveys and taking an inventory of programs and facilities.
- Phase 3 would include hosting a stakeholder/community event, releasing the strategy to the community, finalizing the report and activating the Sports and Wellness Mobilization Action Team.
Buckley-Knight said community partners on the team would include the City of Akron, Akron Public Schools, Youth Success Summit, Leadership Akron, the LeBron James Family Foundation, Summit County Public Health, Akron Children’s Hospital, Summit Education Initiative and the University of Akron.
Buckley-Knight said Aspen Institute’s 2022 Project Play report, in partnership with Stephen and Ayesha Curry’s Eat. Learn. Play. Foundation, analyzed the state of youth sports in Oakland, California.
He said if Akron City Council works with the Aspen Institute, it can expect that the organization would provide “a holistic view of what the issues are, what the concerns are, and how to mobilize not just specific groups but an entire city.”
