Addressing the funding gaps in recreation access provisions: the role of leisure education

ABSTRACT

Purpose/rationale: Access to recreation for low-income families remains an issue in Canada, particularly for single-mother led families. The purpose of this paper is to describe how a non-profit organization used leisure education to support access to recreation for low-income families by supporting mothers’ roles as facilitators of their children’s leisure activities.

Research methods: Data were collected through eight semi-structured interviews with mothers who participated in a leisure education program.

Findings: The results of the study highlight how leisure education programming can help mothers identify and access tangible resources required to facilitate their children’s leisure activities.

Implications: Creating access to recreation and leisure for low-income families requires more than fee assistance programs (FAPs) and leisure education can play a critical role in supporting low-income parents’ roles as their children’s leisure facilitator.

KEYWORDS:

• Community recreation
• leisure education
• mothers
• poverty

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).