Purpose, Goals and Vision

Purpose

Chronic health issues as a consequence of physical inactivity are on the rise in Canada. Currently, only nine per cent of Canadian children are completing the Canadian Physical Activity Guidelines with a recommendation of 60 minutes of moderate to high-intensity physical activity daily. Unfortunately, this number decreases even more for children with financial, cultural, transportation or additional resource barriers.

Our purpose is to support members of the Waterloo Region and Brantford communities who may not have access to wellness programming. The Sun Life Centre for Healthy Communities is dedicated to improving the physical and mental health of our communities through free physical activity programs. Our goal is to empower individuals to lead healthy and active lifestyles.

Goals

We are committed to:

• Removing barriers or challenges that prevent youth and community members from becoming physically active.
• Providing various physical activity programs both on campus and in community facilities.
• Designing activities and games to ensure participants meet the Canadian Physical Activity Guidelines and 24-Hour Movement Guidelines for Children and Youth recommendations.
• Collaborating with researchers in various cognate areas in the development, implementation and evaluation of the physical activity programming to ensure program validity.

Vision

The Sun Life Centre for Healthy Communities’ vision is to provide access to a safe and affordable space for children to be physically active, as well as, to learn how to live a healthy lifestyle. Through our programing, we strive to use sport and physical activity as a vehicle to prevent chronic diseases associated with physical inactivity. We hope to inspire families to become active together while teaching youth to become leaders within their community through physical activity.

Our team of researchers will be at the forefront of research in their field and will gain a stronger understanding of how to improve the overall health-related quality of life for community youth. Sun Life Centre for Healthy Communities collaborates with other organizations and community stakeholders to plan, develop, or enhance events, projects and initiatives regarding improvement of physical-activity levels and knowledge regarding active living choices.