Press Releases
SPARC invests $1 million in Active Communities
8 Jul 2004
$1 million has been awarded under the SPARC Active Communities Investment Scheme to projects aimed at getting Kiwis active at a local level.
Created by SPARC to challenge and support organisations, primarily councils, to come up with innovative and collaborative ways of increasing physical activity in their areas, the scheme is worth up to $10 million over three years.
"Our mission is to help New Zealand become the most active nation in the world by 2006, but we cannot do it alone," says Nick Hill, SPARC CE. "Our strategic partnerships with councils, regional sports trusts and other key bodies are critical to our success.
"The Active Communities Scheme encourages councils to be creative in formulating new approaches to the problem of inactivity. This not only benefits the individual communities, it can also benefit the nation as, if successful, the approaches can be adopted by other councils and organisations."
Successful projects are announced by SPARC twice yearly. The successful projects from this round are:
| Active Friendly Environments - North Shore City Council |
$327,000 |
| |
|
Examines the impact of environment on people's levels of physical activity and ways to make the city more "activity friendly". An important outcome will be the development of an interactive web based tool.
| |
| Stepping Out - Whangarei, Kaipara and Far North District Councils |
$225,000 |
| |
|
Focuses on the development of an innovative community-based, multi-strategy with a key emphasis on increasing walking in the Northland area. Main areas of focus are: Maori Participation; Youth Participation; Local Promotion Campaign; Linking into Health; Creating Activity Friendly Environments; Pedometer Walking Challenge.
| |
| Get Active - Stay Active - Rotorua District Council |
$356,118 over 3 yrs |
|
Looks at approaches to addressing the physical activity needs of the Rotorua community based on the delivery of physical activity opportunities based at numerous venues in the Rotorua District.
| |
| Exercise on Prescription - Taupo District Council |
$155,000 over 3 yrs |
|
Development of a scheme for Taupo based on a successful programme running in Powys, Wales that was established in 1994. The EOP scheme is a 10-week supervised structured exercise programme prescribed by doctors and run by the Council at local facilities. The EOP scheme will work in conjunction with SPARC's Green Prescription programme, with patients being referred to the EOP scheme by their GP, through the Green Prescription framework.
| |
For further information on the successful projects contact:
Lisa Tocker - North Shore City Tel: 09 486 8595
Brent Eastwood - Sport Northland Tel: 09 430 3477
Kate Stewart - Rotorua District Council Tel: 07 348 4199
J.P. Gaston - Taupo District Council Tel: 07 377 9899
Updated | 30 Mar 2006.
Skip page tools.
