Venture Outdoors - Creating Healthy Communities
This 3 year project funded by the Big Lottery Fund (BLF) and Ulster Gardens Villages (UGV), will address the barriers currently discouraging those from the disabled, minority ethnic and disadvantaged communities in taking part in outdoor recreation. The programme will include 4 key areas; training, marketing, participation and building bridges between the groups and activity providers.
Notices...
Keep an eye out here for new notices on the Venture Outdoors programme!
Four Key Programme Areas
1. Participation
- The involvement of groups and individuals from our target audience who experience difficulties in accessing outdoor activities.
- To begin the process groups or those working with them fill in an expression of interest form. This gives the development worker the opportunity to discover why the taster sessions would add value to programmes in existence or people’s lives and how the six sessions will in fact act as a springboard to continued outdoor activity.
- A baseline is then carried out detailing what activities individuals have tried before, if any, how active they would be daily and what activities they would like to try locally.
- The emphasis is on local sites and activities to make revisiting more achievable for the group.
- Each group will fill in a monitoring form, be visiting at least twice during the taster sessions by the development worker, complete an evaluation of all activities and receive a pack filled with signposting information on the sixth session.
- After three months a follow up baseline will be carried out to access change in lifestyle.
2. Information and Marketing
- Marketing Work Plan - will include research, development of a PR and marketing plan, website development, publication development, marketing campaigns to target the 3 underrepresented groups.
- Websites - Developing websites guidelines to ensure needs are met for the 3 underrepresented groups.
- Publications - development of guideline publications for the 3 underrepresented groups. Compiling series of Information packs for the taster sessions.
- Communications – a series of meetings have been held with key stakeholders in terms of deciding the best ways forward to producing accurate, available and appropriate information for these communities.
3. Training
- Development of a training programme aimed at activity providers, landowners, and community advocates to raise awareness and audit provision and inclusive practices.
4. Community Engagement & Facilitation
- Leadership training that will ensure that raised appreciation of outdoor activities is fed back to a wider audience.
- Bringing all element of the project together
Uesful Contacts
Reports
- Benchmarking UK Good Practice models for Venture Outdoors - Creating Healthy Communities project
- Venture Outdoors PR campaign April 2010 - March 2011
Useful Links
- Northern Ireland Council for Ethnic Minorities
- Royal National Institue for the Blind
- Royal National Institue for the Deaf
- Disability Sports NI
- NICVA
- Shop mobility Belfast
- Community Transport Association NI
- mental health western board
- Polish Assocation NI
- Chinese Welfare Association NI
- Treasure Trails
- Disability Action
- Multi Cultural Resource Centre
- Go Disabled
- Greenlight Gateway Centre
- Sensory Trust
- MENCAP
- Northern Ireland Community of Refugees and Asylum Seekers (NICRAS)
Key Contacts
Maeve Curran - Venture Outdoors Marketing Officer - maeve@countrysiderecreation.com
Sharon Donnelly – Venture Outdoors Development Officer – sharon@countrysiderecreation.com
