Innovators Out of School Care Project

The Cause

In 2016, Innovators was created at Trico Centre to better serve its 9-12-year-old Out of School Care (OSC) students. The program’s redesign followed feedback from two of its students, Jackson and Alex, who felt the facility’s OSC program lacked meaningful benefits. Their input revealed a concerning trend: fifth- and sixth-graders were leaving the OSC program early. Innovators was created to offer a flexible, engaging environment that meets the developmental needs of children and incorporates current child development theories. Starting with just eight children, the program now supports 38.

The Innovators Group aims to provide a dynamic, supportive environment to engage in after-school programming that enriches their lives. The group's activities are designed to foster social, emotional, mental, and physical growth, equipping participants with the resilience and social literacy they need to navigate the challenges of junior high school and beyond. Through a combination of collaborative projects, hands-on learning, and physical activities, the Innovators Group creates a space where children can develop a wide range of skills in a fun, engaging way.

The Forum for Youth Investment highlights four essential skills for this age group: communication, relationships and collaboration, critical thinking and decision making, and initiative and self-direction. Innovators was designed to cultivate these skills while helping children form their identities and find belonging. The program creates opportunities for them to find their belonging place away from home, and off the streets after school. When an Innovator is given a chance to take the time to see who is in their life and why those people matter, all other skills will follow.

This grant will enable Trico Centre to significantly enhance its Innovators program. The pandemic challenged Trico Centre, forcing it to prioritize its facility-wide spending which limited the availability of its resources for three years. Now, by investing in additional resources, the Innovators program can better prepare children for the complexities of adolescence and beyond.

Who Will it Benefit?

New technological, recreational, and team-building resources will directly benefit all of the young students that participate in our Innovators program. The demand for interactive programming for children and youth is very high, not only within our facility but across the entire city. Trico Centre's ability to offer a wide range of affordable, year-round programming to the south Calgary community is very important not only to the individuals that are registered in our programs, but the greater community's physical, intellectual, emotional, and social health.

The Innovators group is a welcoming space where tweens can meet, learn, express themselves, and share common experiences. They do not have to go home alone, waiting for their parents or older siblings until it is dinner time. They are not wandering the streets or hanging around at the mall. They are in a safe, supervised environment that encourages socialization and learning. Teenage years are an exceptionally difficult time in a person's life and there is more that can be done to prepare children for their transition into adulthood. The skills that children learn in Innovators are important to each child's future as a student, employee, and citizen. As they mature into active, responsible adults, they can give back to their community with those same skills.