BUILDING COMMUNITY AT THE MULTIPLEX

BRINGING PEOPLE TOGETHER TO BUILD A STRONG AND VIBRANT COMMUNITY

From kids’ hockey and soccer games to weeknight curling leagues, recreation activities bring people together every day, in many ways. But while recreation facilities are great places for our kids and families to get fit and for our seniors to stay active, there’s more going on than friendly competition or cheering from the sidelines — we’re building our community.

CREATING A QUALITY-OF-LIFE ADVANTAGE FOR MOOSE JAW

Building the Multiplex facilities is essential if Moose Jaw is to offer the high quality of life that people and families expect in a vibrant 21st century community — the kind of community in which people can raise families and put down roots for the long term.

Our Multiplex facilities will:

• Enable families to reduce road time they now must log to take kids to games and practices in facilities located outside the city
• Give families more options for spending “quality time” together
• Help parents set good physical fitness examples for their kids
• Bring high-quality business, cultural and entertainment events to Moose Jaw, events that otherwise would bypass our city because we did not have a suitable venue

DELIVERING REAL IMPACT

Facilities like the Multiplex are proven to have a community-wide social and economic impact, including:

• Reducing public health and other social service costs (healthier people typically require fewer public health and social services)
• Creating stronger families that result when kids, parents and grandparents alike are healthy, active and can take part in shared activities, which, in turn, further add to health and wellness
• Heightening community empathy that stems from sharing community events — from taking a class or going for a walk, to attending a hockey game or concert — with neighbours and friends
• Developing shared community values and understanding of diverse cultural perspectives through shared activities
• Increasing inclusion of all members of the community in civic activities through participation in physical activities and other cultural/entertainment events
• Reducing on-the-job accidents, sick days and use of health benefits by employees who are healthier and at less risk of health problems
• Creating a place with more social capital, which are generally safer, better governed and more prosperous than those with less, and people with more social capital are more likely to be happier, healthier, safer and employed than those with less

“A growing body of research points to community sport’s fundamental role as a primary generator of social capital and related benefits across a broad spectrum of societal goals including education, child and youth development, social inclusion, crime prevention, economic development and environmental sustainability. …[N]o other domain of community life has demonstrated sport’s capacity to connect so many young people to positive adult role models and mentors, opportunities
for positive development, and help in acquiring critical life skills.”