NWT RECREATION & PARKS ASSOCIATION WALK TO TUK

NWT RECREATION & PARKS ASSOCIATION WALK TO TUK BUSINESS PLAN DECEMBER 15, 2014 Prepared for The Play Exchange 2014

TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Introduction... 3 2. The Social Purpose Organization... 3 3. Theory of Change / Social Impact... 4 4. Environmental Scan... 7 5. Operations... 8 6. People... 9 7. Communications... 10 8. Projected Costs... 11 9. Appendices... 13 2

1. INTRODUCTION We all know that keeping active in the winter months can be a challenge, especially in -30 degrees Celsius. But what could be easier than getting out for a walk with friends? Physical activity in general is integral to one s overall health and well-being. An activity as simple as taking a walk on a regular basis can help lower blood pressure, reduce the risk of diabetes and alleviate stress. Walk to Tuk challenges people from all over the Northwest Territories (NWT) to form teams within their communities and collectively walk the distance of the Mackenzie River. Calculated in hours of exercise, the Walk to Tuk participants in 2014 collectively spent over 48,918.5 hours exercising. We believe that the community that gets fit together sticks together! Teamwork is the name of the game and everyone has to do their part to make sure the team reaches its goal and completes the distance from Fort Providence to Tuktoyaktuk, a total of 1,658 kms! Walk to Tuk wants to inspire all Canadians to not let the winter weather be an excuse for inactivity. Grab some friends, get walking and go on a journey along one of Canada s most historically significant waterways. 2. THE SOCIAL PURPOSE ORGANIZATION The NWT Recreation and Parks Association (NWTRPA) was established in 1989 to serve the needs and interests of NWT recreation leaders. We strive to increase public awareness of recreation and parks and to enhance the quality of life for residents in the NWT by promoting and supporting the development of recreation, parks services and leadership throughout the North. The NWTRPA is governed by a board of directors from each of the territories regions. Our programs range from the NWTRPA annual conference for recreation leaders across the territories to Elders in Motion, a program designed to get NWT seniors active. Since inception, our focus has been on advocacy, education, and information sharing and networking. The NWTRPA receives the majority of its funding from two sources. The NWT Sports and Recreation Council (SRC) provides the bulk of funding through an annual call for submissions process. The balance of the funding comes through the Government of the Northwest Territories department of Municipal and Community Affairs (MACA). 3

Walk to Tuk is the largest and longest physical activity event for NWTRPA as well as within Northwest Territories. It encourages people to form teams and together walk the distance of the Mackenzie River from Fort Providence to Tuktoyaktuk. Teams collectively attempt to walk a total of 1,658 km between January and March, the coldest and darkest months of the year. Our Walking Challenge promotes physical activity to community members of all ages through low impact exercise with guidance provided by team leaders in each community. Combining teamwork, low impact exercise and cultural relevance creates a fun challenge that all Canadians can participate in. The Walk is starting its fifth year in 2015 and we expect more than 1,600 participants in more than 100 teams. Since its inception, Walk to Tuk has grown with more teams and individuals joining the challenge each year. Our goal is to encourage all of our 33 communities in NWT to participate in the walking challenge, and include schools and corporate participation. If we are able to automate our registration, reporting, tracking and communications activities, we would be able to encourage all Canadians to Walk to Tuk, and perhaps offer additional challenges in the years to come. 3. THEORY OF CHANGE / SOCIAL IMPACT THE PROBLEM Regular physical activity relieves stress, builds muscle strength, reduces disease and injury, improves cardiovascular health, and helps maintain healthy body weight. The Canadian Physical Activity Guidelines recommend adults aged 18 to 64 should accumulate at least 150 minutes of moderate- to vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity per week, in increments of 10 minutes or more. Current studies show that only 15% of Canadian adults and almost 7% of young Canadians meet the new physical activity guidelines which are the minimum requirements to maintain or improve health. The inactivity condition in the Northwest Territories is just as bleak. Less than half of the population participates in enough physical activity to maintain or improve their health. The 2011 NWT Health Status Report states that proportions of NWT residents 12 years and older who reported moderate or higher physical activity decreased from 54% to 41% since 2003 and 63% of NWT residents are overweight or obese compared to 51% of other Canadians. THE SOLUTION It is evident that the NWT needs to take action to find a solution to the inactivity and obesity crisis and the Walk to Tuk Challenge is one solution the NWTRPA is prepared to undertake. 4

Walk to Tuk addresses the national inactivity crisis by challenging NWT communities to form teams and together walk the distance of the Mackenzie River from Fort Providence to Tuktoyaktuk. Communities from all over the Northwest Territories participate yearly and teams are made up of all age groups and range from those in Yellowknife to those further north. We specifically target inactive communities that could benefit from physical activity. In 2014, 1,660 individuals registered for the walk and 1,625 actually participated. The majority of the participants were female (70%). Based on team captain registrations, 23% of participants walked on a regular basis before the challenge began and 77% of participants walked as a result of the challenge. We can conclude that the walking challenge helps to motivate people to be more physically active during January and February. In addition, the 2013 team captain surveys indicated that 82% increased their own physical activity during January and February and that 84% thought that the Walking Challenge motivated their teammates to become more physically active. Stakeholders for the program span across the territories with 17 of 33 communities participating in the walk annually. Recreation coordinators in these regions act as outreach for the program as they recruit new teams and leaders in the areas in which they work. Team captains from past years have proven to be integral to not only the success of their team but also in speaking about the program and recruiting others to join. Our only corporate sponsor is First Air, which provides the final grand prize. 5

LOGIC MODEL To get communities physically active during the coldest, darkest months of the year Inputs Tracking website Weekly customized team updates Recruitment of participants and teams Activities Community teams gather to engage in physical activity (walking, cross country skiing etc.) with the goal of walking 1,658 km from Fort Providence to Tuktoyaktuk. Outputs Increased physical activity levels, notably during the cold winter months Better long term habits in everyday life Outcomes Long term adoption of healthy habits including increased physical activity Reduction in obesity rates across the NWT Team leaders motivate and inspire their teams to reach their goal SOCIAL IMPACT We measure the success of the Walk by considering the following: Number of participants: Currently we measure the number of participants each year who sign up to complete the walk. The increase in participation clearly speaks to increased physical activity in our communities. Number of Teams: As enrolment in the challenge increases the number of teams also increases. Each team must have a captain. An increase in the number of teams speaks to the increase in community champions for the Walk. Number of NWT Communities Participating: As new communities hear about the challenge and begin to participate, we can track the success of our outreach efforts. Hours of exercise completed: We currently measure the hours of exercise completed by all participants. From a measurement perspective, we would like to be able to determine the correlation to a reduction in health care costs. Surveys: We conduct participant surveys to collect participant testimonials and perceptions of their experiences. 6

4. ENVIRONMENTAL SCAN STRENGTHS Walk to Tuk has experienced great success thus far, with a healthy rate of expansion evidenced by increased year over year participation. Participation in Walk to Tuk is free of charge and requires no financial commitment. There are no facilities needed to operate the program, keeping it low cost and low barrier. As a home grown program, we believe that it appeals to communities across the territory. Our challenge can involve a whole community and provides prizes as incentives. As the longest running challenge in the area, Walk to Tuk is picking up momentum and awareness is high in the region. The timing of the Walk coincides not only with the coldest, darkest months of the year, but is right after Christmas when most fitness resolutions are made. There is therefore the opportunity for potential sponsorships and marketing centered on the idea of starting the new year off in a more healthy way. Our program is relatively easy to execute, as it only requires a team leader with internet access to track hours walked and keep their teams motivated. This allows for new teams to join without a steep learning curve or a commitment of hours to participate, and makes the challenge easy for businesses and schools to adopt and administer. Expanding the tracking platform to include corporate challenges could help to extend the impact of the Walk to Tuk throughout the year for employers looking to motivate staff to get healthy and active. We plan for a 5% yearly increase in participants as our measure for success. Specific target populations are identified, including increased numbers of male or senior participants based on the demographics of teams from the year prior. Thus far we have exceeded our goals and expectations every year for participants and number of communities involved. WEAKNESSES/CHALLENGES The Walk is currently tracked and reported manually. While this personal touch helps to cultivate a community s connection to the program, without the development of a more automated system, expansion to more communities and the addition of a corporate challenge could prove difficult. Currently, the system operates with the majority of labour going into individually tracing teams progress and sending out individually customized updates. In order to attract more participants, the tracking system will need to be automated. This automation needs to be accomplished while maintaining the customized and personalized updates that encourage teams to continue walking. 7

5. OPERATIONS The planning and day-to-day operations of the program are managed by the Active Communities Coordinator. This includes marketing, tracking participant activity, sending out updates and securing sponsorship. We open for registration in the first week of December, with the Walk starting in the first week of January. The first week of the registration period kicks off direct outreach across the territory (schools, recreation facilities, health centers, NWTRPA network, youth centers etc.) and includes media releases to various publications. We place ads in News North congratulating past teams for completing the challenge and advertising registration for the upcoming walk. During the Walk, we communicate with team leaders and participants on a weekly basis by email. Communications include new information and updates on distance the team has walked every two weeks. Updates on distance come with a link to a map with the team s current location along the river. Prizes are available to teams throughout the challenge. We enter all participants whose teams complete the challenge in a draw to win the grand prize of airfare for 2 donated by First Air, and they each receive an I Walked to Tuk t-shirt. A timeline of annual activities is included in the Appendix. Many of the online operations are largely manual and automation of this system is critical to successful and sustainable growth. We recognize that retaining the personalization of the regular messaging to teams is key to expansion. Development of a more efficient online registration and tracking system is needed to increase the capacity of the Walk without increasing the amount of manpower required to manage it. However, it would be detrimental to the program to lose the local or grass roots feeling that the personalized updates provide. Goals for 2015 include not only a 5% increase in participation in NWT, but also an increase in national awareness about the program and the positive effects of an active and healthy life style. Structurally, we hope to expand our website and tracking systems to make the back end administration more time effective. Additionally, we would like to expand the Walk s sponsor base and reach out to businesses and employers to participate with corporate teams. We are hopeful that The Play Exchange will help to increase our public exposure so that we can attract both new participants and sponsors. Further, to encourage teams to participate year after year, the Walk may need to evolve to include new targets, goals and incentives. In order to expand outside of the NWT, we may consider adding other routes the West Coast Trail in British Columbia, the St. Lawrence 8

River in Eastern Canada, or the Trans Canada Trail that connects 75% of the country. Having an automated platform would facilitate this expansion. 6. PEOPLE Walk to Tuk has been managed by an Active Communities Coordinator and an Executive Director. In 2014, we expanded our team to include a Program Assistant who will help to support the Walk. Executive Director Active Communities Coordinator Program Assistant The Active Communities Coordinator acts as the main project manager for the Walk to Tuk executing the daily activities during the challenge and wrap-up afterward. Overall, the Active Communities Coordinator is responsible for all aspects of the programs included in the Active Living Workplan, including the Nordic Walking Program, Elders in Motion and Get Active, and develops new Active Living programs as required. The Coordinator is responsible for promoting, developing, fostering and maintaining relationships and partnerships with communities, community organizations, program participants and stakeholders, and promotes our organization and our programs and services to help us to become the leading organization for serving NWT community recreation needs. Our team of dedicated recreation professionals have several years experience in programming for communities in the North. Special skills include project management, community building, communications and program design. Integral to this program are the skills necessary to work with a variety of factors in remote communities and non-profits to government and businesses. Experience with fitness and active living programming is a must and communication has been key to making this program a success thus far. 9

7. COMMUNICATIONS With the development of a new website comes the opportunity to use the site for marketing purposes, above and beyond its use as portal for participants to track and report their activity. The website should incorporate the following: Social media platforms (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube) Video and written testimonials from past participants A weekly blog to share progress and stories from participants in the current year s walk Training and nutrition tips and Marketing information, registration forms. A mobile app (ios and Android) could be developed to enable participants to track their progress on the go. Once the new website is online, all other communications materials (posters, brochures, advertising etc.) will include a drive-to-web message, sending people there for more information, registration, tracking of activity and other resources etc. Building web and social media traffic is good for engagement and evaluation purposes. It will give us a strong following to which we can promote other NWTRPA programs, should new challenges be added in other seasons. Expansion outside the NWT can be handled most effectively by going direct to organizations like other PRAs, large employers (including those who may have participated in the NWT challenge), large fitness facilities like the YMCA, etc. and providing them with a marketing and communications toolkit that they can use to promote the Walk to teams in their area. Again, we will drive them to the website for more information, registration etc., making the program very turn-key. Expansion outside of the NWT could include: a challenge between provinces and territories, using regional equivalents to the Mackenzie River route or an educational program for schools tied to curriculum, with a module on NWT geography, people, culture etc. 10

8. PROJECTED COSTS Walk to Tuk is one of six finalists chosen from The Play Exchange, a national online challenge to find and support innovative ideas to get Canadians healthier and more active. There may be other programs across Canada that are similar to this one but this business plan was developed to support NWTRPA s entry in The Play Exchange. The information within this plan was provided by NWTRPA unless otherwise noted. We have provided an estimate of the costs to build out the Walk to Tuk program across the North and a possible expansion into other parts of Canada. Depending on our ability to raise funds and public interest to participate in the Walk, the expansion can be accelerated. PROJECTION 2015 2016 2017 Staff / Human Resources $ 51,750 $ 57,600 $ 62,500 Program Costs $ 40,000 $ 47,000 $ 54,300 Operating / Administrative Costs $ 9,200 $ 9,960 $ 10,875 IT Costs $ 85,000 $ 15,200 $ 21,000 Evaluation $ 2,500 $ 5,000 $ 6,000 Fundraising / sponsorship $ 5,000 $ 15,000 $ 25,000 Marketing / communications $ 16,500 $ 22,500 $ 30,000 Total $ 209,950 $ 172,260 $ 209,675 Administrative and overhead costs are absorbed by NWTRPA and are not allocated to the Walk. Included in the 2015 budget is an estimate of the cost to deliver a responsive website for the Walk that can be easily managed, and that automates the registration, reporting, tracking and communications for all participants. Increased participation in the Walk will result in an increase in operating and administration costs, and will require an investment in a web platform with additional capabilities. Staff time will vary based on the timing and ability to automate. Currently, we receive financial support from the Government of NWT through a 3-year SRC grant covering the administration costs for the Walk. Corporate sponsorships also play a role in providing in-kind donations of equipment, prizes and the grand prize. Developing further sponsorship opportunities for Walk to Tuk is a top priority, with many potential sponsors available for various levels of engagement. 11

We believe that there are a number of potential sponsorship opportunities, including the following: Full title sponsorship Walk to Tuk could be sponsored by a local business in its entirety. Covering administration costs could allow a company to be recognized in a manner similar to runs sponsored by large corporations (i.e. BMO Marathon) Partial Sponsorship sponsors donating $x and above could be recognized as partners to the challenge with logo options on the winners T-shirts and website. In-Kind Sponsor Local businesses related to sport and outdoor activity could donate additional prizes to be awarded during the challenge. Employer Sponsor employers in the territory could sponsor teams of employees to enter and complete the challenge. Specialized training, recognition and coaching could be provided for a fee. 12

9. APPENDICES GROWTH OBJECTIVES Priority: Increase participation in physical activity for youth and adults in NWT communities 2015 2016 2017 a. Increase total time spent exercising by 4% each year 50,875 exercise hours 52,910 exercise hours 55,026 exercise hours b. Increase participants by 5% each year 1,706 participants 1,791 participants 1,880 participants c. Work to have all 33 NWT communities participating in the challenge 22 participating communities 27 participating communities 33 participating communities d. Each year increase the number of male participants by 3% 28% male / 72% female participation 31% male / 69% female participation 34% male / 66% female participation e. Increase the amount of youth and elders participating in the challenge by 5 % 6 % youth participants 59 elders 11% youth participants 61 elders 16% youth participants 64 elders f. Support four or more community groups by providing Nordic walking group leader training and poles on loan 4 community groups to receive training 4 community groups to receive training 4 community groups to receive training 13

TIMELINES Activity Start Date End Date Confirm challenge program plan August September Establish new developments and content for website and online aspects of the challenge Promote the challenge and offer Nordic walking training in interested communities June November December January Advertise the Walk to Tuk Challenge to all communities November January Provide participating communities with on-going support to continue walking Organize end of Challenge celebrations and training for community teams Work with communities and team captains to receive feedback, suggestions and make improvements for the next challenge January March April March May May Evaluate the delivery of Walk to Tuk Challenge April August 14