South West District for Culture, Recreation and Sport Inc. is one of 7 districts in the province of Saskatchewan and work closely with communities, groups, staff, and volunteers to develop programs and services in culture, recreation and sports.
“The province was split into parts and those groups amalgamated to form the districts,” says executive director Christie Saas.
The South West District Organization is a relevant entity, created because the Province of Saskatchewan had a lot of sport councils across the province, as well as recreation associations.
The district employs community consultants who do field work with communities and groups.
“One of our consultants was away on maternity leave and we hired a replacement then found out that another of our community consultants was retiring so we were very fortunate to have this replacement; we kept him on so that he could train and stay with us permanently,” says Saas, “so we just have a few changes where our staffing change is shifting to some new people,”
The district offers training and programming based on the needs that the community leaders and volunteers identify.
“Our programs help to develop culture, recreation and sports. We tend to focus on programs that build capacity, knowledge, skills and development,” says Saas.
Core programs that are offered include Grant Writing- a common way for non-profits to continue serving communities is through grants and Sponsorship Development-which aids in gaining access to resources they might never have through sponsorships. Both programs are essential for groups and communities long-term.
“One of the big ones that we have had over the years is non-profit management which applies to culture, recreation and sports. We help to train coaches by bringing in instructors who do a workshop on aspects of coaching,” says Saas.
The organization is funded through the Saskatchewan Lotteries Trust Fund which distributes lottery proceeds to sport, culture, and recreation organizations in Saskatchewan.
“My job as executive director is to oversee day to day operations of the organization and to make sure that the strategic plan for the year is completed through the development of an operations plan,” says Saas.
“Once the strategic plan for the year is finalized, staff meet and create an operations plan that includes a list of offered programs and services that meet the needs of the community while falling into the line of direction set by the board of directors.”
The programs and services change from year to year based on establishing a community’s needs, which can prove to be an on-going, in-depth process.
“It is the main role of the community consultants. They spend a lot of time working with community groups, volunteers and asking questions, finding out what the needs are, we put a lot of time into that and we record a lot of information and data that help us to determine the correct programs to offer,” explains Saas.
The data and information is collected all year around. The district would like to work with more people that are interested in expanding in areas of sport, culture or recreation.
“If you belong to a sport, culture or recreation group we encourage you to contact us through our website, subscribe to our newsletter and join us for workshops, training and networking,” says Saas.
For upcoming accessible programs or to request a program the public can visit the districts website www.gosouthwest.ca or subscribe to the E-Newsletter on the website for more information.
