The results of our data show a need to make sports organizations more accessible in Hartford as our data showed that of kids who are not currently playing sports, 83.8% of their parents wish they were.

Action Plans:

Focus on Schools

We believe it is important for schools to have access to the data and information like what we have gathered, as it shows a demonstrated need for sports programs. Our data shows that of the kids in Hartford currently playing sports, 72.2% of them found out about the programs through their schools.

It is important to encourage communication of existing sports programs at the schools. We also believe it would be beneficial to make sure schools and its students are informed about Active City and how to get involved.

Another aspect could be getting local college students involved with the local community and kids. Programs could be set up that would provide credit for college students to be coaches or assistant coaches for a local sports team.

Focus on Community

A pick-up day of play could be successful in a city like Hartford because of its many parks.  On specific days, mobile vehicles supplied with sports equipment could drive to the local parks and provide safe spaces for kids to play sports with their friends. This could be during times when kids want to play – before school or after school. Our researched showed that the greatest reason why kids were not playing sports was because of lack of transportation (24.5%). So making more locations available, even on a temporary but communicated basis could help to allow more kids to get involved in a day of play near them. Another solution can be making more programs and organizations available at schools as that is where kids already are.

There is also an issue of advertising – getting the word out to everyone. We believe that simply putting up yard signs in neighborhoods that announce all the low-cost sports programs in Hartford would be extremely helpful.  Even enhancing the sports program’s social media presence on the right online sites would help spread the word as we found that 13.9% of parents found sports programs through social media.