In 1992, a group of caring Edmontonians started The Greater Edmonton Sports and Recreation Association. With a mandate of offering a safe recreational facility for inner city youth, we operated out of a 980 square foot building-but our dreams were bigger. In 2000, we opened a new, 9000 square foot facility and amended our name to honour a founding member and a benevolent corporate supporter. Gordon Russell's Crystal Kids Youth Centre was born.
Since that time, Crystal Kids' mission has expanded far beyond promoting health and
physical fitness for inner city youth. We foster youth self-esteen and help ensure their mental and emotional wellbeing. Through Crystal Kids,
youth and their families can access invaluable resources and support networks to help maintain dignity and balance in their lives. We also reach out to those who suffer from isolation, including seniors and recent immigrant families, providing them with healthy communication and positive social interaction. Overall, we're a safe, supporting and friendly environment for anyone who needs us.
But we can't do this good work alone!
We need your help. All programs are free of charge to families, and warrant your support!
Participant Profile
Our primary clientele are youth ages 6-17. Our youth are socially disadvantaged and economically impoverished inner-city residents. A large percentage of our youth face cognitive and social challenges due to their exposure to alcohol prenatally resulting in varying degrees of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. Many of our youth have diagnosed learning disabilities or cognitive delays which may or may not be associated or attributed to prenatal exposure to alcohol.
Greater than 70% of our youth are First Nations status or non-status; urban-off reserve; or visiting from reserve; or Metis. Of our youth, approximately 30% are in care or wards of Children's Services. We have a number of older teens in supported independent living situations with support agreements as living at home or with extended family is not a safe option. A great number of our youth are victims of verbal, physical, and sexual abuses as a direct result/symptom of the poverty and transient life style of their families.
Significant numbers of our youth are disassociated from home, family, school, and community, and are at high risk for criminal behaviour. Many of our youth are immigrants for whom English is a second language and have significant language barriers. Many of our young boys and girls are vulnerable to exploitation by drug dealers, exposure to the sex trade, and gang recruitment.
CORE VALUES
- All children/persons have value in our eyes - we demonstrate to our youth clients each and every day that they are valued and have worth
- all children deserve to grow up without being hungry
- all children deserve support and encouragement to remain in school and are entitled to an education
- all children are entitled to play and deserve the opportunity to play in a safe environment
- all children deserve the freedom from victimization from adults and peers
- all children deserve caring adult role models
- encouragement and emotional support will divert children from the street
- literacy is a primary requirement to break the cycle of poverty
- early involvement and interventions with criminal behaviour can be mitigated by reducing risk factors and providing positive modeling and life-skills mentoring
Core know how
We are especially good at and equipped for establishing, building and nurturing trusting relationships with impoverished and/or; at risk and/or; troubled and/or; disassociated youth.
We provide a safe and supportive environment with encouragement for positive life choices.
We know how to connect with kids and divert them from a life of crime.
We know how to identify hungry and malnourished children and feed them.
We know how to provide a safe place for children as an alternative to life on the street and/or their dysfunctional, neglectful, and or abusive home environments.
We know that recreational opportunities and team sports activities offer a better and safer solution to their loneliness and isolation than involvement in gang-life and exposure to other high risk activities such as drugs and prostitution would.
We know how to befriend and mentor a young person into becoming a healthy and contributing member of the community.
We know very well how to build self-esteem and nurture self-worth in our youth clients.
We know how to instill the values and principles of self-respect and mutual respect for each other in our youth clients.
We know how to provide literacy support and to instill in our youth a respect for their education. We work cooperatively with the youth, their families, local schools and outreach education centres to support their access to educational resources. We are an added asset leading towards academic success. We celebrate small and large academic victories and provide a venue for creative learning. We advocate for personalized individual service plans for youth with special needs whom require additional educational supports. We provide new social learning experiences, modeling appropriate behaviour and etiquette for youth who have not had the advantage of an upbringing inclusive of these values.
If you are looking for a worthwhile charity to support...look no further!
