Red Fox Healthy Living Society

Overview

Red Fox Healthy Living Society has two complementary missions: to promote healthy active living among Aboriginal and inner-city children and youth, and build employment and life skills among Aboriginal youth and young adults. We fulfill our missions by providing free and supportive training and recreation opportunities to children, youth and families throughout Metro Vancouver.

Red Fox delivers 22 programs in east and south Vancouver, in North Vancouver and in Surrey.

The key to our success is our leadership continuum: Aboriginal youth can go from participant of our Active Play programs at their schools and community centres, to pre-teen junior leaders, to youth leaders, to youth workers.

Red Fox works closely with the Vancouver, North Vancouver and Surrey School Boards. Vancouver students receive school credit for participating in Red Fox training, and teachers attest that Red Fox inspires students to stay in school, graduate, and pursue post-secondary education.

Currently, over half of our fifteen youth leaders participated in Red Fox Active Play when they were in elementary school. Over half of our Youth Workers are Aboriginal young adults. Three are graduates of Red Fox training. Other Red Fox graduates are now working at Strathcona Community Centre, Urban Native Youth Association, and at childcare centres throughout Vancouver.

There are waiting lists of youth wanting to join our training, and schools and community organizations wanting Red Fox programs for their children and families.

We have two long-term goals: meet community demand for our programs, and promote enough Youth Leaders to Youth Workers, so that all our Active Play and Junior Leadership programs are supervised by Aboriginal young adults by 2018.

Red Fox has won several awards, including the British Columbia Recreation & Parks Association’s Programme Excellence Award and the Roger Inman Award for Community Economic Development.