For the seventh year in a row, Action Jeunesse de l’Ouest-de-l’Île (AJOI) is hosting Les Jeux de la rue de l’Ouest-de-l’Île. Held annually, the event consists of both recreational sports and cultural activities. The winning teams of the preliminary sports competitions held on July 22nd (basketball) and July 29th (soccer) will represent the West Island at the regional competitions of Les Jeux de la rue on August 6th.
For the past seven years, AJOI has offered free recreational activities in the West Island of Montreal. The AGSport Project is funded by the borough of Pierrefonds-Roxboro, Montreal Canadiens Children’s Foundation and Employment and Social Development Canada. It offers free sports activities via open gyms during the school year, and Les Jeux de la rue de l’Ouest-de-l’Île during the summer period.
The community activities organized by AJOI offer an alternative to marginalized, underprivileged youth between the ages of 12 and 30 years old in the West Island, who would otherwise have limited access to regular sports networks. The community activities also allow AJOI to rally the participating youth to be active and to make appropriate and positive use of public installations. In promoting the expression of the physical and artistic skills of the participants, this approach encourages the development and growth of social and personal skills. Ten park animators will be hired this summer in order to allow AJOI to continue this wonderful initiative.
Competition Details
The basketball competition of the 2017 edition of Les Jeux de la rue de l’Ouest-de-l’Île will start at 10:00 AM on July 22nd 2017 at Parc Alexander (Pierrefonds). The soccer competition will start at 10:00 AM on July 29th 2017 at Parc Grier (Pierrefonds). Regional finals will be held August 16th at Parc Jarry, starting at 9:00 AM. For more information, contact Carine, AJOI’s Recreational Activities Coordinator, at 514-546-2270.
About AJOI
AJOI’s mission is to establish and maintain outreach street work intervention to at-risk youth, aged from 12 to 25 years in the West Island of Montreal. Since 2007, AJOI has offered services and support to local youth facing issues such as homelessness, drug and alcohol addiction, poverty, mental and physical health challenges, judiciary problems, and psychological distress. The recreational activities component adds to the outreach street work component of the organization. Community activities are a powerful tool, providing opportunities to make contact with the youth of the community. The activities offered by AJOI in the framework of community activity, allows the outreach street workers to create relationships with the at-risk youth. The recreational activity and the outreach street work are in sync and in the same intervention continuum, the outreach street workers refer youth to community activities. They both pursue the same objectives; allowing at-risk youth to value themselves all while fulfilling themselves in activities which are alternatives to delinquency and to crime with the presence of adults and also providing them a sense of empowerment leading towards independence.
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