Free Play for Kids Receives Grant from the Women & Girls Fund
The Community Foundation of Central Alberta’s Women & Girls Fund is proud to support Free Play for Kids and their Free to Play: Maskwacis Programming at Ermineskin Cree Nation Elementary School.
This grant funds barrier-free, after-school sport and recreation programming for Indigenous children attending Ermineskin Elementary, including programming that reduces access barriers for Indigenous girls and gender-diverse youth during the critical after-school hours. Free Play for Kids has many years of experience as a safe haven for equity-deserving children and youth through unique and adaptable programming.
What most sets this program apart is its responsiveness to the perspectives of the girls and families being served, and the skilled staff team delivering the program. Together, these factors shape how programming is delivered.
Free Play for Kids emphasizes participants’ voices, ensuring that Indigenous girls see themselves reflected in leadership roles and feel empowered to participate, lead, and express their needs. And Free Play’s coaches are people from the Maskwacis and Wetaskawin area who carry deep cultural knowledge and lived experience that mirrors the realities of the children they work alongside. Their insights, combined with ongoing feedback from participants, families, and school partners, ensure that programming remains culturally grounded, trauma-informed, and genuinely responsive to community needs.
By centering local leadership and prioritizing listening, Free Play ensures that beneficiaries are active contributors to a program that reflects their lived experiences, identities, and aspirations.
“Free Play for Kids understands that access means more than an open door — it means removing every barrier between a child and a safe place to play, including getting there. Free Play for Kids has built something rare — a program where the community isn’t just served, but genuinely heard. Their commitment to meeting families where they are, in every sense, made them a clear choice for this fund.”
— Women & Girls Fund Adjudication Committee, Community Foundation of Central Alberta
We are proud to uphold the grant’s broader vision of equity through our investment in Free Play for Kids and the community of Maskwacis, where every child can play freely, grow confidently, and see themselves reflected in the leaders around them.
