Mentorship program wins international award

The trailblazing Rec and Read Mentorship Program at the University of Manitoba is the first place winner of the annual MacJannet Prize, awarded by the MacJannet Foundation.

The annual prizes celebrate university programs that act as models of excellent global citizenship and civic engagement: programs that raise awareness and encourage community engagement within higher education.

This year the foundation received 59 nominations from 50 universities in 21 countries around the world.

“Some years ago, our Indigenous youth identified their vision of having a Rec and Read Mentorship Program in every school and community in Manitoba,” says program co-creator Joannie Halas, a professor with the Faculty of Kinesiology and Recreation Management. “The MacJannet Prize is a profound vote of confidence for our youth and their vision of a healthier Manitoba.”

In 2001, Halas initiated a research project that investigated the quality and cultural relevance of physical education for Indigenous youth in Manitoba. Emerging from this work was the Rec and Read Mentorship Program, which was created in 2005.

Originally developed with a group of Indigenous youth, this program is a culturally based, community focused physical activity program for all young people living in diverse communities. Indigenous teachings and worldviews inform Rec and Read’s holistic approach to nurturing intercultural mentoring relationships.

Through the program, university and community mentors work with high school mentors to plan and deliver a weekly after-school physical activity, nutrition, and education program for early years students in both urban and remote Indigenous communities.

University and high school students manage the program and receive ongoing support from the Program Coordinator based at the University of Manitoba. Both the university and the high school students work collaboratively to develop their mentorship and leadership skills.

In its first year, the program worked with only one school. It expanded to two schools in its second year. By 2012, it was in 12 urban schools and four rural/northern schools, and it continues to grow.

Since 2006, over 1,400 high school and elementary students and 220 university students and community mentors from diverse cultural backgrounds have participated in the program.

A strength of the program is its active engagement with the community beyond the after-school activities and strong partnerships with community groups, the City of Winnipeg and Indigenous communities.

“Rec and Read’s communal approach to mentoring is what makes the community-university service learning component so powerful. Everyone learns from each other,” Halas says.

The MacJannet Prize was established by the Talloires Network and the MacJannet Foundation to recognize exceptional student community engagement initiatives at Talloires Network member universities and contributes financially to their ongoing public service efforts.