ACA Grant Project: Sustainable Paddlesports Education for Underserved Communities

T.J. Turner leads a kayaking pool session as part of his 2016 grant project.

ACA staffer T.J. Turner is currently leading a grant project (funded by the US Coast Guard) focused on creating sustainable paddlesports education for underserved and underrepresented communities. This grant project will allow the ACA to increase our current capability to conduct on-water instruction for a range of individuals and organizations across the country. 

The project will increase instructors' skills and abilities, get underrepresented community members out on the water, create community partnerships, and further promote safe paddling culture.

By empowering the adults in the selected communities with appropriate boating knowledge and skill, this grant project will be both replicable and sustainable in future years for those locations. This will provide a sustainable source of local education that will contribute to the decrease in both fatalities and accidents for both the current and future generation of boaters.

Locations Chosen for Grant Funding:

• Miami, Florida
• Tampa, Florida
• Fort Myers, Florida
• San Diego, California
• San Francisco, California
• Detroit, Michigan
• Muskegon, Michigan
• Chicago, Illinois
• Nashville, Tennessee
• Charleston, South Carolina
• Columbia, South Carolina
• Galveston, Texas
• Corpus Christi, Texas
• Bellingham, Washington
• Seattle, Washington
• Anchorage, Alaska
• Juneau, Alaska
• New York City, New York 

All grant locations, with the exception of Tampa, have instructors and community organizations involved in each program.

To learn more about this grant project, please visit:
http://www.americancanoe.org/?page=USCGUnderrep2015 

You may also contact ACA Education and Outreach Coordinator, T.J. Turner with any questions.