A project by a Windsor city councillor has officially come to life.
Ward 3 councillor, Renaldo Agostino, alongside the City of Windsor's Recreation Department and the Downtown Windsor Community Collaborative have launched a free drop-in summer program at Mitchell Park.
Agostino says he wanted to start the program to help ease vandalism that was occurring in the park, as well as to give local kids a place to hang out and socialize.
The goal of this program is to enhance park safety and engage children in enriching recreational activities.
The program will run all summer long until September 1, Monday to Sunday from 4:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at 399 Giles Boulevard West.
The Mitchell Park Program offers activities such as sports, recreation, active games, passive games, arts and crafts, and more.
Speaking on AM800's The Shift, Agostino says this stemmed from youth misbehaving in the park.
"Parents and neighbours wanted a solution and we talked about a solution, and came to one. Now, over the past few months things have changed a little bit more and more now. We were discovering needles, and people sleeping in the parks, and garbage in the parks, and shopping carts with stuff in the parks, so, it's evolved, but this new program that we started is really starting to address some of those situations."
He says a group of individuals work together to staff the park and set up program daily.
"With a tent, a Portajohn, activities whether it's arts and crafts, whether it's soccer, whether it's basketball, there's kids playing with kids. And part of the pilot program was also to include a private security guard there, which you know, it's not my cup of tea but a pilot's a pilot, right, and if we're going to try it, we're going to try it and see what works and what doesn't. So, there's also a security guard there from Paladin."
Agostino says this is a great opportunity for local families.
"We have so many new Canadians that live downtown, we have so many single-parent families that live downtown, so many people downtown that need this kind of support, where the kids need to learn. And unfortunately, you're not learning playing video games at home. You might be learning some life skills but not all of them."
Participants are required to pre-register by creating an account and registering.
More information on how to register can be found by clicking here.
Council voted in favour of the pilot project. Agostino says he would love to see a program like this at a park in every ward.