Click photo for video of Kids Up Front’s kids
Can’t Use Your Ticket? is our signature ticket recycling program. Kids Up Front receives donated tickets from corporations, the public, and entertainment and recreational organizations to ensure empty seats are filled with children and families who could really benefit and who otherwise would not have access to the event. For some, the difference has been the thrill of attending their first-ever professional hockey game, or symphony performance; for others it marks a turning point in their lives.
Kids Count! is an event-based program that provides outings specifically targeted to kids and families. We make a ticket more than a ticket by combining value-added components to create positive lifelong memories. Some examples include participation behind the scenes at events, overnight trips, autograph sessions, meals and other special gifts that make a child feel like a VIP.
Kids Play! takes Kids Up Front’s signature ticketing recycling program, “Can’t Use Your Ticket?” one step further to turn kids from passively watching to actively doing. Kids Play! encourages disadvantaged kids to become active participants in sporting and recreational activities and engages kids in arts and cultural endeavours for the first time. Kids Play! takes kids out of the stands and onto the field, out of the audience and onto the stage, and turns kids from observers into players.
Kids in Motion! supports Kids Up Front’s core programs, “Can’t Use Your Ticket?” and “Kids Count!” by providing transportation to the events to children and families who would otherwise be excluded from participating. Kids in Motion! distributes free public transportation day passes with tickets to arts, culture, sports and recreation events and activities. Kids in Motion! encourages the most disadvantaged kids who could most benefit to participate in the valuable experiences Kids Up Front provides. Together, we’re helping to heal, bond and unite.
Learning through the Arts provides youth from low-income and marginalized families with theatre, festival and other cultural experiences to enhance lifelong learning opportunities that normally would not be available to them. As a result of participating in this project, youth will establish relationships between arts and education while increasing cognitive and social development.
Light Bulb Moments! provides access to educational and cultural opportunities for children and youth faced with challenges and barriers that normally exclude them from participating.
What Kids Need
There are key elements that kids need in order to thrive and grow into caring adults to carry on a healthy life cycle. Love, nutrition, shelter, clothing and nourishment of the spirit. That’s where Kids Up Front comes along. Our programs provide opportunities for children to be mentored by caring adults (parents, mentors) who can teach them about the world around them by setting boundaries for healthy exploration in a safe environment. Children need to be encouraged to set high expectations, to know that they are important and their contribution is significant.
The Kids Up Front Foundation provides children with programs that allow safe exploration of the world around them and to open the door to their passions and let them dream the possible.
Kids are worth our investment because Kids Count!
There are many risk factors that bar a child from reaching their potential. Poverty, physical and mental challenges and disabilities, and immigrant and minority status are some of the main factors. Our programs reach out to children in all those categories, supporting them from toddler to teen. We believe that for the highest positive impact to a child you must provide the highest positive impact to the whole family.
In British Columbia, we work with agency representatives from dozens of child-serving agencies to find short and long-term solutions.
Poverty is one of the key factors that prevent healthy childhood growth. British Columbia has the highest child poverty rate in Canada. Our national average is 17.6%, while British Columbia’s rate is 23.6%. This creates many challenges to families. Infant death is twice as high; death rates due to accidents, suicides and homicides are 10 percent greater; and childhood disabilities, emotional and academic problems are two times greater. When sometimes up to 100 percent of the household’s income is spent on food, shelter and clothing, there is nothing left for a child to explore the world and develop socially. That’s where Kids Up Front can help.
Immigrants and Minorities have their own set of barriers involving social acceptance and financial challenges. Approximately 85 percent of Aboriginal youth and approximately 70 percent of youth with English as their second language drop out of school, compared to the national average of about 30 percent. To add to that, children living in poverty drop out of school 2 1/2 times the rate of other children. That’s where Kids Up Front can help.
*Statistics above can be found in the Statistics Canada review on how to measure poverty.
