Empowering Kids to Be Active for Life

MSA’s flagship project, the Downtown Breakroom, is intended as a safe, recreational outdoor space for at-risk and homeless youth in downtown Minneapolis. It is estimated that approximately 3,000 youth experience homelessness on any given night in the Twin Cities area. Overwhelmingly, these young people are people of color. In 2017, Youthlink, a nonprofit serving homeless youth in downtown Minneapolis, received funding to build 47 apartments to provide first-time housing to previously unhoused youth, ages 18-24. Yet, there is no park or green space anywhere near the facility. Recognizing how important it is for youth to have access to safe park space, MSA launched efforts to get the Breakroom developed at a vacant lot near the new Youthlink housing facility to serve not only Youthlink youth, but all at-risk and homeless youth striving to survive on the streets of the city. 

In addition, COVID-related disruptions to support services, schooling, and recreational activities, combined with the collective trauma experienced by the George Floyd murder have contributed to a dramatic uptick in youth-centered crime in the Twin Cities. Within just the first three months of 2020, juvenile felony charges in Hennepin County (where Minneapolis is located) were 85 percent higher than the number of charges filed during the same period in 2019. MSA is heavily involved in community outreach, and we’ve heard countless times from parents, and youth themselves, that there aren’t enough constructive opportunities to keep youth off the streets, especially during the pandemic. Further, mental health among our youth is widely reported at an all-time low, a pandemic of youth depression and anxiety paralleling COVID, exhausting medical and public health support services. 

There is a very promising opportunity to address these issues through skateboarding. Skateboarding is a physical activity that is cheap and easy-to-access for all residents of a community, particularly youth. There are no club fees or try-outs, only the need for a skateboard. Further, skateboarding has long-held a reputation as the “anti-sport”, an activity for youth that may not feel drawn to or welcomed to traditional team-style sports.

Does MSA think that more skateparks in underserved, marginalized communities can help reduce youth crime and mental illness? Unequivocally, yes, because our leadership has experienced this firsthand and seen communities benefit as well. We have no doubts that increased recreational opportunities that promote physical activity, like skateboarding, will provide some relief to the multiple challenges facing our youth.