The MARS Project
The Moreland Active Recreation and Sport (MARS) Project is a Moreland Recreation Services initiative that promotes physical activity for young people from migrant and refugee backgrounds who live in Moreland.
The MARS Project supports low cost and welcoming sport and physical activity programs by assisting proactive local sporting clubs, developing new programs and events, and by providing leadership opportunities for newly-arrived young people.
Successful MARS Project events in 2011 have included the Why B Active Festival in April as well as Dance Sister Dance in May, a girls only dance party in Brunswick.
Participants of Dance Sister Dance described it as a great event.
‘I liked the Arabic dancing. I want more parties like this again I hope,’ one participant said.
A 15-year-old boy who helped run the soccer clinics at the Why B Active Festival in April said he enjoyed the festival ‘because I saw a lot of joy on people’s faces.’
The MARS Project also supports clubs and programs that are inclusive of newly arrived and culturally and linguistically diverse young people.
Current MARS Project Programs include social soccer, dancing, sewing and tennis.
For more information on taking part in a MARS Project activity, or to find out how to make your club or program more inclusive, contact Youth Services on 9240 1111.
