July 17, 2019
Jenneke Bos: ‘Cultuur@CruyffCourts is meer dan alleen leuke activiteiten’
Jenneke Bos is a JOGG director and sports promotion officer for the municipality of Kampen. Her role is to encourage Kampen residents to become active or to stay active. Jenneke was involved in the realization of Cultuur@CruyffCourts, a collaboration between the Youth Fund for Sport & Culture and the Johan Cruyff Foundation, which organizes cultural and creative activities on Cruyff Courts in underprivileged neighborhoods.
"The opportunity to organize Cultuur@CruyffCourts was a real treat because it dovetailed perfectly with the Boomerang project that was already underway," says Jenneke. "That allowed us to get started quickly. The implementation was handled by Welzijn Kampen, and it went very well. I contributed to the process, and we were in regular contact. Welzijn Kampen believes it's important to connect with families they haven't yet contacted. They want to make it easier for parents to ask for help. The result of Cultuur@CruyffCourts was a vibrant Cruyff Court where parents and grandparents came to watch."
To link
Jenneke: “We focus on good contact and collaboration in the neighborhood. The goal was to collaborate with the school, cultural providers and sports clubs, and professionals. So, not on separate projects, but rather on linking activities. With Cultuur@CruyffCourts, all of that came together. It was visible; there were great activities in a familiar location close to home. This gave well-being the opportunity to build a bond with the children and establish a connection with the family. This allows us to better assess whether support is needed or whether existing support needs to be streamlined. We can only assess whether this has actually been achieved later. Measuring is knowing, but the direct effects are difficult to quantify. We do see that children who played a particular sport and stopped during puberty because they found other things more important, pick it up again as adults. This undoubtedly applies to cultural activities as well.”
Tips for other municipalities
"Focus on collaboration," says Jenneke. "Look locally at what's needed to optimize that collaboration. Cultuur@CruyffCourts is a great way to achieve that. Don't see it as a project to do fun things for children; look more broadly. Use it for structure, to build a network. This way, it contributes to getting to know each other and creating easy contact between professionals and families. A project like this is more than just introducing people to culture; it's also about building a close-knit neighborhood where everyone knows each other and collaborates."
More about Cultuur@CruyffCourts
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