We’ve got new digs!

Ausome Ottawa, a local sport organization, joins the House of Sport Community

(Ottawa, ON) October 19, 2017 – The Recreation Association of the Public Service of Canada (also known as the RA or RA Centre), a local not-for-profit, is thrilled to welcome Ausome Ottawa to the House of Sport project and who will enrich this exciting and diverse community of sports organizations.

House of Sport organizations certainly agree of the power of sport to build confidence and competence in children and youth. Through sport children and youth build essential life skills and better futures. Using sport to create opportunities for all, so that no one be excluded from sports can benefit the community as a whole. But for children and youth with autism, playing sports isn’t always easy. Sometimes, community programs are not designed to meet the needs of children and youth with autism. In other cases, financially stressed families just can’t afford to enroll, after they have paid for all their child’s support and services. Ausome Ottawa exists to change this.

Research indicates that 1 in 68 kids live with autism. That means that, in Canada, 115,000 children and youth are affected.  “Ausome Ottawa is the only organization in the community dedicated to providing sports programs to those living with autism,” Liisa Vexler, Ausome Ottawa Executive Director and Co-Founder shares. “The RA and the House of Sport will provide an exciting opportunity for us to establish first class accessible programming.”

The House of Sport will offer organizations an open concept community, but also support them with a wide range of services, and meeting rooms, leveraging economies of scale to drive down costs. This is on top of the opportunity to collaborate with like-minded organizations and access health and wellness opportunities for staff members.

“We look forward to welcoming Ausome Ottawa to the House of Sport. This organization shares a passion and the desire to enhance physical and mental wellness through sport,” offers Tosha Rhodenizer, RA Chief Executive Officer. “Their unique perspective on sport and the valuable contribution it can make to the positive development of children and youth will offer other House of Sport organizations the opportunity to build their knowledge and potentially see how their organizations can support these system participants.”

The House of Sport, an innovative first of its kind design in Canada, will offer National (NSO) and Multi-Sport (MSO) organizations the opportunity to house their national offices in a feature rich environment designed for collaboration, innovation and leveraging efficiencies. Over the next few weeks we plan on releasing information on additional sport organizations that will joining the House of Sport initiative.

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For more information contact:

Recreation Association of the Public Service of Canada (RA):

Bryan R. Merrett

Director, Partnership and Engagement

Telephone: 613-897-6162

Email: bmerrett@racentre.com

About the RA

A member supported not-for-profit organization; the Recreation Association of the Public Service of Canada (best known as the RA or RA Centre) operates a multi-sport, recreation and leisure facility conveniently located in the heart of Ottawa. With a deep and quality laden line-up of fitness programs, sports leagues designed for adults, summer camps for children and youth and clubs for all ages, the RA is an environment that values fun, respect and excellence.  RA members celebrate in a social atmosphere with a new story created each day.  Supporting these stories is the ability for members and the public to access services fromthe RA’s Events and Conference team offering quality food and beverages. With a proud legacy of community engagement that embodies a clear passion for excellence in sport, the RA has much to offer the sport community. For additional design information on the House of Sport please visit our project page at www.houseofsport.ca.

About Ausome Ottawa

Ausome is an organization dedicated to enriching the lives of families living with autism through sport. Our vision of ‘Ausome’ is an opportunity for every kid with autism to participate in sports in a program that meets their needs.   www.ausomeottawa.com