With the monetary support of our Hartford City Council — City Paddles went from being a nice “vision” to successfully operating for 3 years now, in collaboration with our partners at the Friends of Keney Park.
Moreso than their suburban counterparts, Hartford’s inner-city youth have become disconnected from not being outdoors or having the ability to quickly drive somewhere and be in the midst of nature. One expert has claimed such children are suffering from “nature deficit disorder.” Instead of spending endless hours on playgrounds, riding bikes, climbing trees, on a ballfield – i.e. being kids – they are inside playing video games, watching TV, or most likely scrolling on a phone and sending selfies.
In wealthier suburbs across the state of Connecticut, children have much greater access to boating and paddle-related recreation. In the capital city of Hartford, there has never been an urban youth paddling programming (except for paddle boats with pedals) and a limited boat builder program. Most recreation programming is understandably anchored around neighborhood centers, school and park playgrounds, ball fields or courts – to ensure safety versus playing in dangerous city roadways.
CITY PADDLES founders Tim Sullivan and Alyssa Peterson sought to diversify traditional summer camp programming with experiential activities that had never been provided relative to paddle sports. Our host is the Friends of Keney Park and we partner with two groups from Parker Memorial Recreation Center in North Hartford and the Samuel Arroyo Recreation Center in the South End.
The kids are full of spirit, vary greatly in age, and many have never been inside a canoe or kayak or other boat. It is truly amazing to watch 90% of them take to the water so willingly. The occasional harmless spider or other crawling insect hiding under a seat, scares them more! All students quickly learn how to spot bottles or cans or trash needing to be scooped out of the water (our newest environmental stewards), and we can still hear the oohs and aahs upon seeing orange damselflies and blue dragonflies, discovery of a giant goose egg, or trying to catch up to an elegant egret.
