Advocacy Capacity Building Initiative (ACBI)

A national program designed to strengthen the recreation and parks sector's voice in public policy at every level of government.

Communities across Canada are navigating complex challenges related to mental and physical health, social cohesion, climate resilience, and economic uncertainty. Recreation and parks are central to addressing every one of them.

The role of recreation and parks is not consistently understood or reflected in public policy and funding decisions. The public policy conversation is crowded and fiscal pressures are real. Sectors that are not coordinated, disciplined, and evidence-informed risk being overlooked.

Recreation and parks are a necessary public good. For the sector to be valued in a way that is commensurate with what it delivers to Canadian life, we need to strengthen our collective ability to engage in public policy discussions. ACBI is how we do that, together.

ACBI is a national program designed to increase the recreation and parks sector's capacity to tell its compelling story in the rooms where decisions are made. This program builds advocacy capacity across the sector, aligns messaging and priorities, integrates data and research into a shared narrative, and coordinates engagement with decision-makers. This is not centralized advocacy. It is coordinated advocacy: mutually reinforcing activities anchored in a Collective Impact approach, delivered as a practical pilot under the renewal of the Framework for Recreation and Parks.

CPRA leads delivery in partnership with Homeward Public Affairs, who bring government relations expertise and a track record of supporting mission-driven organizations.