Bedingfield receives Community Leadership Award, speaks about equity
Rachel Bedingfield has some fierce beliefs — like all persons have the right to play.
While working as the director of Parks and Recreation for the Town of Kentville, she began to delve into what she calls the structural determinants of health. What kept people in Kentville from playing?
Bedingfield explained to community development students at Acadia University on Nov. 26 that challenges like transportation and the physical environment, as well as poverty, can curb the well-being of the whole person.
She had stories to share about a girl in a wheelchair, a senior wanting to take a yoga class, and a mother needing to fundraise.
“Recreation has a role in making an inclusive community,” Bedingfield noted.
Early on in her time in Kentville, she concluded, “we were missing the mark completely. We needed to create the freedom to choose.”
Her ‘recreation for all’ philosophy means Bedingfield holds an annual lunch with stakeholders to give them a voice in programming. On a wide variety of levels, she has been advocating for those who might have been voiceless.
Some of her projects have been to redesign the town’s pool, revamp Oakdene Park for greater inclusivity, start a forest school and seniors’ programs, and create new wayfinding. For the park project, she garnered advice from both children and seniors in the vicinity.
She told the students that finding a model to pay for programs that might have been unaffordable for many was key to her work. Bedingfield advocated stealing good ideas from across the country and doing plenty of research to support taking risks.
In November, she was honoured by the Acadia Community Development Council and Community Development Faculty with their Community Leadership Award.
In 2015, Bedingfield was named to the Canadian Association of the Advancement of Women in Sport and Physical Activity (CAAWS) list of the top 25 most influential women in Canada in the field of sport and physical activity.
An Acadia recreation management graduate, she is a co-chair for WomenActive NS (WANS). One of the goals of the organization is to create more opportunities for women and young girls in sports.