Moving towards social inclusion: Manager and staff perspectives on an award winning community sport and recreation program for immigrants Shawn D. Forde *, Donna S. Lee, Cathy Mills, Wendy Frisby School of Kinesiology, University of British Columbia, Canada 1. Introduction Rising immigration rates have become a heated topic globally as they are sometimes tied to fears about terrorism, job loss, and the fragmentation of national identities (Ryan, 2010). Counter arguments to such fears are that newcomers bring new skills to host countries, bolster economies, and diversify cultural opportunities, including participation in different types of sport and physical activity (Tirone, 2010). In cities experiencing high levels of immigration, community sport and recreation providers are becoming increasingly aware of how difficult it is for recent immigrants to participate in existing programs. This is because they are largely expected to fit in and find out what is available in a system that they may be unfamiliar with, Sport Management Review xxx (2014) xxx–xxx ARTICLE INFO Article history: Received 29 August 2013 Received in revised form 7 February 2014 Accepted 10 February 2014 Keywords: Organizational dimension of social inclu- sion Immigrants Assimilation Interculturalism Community sport and recreation Case study ABSTRACT This case study examined manager and staff perspectives on their local sport and recreation department’s role, organizational practices, and challenges faced when developing and sustaining a wellness program for immigrants that received a program excellence award from a provincial recreation association in Canada. Data were collected through a document analysis and interviews with all 10 staff and managers involved in the development and implementation of the newcomer wellness program, an integrated intervention with a physical activity and sport component. The findings revealed that the recreation department largely adopted an assimilation role where newcomers were expected to fit into existing programs and the implications of this are discussed. Managers and staff pointed to four key organizational practices that fostered newcomer inclusion including: having multiple staff champions, using a leisure access counselling approach, developing community partnerships and outreach, and implementing culturally sensitive marketing. Challenges encountered were reducing multiple barriers to program participation, uncertainty about interculturalism, managing partnerships, and a reliance on short-term funding that threatened the sustainability of the program. We extend a theoretical framework on the organizational dimension of social inclusion, suggest ideas for future research, and discuss implications for community sport and recreation practitioners. ß 2014 Sport Management Association of Australia and New Zealand. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. * Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 6048229192. E-mail address: shawn.forde@alumni.ubc.ca (S.D. Forde). G Model SMR-260; No. of Pages 13 Please cite this article in press as: Forde, S.D., et al., Moving towards social inclusion: Manager and staff perspectives on an award winning community sport and recreation program for immigrants. Sport Management Review (2014), http:// dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.smr.2014.02.002 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Sport Management Review journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/smr http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.smr.2014.02.002 1441-3523/ß 2014 Sport Management Association of Australia and New Zealand. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.