The results of the 2021 edition of the Survey of Social Skateboarding Projects Worldwide by Skateistan and Pushing Boarders are now published!

In 2021, we received answers from 98 skateboarding projects working in 39 countries worldwide — who reach a combined 16,364 participants each week. 

With COVID-19 continuing to disrupt the world, 2021 was largely about problem-solving in order to overcome challenges. This year’s report shows how social skateboarding projects have adapted their programs in order to respond to the uncertain global changes.

The purpose of this annual survey (running since 2018) is to better understand and document the aims, impact and activities of the social skateboarding world. 

The negative impacts of COVID-19 remain very high, with a slight decrease to 94% of projects affected compared to 97% in 2020. However, this survey highlights the various ways in which projects have positively moved forwards — with 42% implementing a greater focus on mental health and wellbeing for staff and participants, and 40% being more open to collaboration.

With an increasing shift towards inclusion, the results show more diversity in the participants as well as within the staffing teams of projects worldwide. 78% of projects have at least one womxn as staff, which is an 11% increase from 2020. 55% of projects have at least one person of color as staff - a 13% increase from 2020. With further increases of 9% for both LGBTQI+ team members and people with disabilities.

The social skateboarding world continues to grow — we are adding new entries of projects from all corners of the globe to the Goodpush Social Skate Map every week. Let’s continue to push for improved practices and accessible, inclusive programs!

Overview of Key Results:

Participants:

• The 98 projects combined work with approximately 16,364 participants weekly
• 41% of these participants are girls (down from 50% from 2020)
• 60% of projects in 2021 work with people of color
• 52% work with the LGBTQI+ community
• 39% work with people with disabilities
• 30% work with migrants and refugees

Staff & Volunteer Diversity

We see significant progress across the board for the inclusion of marginalized communities within the staffing teams of projects worldwide.

• 78% of projects have at least one womxn as staff, which is an 11% increase from 2020, and 28% have 5 or more womxn team members.
• From the total number of 1684 staff and volunteers:
  • 29% are people of color
  • 12% identify as LGBTQI+ (although this data is not always known), and
  • 4% are people with disabilities

Interestingly, the percentage of projects that have full-time paid staff has risen by 8%, while the percentage of projects that have part-time paid staff has dropped by 18%. These figures could suggest part-time staff either progressing to full-time employment or being let go due to programs being on hiatus or funding difficulties.

Budget

The total budget of all 98 projects combined is 7,417,500 USD (compared to 6,650,500 USD for 117 projects in 2020 and 9,900,000 USD for 124 projects in 2019).

This suggests that after the drop in 2020 due to closures of programs etc., the total budget is almost back to what it was in 2019 and this is while many projects are still experiencing negative effects and restrictions due to COVID-19. This highlights great resilience of the projects to sustain themselves through this challenging period.

How were projects affected by COVID-19?

In 2021, only 6% of projects who completed the survey stated they were not affected by COVID-19 - a slight improvement from 3% in 2020. Program interruptions and funding concerns remain a huge roadblock for projects worldwide, with additional negative effects of cancelled events and reduction of girls’ participation stated.

Positive effects noted were time to organize, plan for the future and develop curriculums, as well as improving project governance and logistics.

Adaptions taken by projects due to COVID-19

The 2021 survey shows just how resourceful social skateboarding projects around the world have been in order to sustain themselves through these uncertain times. These adaptations are just a select group of positive outcomes from COVID-19, with respondents also highlighting an increase of people interested in taking up skateboarding, new and improved safety precautions, as well as implementing new outreach programs. Keep on keeping on!

A massive THANK YOU to everyone who took the time to fill out the 2021 survey. These survey results will help to shape how the Goodpush Alliance serves and supports the social skateboarding community worldwide in 2022 and beyond.