Exciting news for anyone involved in skateboarding for development! Today, The Goodpush Alliance published the first online resource toolkit for social skateboarding projects worldwide. The Goodpush Alliance, which was formed by Skateistan last year, aims to create a global network of skateboarding for development organizations and to help share knowledge, ideas and good practice in order to increase collective impact.

Here at Skateistan, we’re also launching the results of the first ever worldwide survey of social skateboarding projects, which we conducted, together with Pushing Boarders, back in June last year. Over 100 skate projects responded from over 50 countries, giving us a really comprehensive picture of the amazing projects out there, using skateboarding for positive change. The release of these survey results and the Goodpush toolkit mark an exciting new chapter of skateboarding’s use as a tool to make the world a better place.

Words by Rhianon, Skateistan’s Skate Project Specialist, who heads up The Goodpush Alliance.

For those of you around the world who are involved in a skateboarding-for-good initiative, chances are that you’re a volunteer, and/or have very limited resources to do the amazing work that you do. Most social skate projects are grassroots, with the DIY culture that’s been a part of skateboarding since the beginning. We’re all pretty good at making something out of nothing.

Although Skateistan is now the largest skateboarding for development organization worldwide, it started out with a couple of volunteers and three skateboards. The Goodpush toolkit is our attempt to share some of the most important lessons we’ve learned in the past 11 years, so that other skateboarding projects can get a head-start and some inspiration.

The results of the Survey of Social Skateboarding Projects Worldwide show us that there’s a huge variety of projects around the world, from the budgets available to the programs being delivered, but what unites everyone is a belief in skateboarding as a force for good. Together, the 101 projects that answered our survey already reach more than 12,000 children and young people each week! By working together, we can all get even better at what we do and reach more children and young people with safe, high-quality programs.

A first step in collaboration is having a platform to share knowledge, experience, and resources. This is what we aim to provide with the Goodpush toolkit. It features guidance, resources and templates on nine topics, falling under Programs, Building Community and Behind the Scenes.

90% of the survey respondents said they would make use of free online resources to help them run their skate projects. The Goodpush toolkit is a response to this demand, as well as to the many requests for advice that Skateistan has received in the past decade.

The toolkit is a resource that will keep on evolving and we encourage everyone who’s working with a social skate project to become a part of The Goodpush Alliance and help us to make it even better. We look forward to adding contributions from other leading social skate projects! Please keep sharing your feedback, ideas and stories with us so that as a sector, we can get even better at empowering children and young people through skateboarding.

More information on The Goodpush Alliance is available here and you can find the Goodpush toolkit here. The Goodpush Alliance is a Skateistan project which is funded by the WeWork Creator Award, which Skateistan won in 2017.