The City of Soldotna is looking to take outdoor recreation on the go using roughly $50,000 in grant funds.

The funds, made available via a grant opportunity through the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services, are available through June of 2024 and are meant to support the creating “healthy and equitable” communities in Alaska.

Through the program, the City of Soldotna will receive about $26,000 directly, as well as about $26,000 from the Kenai Peninsula Borough’s allocation in the first year, which the city has proposed using for the purchase of an enclosed trailer filled with recreational equipment. That’s according to supporting documentation and a project proposal shared with the city council Wednesday.

“If approved, the City has proposed to use this grant funding to expand access to healthy outdoor recreational opportunities, through an enhanced Mobile Recreation program … ,” Assistant to the City Manager Laura Rhyner wrote in a Nov. 3 memo to Soldotna City Manager Stephanie Queen. “This is intended to achieve the grant’s stated goals of increasing access to healthy activities, by building on the success of existing Parks & Recreation programs and resources.”

Activities funded through the program must have an emphasis on “high risk, underserved population groups,” according to a DHSS explanation of the grant program. Those activities and strategies may include expanding existing COVID-19 mitigation services to ensure adequate baseline care for high risk populations disproportionately affected by COVID, improving data collection and reporting for those disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, improving access to vaccines, or promoting healthy and equitable communities, among other things.

“Strategies that are implemented should aim to build infrastructures that both improve health outcomes for higher risk underserved Alaskans in the current COVID-19 pandemic and set the foundation for future responses,” DHSS documentation says.

The stated goal of Soldotna’s Mobile Recreation Program is to bring free outdoor recreation opportunities to local parks and underserved communities. If approved, the roughly $51,000 would be used to buy an enclosed trailer outfitted with seasonal recreation equipment that could be sent to various communities throughout the year.

“Because the City offers these events at no cost, they are very accessible to all area residents — even those without access to their own equipment, or without the ability to pay program fees that exist for other organized sport activities,” the city’s project proposal says. “In addition to improving physical health, this program seeks to offer events that bring our community together in a safe environment, hopefully offering some support for people’s mental health as well.”

An estimated project budget shows that the city could buy, with less than $52,000, 120 pairs of ice skates with shipping, the enclosed trailer, portable skate and bike ramps, giant outdoor games, rental helmets and skate storage racks, among other things.

In its project proposal for the grant, Soldotna highlighted past activities offered by the city, such as the weekly Family Skate events offered at Arc Lake last winter, which brought out hundreds of community members weekly. While that program provided a way for community members to gather safely during the pandemic, the setup and tear down, city documents say, was “time intensive” because Soldotna lacks an efficient way to store such equipment.

“A mobile recreation program will allow the Parks Department more flexibility and make it easier to offer numerous outdoor parks events, regularly throughout the year,” the project proposal says.

The council approved the introduction of legislation accepting the grant funds during their Wednesday night meeting. The same legislation will be up for a public hearing and final council vote on Dec. 1.

The city council also gave final approval Wednesday to legislation accepting $100,000 from DHSS to expand hours and staffing at the COVID-19 vaccination clinic at the intersection of the Kenai Spur Highway and the Sterling Highway in Soldotna. Those funds add to an existing $195,000 the city received through the COVID-19 Community Funding Program.

Wednesday’s full meeting of the Soldotna City Council can be viewed on the city’s website at soldotna.org.

Reach reporter Ashlyn O’Hara at ashlyn.ohara@peninsulaclarion.com.