This initiative helps Indigenous youth be more active and healthy, and reconnect with traditional sports and culture in some cases, while also providing alternatives to risky behaviour and improving opportunities for employment and education. The targeted social outcomes and activities of each project are identified and proposed by the Indigenous communities themselves, to ensure they address their own specific needs.

The SSDIC initiative delivers funding through two streams:

Stream One: $5.3 million available annually to the 13 Provincial/Territorial Aboriginal Sport Bodies (PTASBs) for the development of community sport for social development projects, and the Aboriginal Sport Circle (ASC) for leadership and coordination amongst the PTASBs.

Stream Two: $3.6 million available annually to Indigenous governments, Indigenous communities and other not-for-profit Indigenous and non‑Indigenous delivery organizations collaborating with Indigenous organizations for projects that use sport for social development in Indigenous communities.

The first intake of applications was launched on May 31, 2019 and covered projects taking place in 2019–20 and 2020–21. The Government of Canada provided funding to 44 organizations (the Aboriginal Sport Circle and 13 PTASBs under Stream One and 30 Stream Two recipients) to deliver and/or support SSDIC projects as part of that first call for applications.

The second intake of applications for funding for projects to be delivered in the 2021–22 and 2022–23 fiscal years.