April 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 50

PILLARS OF OUR COMMUNITIES

at the park district-that goes from
the programs to the facilities we develop to the special events we have. "
For example, one strategy to increase
the accessibility of programs came from
a simple observation: Many Hispanic
families are only free to get together on
Sundays, so each week on Sunday, park
usage surged. Now more programming
is offered on weekends to accommodate when families can participate.
A critical test of the agency's commitment to social equity came when the
agency decided to convert an underused
golf course into a new sports park to
provide badly needed soccer fields.
" If you go back to our mission statement, it talks about us responding to

an evolving community, " Petry says.
" We stood firm in our beliefs, and we
did what was the right thing to do.
" We have to focus on how we are
serving the community, " Petry continues. " NRPA is key to help agencies position themselves-taking this
big-picture philosophy where NRPA
can help with the framework and
guidance, and having the individual
agencies utilize this information and
demonstrate some quantifiable individual results....Agencies just have to
embrace it and use them. "
In Los Angeles, social equity is manifest in both programming and facilities.
" Our mission is not just for those
who can pay, " says Kevin Regan, as-

Q&A
Steve Thompson, chair of the NRPA Board of Directors, and Barbara Tulipane, NRPA president and CEO, discuss how the pillars were
developed and what they can do to help NRPA, its member agencies, and the field of parks and recreation.
Why do we need pillars? How are they going to help the field?
Tulipane: When you talk about park and recreation services and
how they shape and build communities, you can get lost in your
own story because we do so much. It almost can be overwhelming
trying to explain everything. These are the three positions that our
members hold as essential that nobody else can claim, and I think
that's what makes us unique and distinct. We didn't set out to say,
" Okay, what are our pillars? " It was really to try to simplify our messaging about what we hold true and we stand behind.
How were the pillars developed?
Thompson: Although the concept of the three pillars of NRPA
has been ingrained in the very fabric of what NRPA has long
stood for, it wasn't until 2012 that both the NRPA Board and
staff developed position papers based on conservation, health
and wellness, and social equity. This provides a very clear message to our elected officials and to our membership so that
proper recognition of the impact that parks and recreation has
on communities can be better understood. With these three pil-

Parks & Recreation

| A P R I L 2 0 1 3 | W W W. N R PA . O R G

sistant general manager of the Recreation Operations Branch, Los Angeles
Department of Recreation and Parks.
" If you didn't think about equity, you
could really fall into a system of the
haves and the have nots. "
L.A.'s 50 Parks Initiative is having
a historic impact on social equity in
the city's neighborhoods.
" When we talk about equity, it's not
just the quality of parks or the quality of the programs, it's the number
of parks-so that's how the 50 Parks
Initiative came into being. The fact is,
we have plenty of parkland per thousand residents in L.A, " says General
Manager Jon Kirk Mukri. " The problem we have is access. So we have the

lars (values) as the focus of our efforts, NRPA continues to strive
to ensure the best-possible support for its more than 30,000
members in meeting the diverse needs of their communities
and to bring about long-lasting and positive change.
Why these three pillars?
Tulipane: We could have talked about things like recreation
programs, fitness, climate change, or stormwater management.
But what we really tried to look at is, where do we have the impact? We need to get away from talking about our laundry list
of things we do and really focus more on the impact that we
make. Yes, we manage stormwater and floodplains, but really
that's all about conserving natural resources. You could talk
about all of the fitness programs we do, but at the end of the
day we're helping communities be healthy and well. And you
could explain how parks are a level playing field open to all,
or you could really talk about social equity. Again, it was more
about the impact and less about the laundry list.
How do the pillars help communicate the impact of parks
and recreation on their communities?
Thompson: In the conservation pillar, our parks are critically important in preserving natural resources that have quantifiable
economic benefits to our communities. Oftentimes, our park
and recreation agencies are the only voice for ensuring that open
space is protected, that our youth have access to nature-related
areas, and that services and outdoor education are available.
In the health and wellness pillar, our park and recreation
agencies have finally been recognized as the leaders in improving and enhancing health and wellness in their respective communities. We are actively engaged in reducing obesity, physical
inactivity, and poor nutrition.
In the social equity pillar, our agencies have embraced complete
access to their park and recreation services and facilities. Park and

April 2013 - Parks & Recreation

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