April 2021 - Parks & Recreation - 23

for what now has been more than a
year of lockdown measures, and
many local governments received
no funding at all. According to the
National League of Cities' November 2020 survey results (tinyurl.
com/2ao8lfeu), a staggering 29 percent of local governments, estimated
to represent greater than 6,000 cities,
towns and villages, received no funding at all from the Coronavirus Aid,
Relief and Economic Security Act.
Without remedy from the federal
government, sustained reductions
in revenues inevitably lead local
governments to make last-resort decisions that help in the short term,
but hurt over time. They are forced
to make cuts by furloughing and terminating employees, as well as eliminating whole programs or offices.

Despite facing such adversity, local park and recreation departments
proved themselves to be more essential than ever. Local parks allowed
people a respite from the grief, anxiety and isolation caused by the pandemic. They also provided people
with a COVID-19-safe environment
to exercise and spend leisure time.
Access to safe recreation spaces is
critical for child development and is
important to the mental and physical health of adults and seniors.
While parks are essential to community members, access to the outdoors, unfortunately, is not shared
evenly. Parks and open spaces are few
and far between in too many communities. According to The Trust
for Public Land, 100 million U.S.
residents, including 28 million chil-

dren, do not have a park within a 10minute walk of home (tinyurl.com/
retdu356). Access to high-quality
parks often is inequitably split along
racial lines. We cannot wait any longer to address this inequity.
Local governments and their park
and recreation departments need to
receive more attention and funding
from the federal government as we
continue to recover from COVID-19.
If we are going to truly build back
better, stronger and more equitably, then relief must be provided at
the community level. Local governments and their staff need consistent,
reliable support from the federal government during times of crisis.
Kathy Maness is a Councilmember for Lexington,
South Carolina, and President of the National
League of Cities (advocacy@nlc.org).

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Parks & Recreation

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April 2021 - Parks & Recreation

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of April 2021 - Parks & Recreation

April 2021 - Parks & Recreation - Cover1
April 2021 - Parks & Recreation - Cover2
April 2021 - Parks & Recreation - 1
April 2021 - Parks & Recreation - 2
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April 2021 - Parks & Recreation - Cover3
April 2021 - Parks & Recreation - Cover4
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/may-2024
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/april-2024
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/march-2024
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/february-2024
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/january-2024
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/december-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/november-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/october-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/september-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/august-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/july-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/june-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/may-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/april-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/march-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/february-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/january-2023
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/december-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/november-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/october-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/september-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/august-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/july-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/june-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/may-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/april-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/march-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/february-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/january-2022
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/december-2021
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/november-2021
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/october-2021
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/september-2021
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/august-2021
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/july-2021
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/june-2021
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/may-2021
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/april-2021
https://ezine.nrpa.org/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/march-2021
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