December 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 40

Evaluating the
2019 Parks Build
Community Project
Combining traditional and new evaluation methods to
support this important park and recreation story
By J. Aaron Hipp, Ph.D., Kat Deutsch, Christopher Dunstan, Jared Jones and Scott Ogletree
T
he 2022 NRPA Annual Conference in Phoenix, Arizona, marked
three years since the grand re-opening of Catherine Street Park to
kick off the 2019 conference in Baltimore, Maryland. Those associated
with the 2019 Parks Build Community project at Catherine
Street Park want to better understand how, or not, the renovations of the park
support activity in the park and community well-being around the park.
Through Parks Build Community,
Catherine Street Park received
all new playground
equipment,
including five distinct play areas
and fitness equipment, in addition
to a resurfaced basketball court;
new splash pad; and updates to restrooms,
water fountains, picnic tables,
benches, fencing and signage.
Drainage also was improved on the
multi-sports field. Catherine Street
Park is approximately one-half of a
city block in size.
Evaluating the Site
NRPA, in collaboration with North
Carolina State University Department
of Parks, Recreation and
Tourism Management and the
Center for Geospatial Analytics,
has been evaluating use of Catherine
Street Park since 2018. Two key
pieces of this evaluation featured
a community survey and the use
of secondary data. The survey
asked park users and neighbors
about park-based activities and with
whom they visit the park; satisfaction
with park spaces, facilities and
safety; and questions about safety
and walkability in accessing the
park from the surrounding neighborhood.
Secondary data is collected
by others but can be of use in
evaluation - as in the data that has
a secondary purpose or is provided
by a secondary group separate from
those who originally collected and
managed the information. Here we
used reported crime data from the
Baltimore Police Department and
mobile phone data collated through
a company providing publiclyavailable
mobility data to university
researchers during the coronavirus
(COVID-19) pandemic.
With this third evaluation update
on Catherine Street Park, we
focused on survey results, changes
in reported crime, and changes in
40 Parks & Recreation | DECEMBER 2 0 22 | PARK S ANDRECRE AT ION . OR G
observed park use via mobile phone
presence in parks. For crime and
park use data, we compared Catherine
Street Park to a matched park
nearby. The parks and their neighborhoods
were matched, or determined
to be similar, based on the
size of the parks, amenities within
the parks, and demographics of the
surrounding neighborhoods.
Survey Updates
As of May 2022, more than 80
community residents have completed
a two-page survey on park use,
satisfaction, perceptions of safety
and park accessibility. Surveys
have been collected within Catherine
Street Park by canvassing the
neighborhood, through Baltimore
Recreation and Parks' social media
posts, and via quick response (QR)
codes provided to park visitors. The
first surveys were collected during
2019 while the park was closed for
the renovation. Post-renovation surveys
were collected in fall 2020 and
spring 2022, with no surveys collected
during the first seven months of
the COVID-19 pandemic. Surveys
are great at measuring the experience
of park users, or potential park
December 2022 - Parks & Recreation

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