January 2014 - Parks & Recreation - 52

N R P A T R E N D W AT C H 2 0 1 4

grams to the public at large is rapidly
changing. More and more, park and
recreation agencies are being expected to be innovators for community
solutions that involve conservation,
health and wellness, and social equity, among other imperatives. And if
the proposition that park and recreation agencies must evolve beyond
being just program and service providers is to be believed, what will this
mean going forward to public agencies and park and recreation-related
businesses and suppliers? How can
agencies activate the three pillars in
their communities, and what new innovations can parks and recreation
bring to serving the public good?
What must the industry do to anticipate this trendline, and how can the
resources that will be necessary to
support the new narrative be provided to the field?
Understanding what is necessary
for reframing our guiding value propositions is a greater task than can be
accomplished in a day-long retreat.
However, there was clear support that
the three pillars were a solid foundation for framing a new narrative. At
the intersection of the three pillars is
the concept of healthy, livable, sustainable communities. Parks and recreation must be contributors to the
social innovation strategies that activate healthy communities and make
them vibrant places that people value
and where they want to live.
Trendline: The Economic
Forecast Factor
The status and health of parks and
recreation serves as a bellwether for
the state of the economy. However,
perhaps more than any other public-sector service provider, parks and
recreation agencies suffer direct consequences as a result of fluctuations
in national and regional economies.
Evidence shows that park and recre-

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Parks & Recreation

ation agencies receive cuts in greater
proportion to any other public-service sectors when economies decline.
The simple fact is that the state of
the economy is always going to be a
driving factor for park and recreation
budgets. Even if that fact is a given,
the Great Recession of 2008-2011
has had a greater and more long-lasting impact than any other recession
of modern times. The events of the
past few years have had major implications for how agencies operate
now and how they will be funded in
the future.
Many who are knowledgeable
about funding for public parks and
recreation believe that economic
models for these areas are changing
irrevocably, and not always for the
better. Certainly this has been true
at the state level, and some evidence
is pointing to similar trends at the
local and municipal levels as well.
While recessionary pressures over
the past few years led to greater efficiencies and greater adoption of
business-oriented models, it also led
to what many fear are permanent
declines in tax-supported funding
devoted to parks and recreation.
Moreover, new trends, such as
the infusion of private capital into
public parks, the growth of public-private partnerships, and the development of privately funded and
managed parks and park systems
through Business Improvement
Districts (BIDs) or Tax-Increment
Financing (TIF) mechanisms, have
caused a re-evaluation of traditional
methods of funding parks and recreation through tax-supported general
funds. Critical to the success and future of public parks and recreation
is engaging communities in understanding the benefits and value of
parks and recreation. The greatest
need to make the most compelling
case for public parks and recreation

| J A N UA R Y 2 0 1 4 | W W W. N R PA . O R G

is evidence-based research. The urgency level of understanding and
responding to this trend is high.
At the conclusion of the Board retreat, the NRPA Board of Directors
identified three initiatives they will
pursue in the coming year that align
with the identified trends and support
the three pillars:
 *UHHQ ,QIUDVWUXFWXUH An invitation-only roundtable is being
planned by NRPA in cooperation
with the American Planning Association for early 2014 to encourage
greater collaboration between urban planning leaders and park and
recreation agency directors. This
roundtable will address utilization
of green infrastructure solutions as
well as economic development and
planning for health outcomes.
 +XPDQ &DSLWDO To best understand the professionals of the future, the Board will look to hold
discussions with members on this
topic and work on creating a new
definition for the park and recreation professional to better guide
the profession and help with our
collective marketing and communication strategies. This Board
workgroup will reach out through
the networks and other channels.
 1HZ 1DUUDWLYH6RFLHWDO 3LHFH
Touching both of these goals,
Board members will examine ways
to recognize cities and agencies
that are leading the way in innovative strategies to connect with the
public and demonstrating the impact they are making in their community in each of the three pillar
areas - conservation, health and
wellness, and social equity.

Lauren Hoffmann is NRPA's Senior PR and
Communications Manager (lhoffmann@nrpa.
org). Richard J. Dolesh is NRPA's Vice
President of Conservation and Parks
(rdolesh@nrpa.org).
January 2014 - Parks & Recreation

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