January 2021 - Parks & Recreation - 18

RESEARCH
Make Your Voice Heard
By Melissa May

hat a year 2020 was. Hope, heartache, uncertainty and resilience was around every corner during these challenging
months. The past year demonstrated just how essential
parks and recreation is in everybody's lives, something park
and recreation professionals and advocates have always known. As we move
forward through the cliché of " the new normal, " how do we keep the public's attention? How do we recover from budget cuts, downsizing and the
myriad of changes that resulted from the pandemic and recession? One way
to keep focused and move forward is by embracing data.

While parks and recreation comprises much more than facts and
figures, data is at the heart of many
of our external services and internal makeup. Is the national median
of roughly 10 acres of parkland per
1,000 residents reflected in your
community? Is that number even
relevant for your community and
its unique needs? What are the park
and recreation amenities and programming opportunities offered
elsewhere in your state or across
the nation? What can your team
learn from peer agencies to develop or further strengthen programs
that promote equity in your community? Are you looking for robust
staffing data that you can present
16

Parks & Recreation

to key stakeholders and elected
officials? Each of these questions
requires data, and that data comes
from you.
Countless park and recreation
professionals and advocates use
the NRPA Agency Performance
Review (nrpa.org/APR) to answer
these questions and to inform their
annual budgets, master plans, department reviews and daily reports.
This review, and the answers therein, is only made possible through
contributions to NRPA Park Metrics (nrpa.org/Metrics) by the dedicated professionals at park and
recreation agencies across the nation. Your agency's contribution to
NRPA Park Metrics influences the
entire profession.
NRPA Park Metrics is the most
comprehensive source of park and
recreation agency data benchmarks
and insights in the United States.
With more than a decade's worth
of agency-contributed data, NRPA
Park Metrics strives to provide you
and your agency with the information necessary to effectively engage
your local stakeholders and elected
officials, and to plan for the future.
In just a short amount of time, you
and your agency can make a real,

| J A N UA RY 2 02 1 | PA R K S A N D R E C R E AT I O N .O R G

lasting impact on parks and recreation throughout the country by
contributing to NRPA Park Metrics.
Annual participation in NRPA
Park Metrics is a habit for many
park and recreation professionals
and their agencies. It is time for
you and your agency to contribute
to the discussion and make your
voices heard! As a special thank
you to agencies that provide their
Park Metrics data by January 22,
contributors will receive a custom
Agency Performance Report, highlighting your agency's data against
the national findings.
Visit the NRPA Park Metrics
website and select " Enter Your
Agency's Data " to begin inputting
or updating your agency information today. If you need assistance
creating an account (for new participating agencies), accessing your
agency's existing account or need
further details, contact Melissa May
(mmay@nrpa.org). Additionally,
Live Chat " Office Hours " will be
available from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. EST,
Monday through Friday, beginning
January 11 until the end of January,
directly from the NRPA Park Metrics website (nrpa.org/Metrics).
Data gives us direction - a target
for which to strive. Now, more than
ever, the public needs parks and recreation. By sharing your agency's
data in Park Metrics, together we
can deliver on this promise.
Thank you to those professionals and
their agencies that already have submitted their data this season!
Melissa May is NRPA's Senior Research
Manager (mmay@nrpa.org).

January 2021 - Parks & Recreation

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