July 2019 - Parks & Recreation - 37

also lack the data necessary to better understand and make informed
decisions regarding how their facilities may meet community health
and recreation needs.

The JUMPP Coalition
The Los Angeles County Joint/
Shared-Use Moving People to
Play (JUMPP) Coalition (http://
publichealth.lacounty.gov/cardio/
jumpp/) seeks to promote and
expand shared use as a means to
improve public health. JUMPP
is a collaborative of school, park,
health, faith, for-profit and community-based organizations working together to foster access to safe
physical activity spaces for all L.A.
County residents. Its goals are:
* Facilitate the development, implementation and monitoring of
policies and practices to increase
community access to spaces and
facilities for physical activity and
recreation.
* Convene partners to foster collaboration, share successes and
challenges and advance shared
use.
* Communicate and disseminate
shared-use successes and challenges.
DPR and the Department of
Public Health (DPH) (http://pub
lichealth.lacounty.gov/) are partners in leading the JUMPP effort.
When asked why their department
is involved in shared use, Eloisa
Gonzalez, M.D., and Ruth Bell of
DPH's cardiovascular and school
health program, explain, " DPH's
mission is to promote health and
well-being, ensuring everyone has
opportunities and resources for optimal health. Shared use is a solution that offers multiple benefits for
health by linking people to resourc-

es, like recreational spaces and access to outdoor green areas. "

JUMPP Initiatives
and Partnerships
In the fall of 2018, JUMPP conducted the School Superintendents Shared Use Symposium to
discuss how shared use can be a
way to address health equity. The
convening provided an opportunity for participants to gain insights
from leaders in the fields of parks,
public health and education. According to Santoro, " JUMPP
identified a need to further engage school districts as part of
its 2018 strategic directions. This
engagement was designed to be a
fluid and ongoing discussion that
integrates school and community
health data to create new knowledge and approaches to shared use
among school districts, government and community leaders. "
The symposium was well-received, with most participants
providing positive feedback in a
post-event survey. As Santoro summarizes, " School superintendents
and key leaders in the community,
who have been at the forefront of
some truly innovative programs
around shared use, offered valuable
insights and lessons learned. Some
of the points focused on developing
the whole child through alignment
of services and support, providing
expected outcomes and mechanisms to measure the impact and
to create multi-agency collective
impact initiatives to address school
and community health needs. "
JUMPP initiatives like the symposium tie in well with park planning efforts at DPR. Kathline King,
chief of planning, says, " Being part
of JUMPP has informed the plan-

ning work that we do and helped us
to develop and strengthen relationships with our partners in public
health and education fields. It has
also facilitated the sharing of information, including data from the
Parks Needs Assessment as well as
health and wellness data from various sources. "
Another key member of JUMPP
is People for Parks (PFP) (www.
peopleforparks.org/), a nonprofit
organization created to transform
school playgrounds into Community School Parks (CSP) that are
available for use during non-school
hours, giving children and families the outdoor space they need to
lead healthy lives. Opening school
grounds and creating a CSP not
only makes kids and parents happy,
but also helps to expand a community's relationship with its school in
ways that improve educational and
health outcomes. In other words,
CSPs enable schools to better serve
the whole child and truly become
the heart of neighborhoods. PFP
does not do this alone; it collaborates with various partners and has
received generous support from numerous donors.
" We work closely with parents
and neighbors to ensure that these
spaces are vibrant and reflective of
each community's interests, " says
Anna Gruben, executive director
of PFP. " The need for enriching
neighborhood hubs like these is far
too great for any one organization
or agency to manage alone. We invite others to join us in expanding
shared use throughout L.A. "
Clement Lau, AICP, DPPD, is a Departmental Facilities Planner
with the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and
Recreation, and a member of NRPA's Health and Wellness
Advisory Panel (clau@parks.lacounty.gov).

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