June 2015 - Parks & Recreation - 54

SAN ANTONIO

San Antonio residents take part in free circuit
training classes at their communitiy park.

all residents, no matter their primary language. " San Antonio is made
up of diverse cultural and ethnic influences, including strong Hispanic
roots, " Urrutia says. " Many residents of all ages speak Spanish as
their primary language. As such, it
is critical that we are able to effectively communicate all that we have
to offer. We actively seek and utilize
both English and Spanish media. We
place advertisements and conduct
newspaper, radio and television interviews in both languages. We also
frequently produce marketing materials for major programs and public
service announcements in both English and Spanish, and ensure that bilingual staff is available to assist with
registrations, reservations or simply
answering questions. "
Urrutia even involves smaller,
neighborhood-based media outlets
like blogs and newsletters to reach the
widest audience possible. " Recently,
we have used grassroots, bilingual
marketing to reach out to individuals who may not rely on traditional
media for their information, " he continues. " We view our unique culture
as a benefit, thus bilingual communication is the norm. We work to maximize information sharing, program
52 Parks & Recreation

participation and the overall parks
experience for the entire community
and truly believe that our efforts have
been successful. "
Howdy, Partner
While Urrutia and his team embrace
multiple municipal and community-based modes of communication
and fundraising, he acknowledges
partnerships with private entities are
important to elevating SAPRD's facilities and programs. " Our biggest
corporate partner has been the Coca-Cola Company, " Urrutia explains.
" We've been fortunate to partner with
them on several initiatives in recent
years, including their generous funding of fitness initiatives such as the
Ride to Own bicycle program, our
state-of-the-art Mobile Fitness vehicle,
and the Coca-Cola Troops for Fitness
Program which we have integrated
into out Fitness in the Park offerings.
Most recently, Coca-Cola made available a grant through NRPA that allowed us to renovate a new piece of
parkland by adding fitness equipment
and refurbishing a basketball court
and a multipurpose ball field so that
programming, also funded through
the grant, can be offered. "
SAPRD's FitPass program, now

| J U N E 2 0 1 5 | W W W. N R PA . O R G

in its third year, boasts a tremendous
amount of local partnerships, including businesses, nonprofits and municipal leadership like the Mayor's Fitness Council. " Collaboration is the
key to make a program like [FitPass]
work and we're fortunate to have a
number of great partners participating, " Michael Baldwin, SAPRD special projects manager, says. " I credit
the creation of the Mayor's Fitness
Council with helping us develop
many of these relationships over the
past several years that you now see
play such a big part in what we do. "
Program and Incentivize
Most integral to SAPRD's successes, however, was recognition of the
need for innovative, free or low-cost
programming, coupled with enticing
incentives. This approach has significantly boosted awareness of San
Antonio's parks system and coaxed
hundreds of thousands of San Antonians to the nearest trail, playground
or rec center. " Our priority is our
mission to provide quality parks and
recreational programming, accessible to all, " Urrutia says. " That can
be a tall order, but I'm proud of the
strong commitment of the department and the City of San Antonio
to do exactly that. "
Topping the list of SAPRD's most
successful programs is FitPass. First
known as FitPass SA, then FitPass
2.0, and now FitPass 2015, the initiative combines exercise, fun and
friendly competition with creative
incentives. " The initial idea behind
the FitPass program was to create a
citywide initiative that highlighted
many of the free and low-cost fitness,
wellness and nutritional opportunities that were available to citizens
here in San Antonio, " Baldwin explains. " We didn't necessarily want
to recreate the wheel, but rather find
a way to incorporate programs imple-

June 2015 - Parks & Recreation

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