June 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 40

STRATEGIC PLAN
understanding, drive approaches
and inform activities.
* Develop, implement and evaluate
evidence-based programming
and other communitydriven
solutions to foster continuous
improvement and increase
access to high-quality, culturally
relevant and community-driven
health and wellness programs
and services in parks and recreation.
*
Scale effective
local,
community-driven solutions to
reduce health inequities and improve
physical, social and mental
health outcomes for all people.
During the past three years, we
have made significant progress toward
these goals, as park and recreation
professionals have embraced
their role as stewards of Community
Wellness Hubs.
Advancing Local Solutions
Within our Health and Wellness
Pillar and with support from key
partners, NRPA provided funding,
capacity building support,
and training and technical assistance
to more than 175 communities.
Those communities have
increased access to physical activity,
nutrition, youth mentoring
and youth
sports opportunities
for more than 1.3 million people,
improving health, social and economic
outcomes. A significant
portion of this reach is connected
to pandemic response services
that supported access to meals and
food distribution services, further
demonstrating the essential role
of parks and recreation in times
of crisis. A few of the major milestones
and outcomes include:
vegetable consumption. Adults who
participated in programming reported
improvements in every qualityof-life
indicator, including overall life
satisfaction. Additionally, with support
from the U.S. Department of
Agriculture's Farmers Market Promotion
Program, NRPA currently is
supporting three communities as they
expand and develop communitydriven
farmers markets that expand
producer-to-consumer activity. As a
result of these efforts and effective
market promotion, market customer
attendance increased by 45 percent
and farmers market sales increased
by 99 percent across the grantee
communities in the first year of the
project.
Expanding access
to nutrition through
Community Wellness
Hubs and farmers markets
With support from the Walmart
Foundation, 15 agencies provided
17.9 million meals to individuals
and more than 31,000 households
received
Supplemental
Nutrition
NRPA
STRATEGIC
PLAN
2021-2023
Assistance Program (SNAP) and
Special Supplemental Nutrition Program
for Women, Infants and Children
(WIC) outreach. Additionally,
more than 225 food access points
were established, and more than
325 partnerships were formed or
strengthened. Thirty percent of youth
reported increased fruit consumption
and 35 percent increased their
Youth mentoring
With support from key partners, NRPA
provided funding, capacity building
support, and training and technical assistance
to more than 175 communities.
40 Parks & Recreation | JUNE 2 0 2 3
| PARK S ANDRECRE AT ION . OR G
Supported by the Office of Juvenile
Justice and Delinquency Prevention
within the U.S. Department of Justice,
NRPA supported five communities
in rural central Appalachia
with a focus on expanding youth
mentoring services in parks and
recreation. Grantees reached 130
youth, with 42 percent of mentees
demonstrating positive increases in
their ability to share openly with
the adults in their lives. Mentors
also reported positive changes in the
mentees' ability to: (1) Make better
life decisions, (2) Be more interested
in school, and (3) Be more focused
on their future. NRPA has expanded
this work by supporting 10 new
agencies in the New England and
the broader Appalachian regions to
develop youth mentoring initiatives,
and $2.4 million in funding will be
allocated to an additional 40 agencies
in summer 2023.
June 2023 - Parks & Recreation

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