November 2010 - Parks & Recreation - 12

editor's letter

I

Tell the Story
n a riveting general session on the value of parks to communities during NRPA's

Congress & Exposition last month in Minnesota, John Crompton related a scene at
Texas A&M University, where he is Distinguished Professor of Recreation, Parks
and Tourism Services. A group of prospective students being led by someone whom
could only have been a parks and recreation major, paused in front of his building.
" This is the Department of Recreation and Parks, " their guide explained, adding, " but
we call it 'romp & play.' " Crompton would liked to have throttled the kid, but on further
reflection, he shifted his view.
" It's our fault, " he declared.
If a young person pursuing a career in parks and
recreation feels that way, then the cause could only
have originated from within the field. It's a defensive attitude that will surely prevent the field from
achieving its full potential. After all, how can we expect to convince elected officials of the good we do,
if practitioners are still focused on the way things
used to be? Case in point, Crompton explained: " An
elected official will tell you, 'I have no mandate to
fund parks and recreation-I have a mandate to invest in solutions to the most pressing problems in
my community.' "
" Your challenge is to get past the label of what
we do to what we do, " Crompton exhorted. " We do
youth development and we do community development. If you don't reposition to this, you will wither
and, quite possibly, you will die. "

That would be so unfortunate. But, opportunely,
the science to back these claims is well in place.
The last decade has seen a gratifying amount of
research documenting the effectiveness of nearly
every facet of parks and recreation. At its recent
Congress, NRPA debuted the release of five white
papers (of which Crompton was a lead author) that
further confirm the value of the field to community
development. Look for an overview of these papers
in the December issue of Parks & Recreation magazine. If you can't wait, visit www.nrpa.org and get a
jump on telling the parks story.
Looking further out, one can only hope that
Crompton's day will have been made the next time
a group of prospective students pauses in front of
his university building, where a parks and recreation major will declare: " This is where we learn to
develop communities. " 

Phil Hayward
Editor

10	 Parks & Recreation

No v e m b e r 2 0 1 0

www.NRPA .ORG



November 2010 - Parks & Recreation

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of November 2010 - Parks & Recreation

November 2010 - Parks & Recreation - 1
November 2010 - Parks & Recreation - 2
November 2010 - Parks & Recreation - 3
November 2010 - Parks & Recreation - 4
November 2010 - Parks & Recreation - 5
November 2010 - Parks & Recreation - 6
November 2010 - Parks & Recreation - 7
November 2010 - Parks & Recreation - 8
November 2010 - Parks & Recreation - 9
November 2010 - Parks & Recreation - 10
November 2010 - Parks & Recreation - 11
November 2010 - Parks & Recreation - 12
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November 2010 - Parks & Recreation - 14
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