Parks & Recreation June 2022

J U N E 202 2 N R PA .O RG

THE HEALTH AND WELLNESS ISSUE

COMMUNITY WELLNESS HUBS

P&R Connects Kids and Adults to Vital Health Resources

Getting Into the Blue Zone Inclusivity Guides New Wellness Center

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contentsjune 2022

PHOTO COURTESY OF ASHEVILLE PARKS AND RECREATION

volume 57 | number 6 | parksandrecreation.org

Meals are provided to community members through Asheville (North Carolina) Parks and Recreation.

FEATURES

32 Community Wellness Hubs in Practice

Allison Colman, Maureen Neumann and Liliana Ruiz Fischer

Learn how parks and recreation is helping to create healthier people and happier communities.

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38 Getting Into the Blue Zone Lindsay Hogeboom

Parks and recreation can incorporate Blue Zones® practices to cultivate healthy communities.

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44 Making Wellness More Inclusive

Brent Ross and Dylan Fischer

An Indiana community and recreation center embraces equitable design.

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columns

contents june

8

departments 12

18

10 Editor’s Letter Commit to Self-Care This Summer Vitisia Paynich

We Are Parks and Recreation

Mindfulness for Balance Over Burnout 12 Promoting Equity in Recreation 14 Introducing NRPA’s New Business Council 15 Green Star Awards® 16 Member Benefit: ePACT Helps Parks and Recreation Reduce Risk in 2022 17

20 Advocacy Using Effective Partnerships to Amplify the Impact of Park and Recreation Offerings Kenny Weigandt

22 Equity

Research

Putting Equity Into Action Autumn Saxton-Ross, Ph.D.

Using the Data to Tell Your Park and Recreation Story Kevin Roth

19

Perspectives Taking a Holistic Health Approach Carolyn F. McKnight-Fredd

24 Conservation

Park Pulse

Helping People Beat the Heat This Summer Ayanna Williams, MSW, and Angela Hill, CPRP

Parks and Recreation Promotes Inclusive Policies and Practices

48 Operations

26 Law Review

Shade Revitalizes West End Park Josh Gaunt

Park District Age Discrimination Claim James C. Kozlowski, J.D., Ph.D.

50 Park Essentials 55 Advertiser Index 56 Park Bench

Page 20

Cover image: Photo courtesy of Integral Youth Services in Klamath Falls, Oregon

Parks & Recreation is printed using soy ink on at least 10 percent post-consumer recycled paper and is mailed in a wrap — only when required — that is plant based and certified compostable. If you are interested in helping us go even greener, email us at prmagazine@nrpa.org and ask to opt out of receiving the print magazine. Parks & Recreation is always available to read in an ezine format at ezine.nrpa.org.

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PHOTO COURTESY OF JODIE DELSERE

Planning Successful Summer Camps Cris Blackstone

Kids in Springfield, Oregon, get to meet Una the Mermaid at a Willamalane summer camp.

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P E R S P E C T I V E S A M E S S A G E F R O M N R P A’ S L E A D E R S

Taking a Holistic Health Approach In my April column, I stated: “Park and recreation professionals are at the core of transformation that is helping to build a healthier, more resilient future.”

We transform communities by acting as Community Wellness Hubs by providing trusted places for each member of the community to connect to essential programs, services and spaces that advance health equity (tinyurl.com/y3atkant).

At the core of our health and wellness work is equity. In the feature article, titled “Community Wellness Hubs in Practice,” on page 34, authors Allison Colman, Maureen Neumann and Liliana Ruiz Fischer write, “Community Wellness Hubs are grounded in a recognition of unfair systems — including practices, policies, norms, relationships, power structures and environments — and how these systems have primarily benefited dominant social groups while burdening others who have been disenfranchised by those with power, privilege and social status. To advance health equity, Community Wellness Hubs must be developed by and with the people most impacted by inequity, and they must focus on systems change approaches, including changing practices, policies, power structures, norms and environments to achieve transformational change.”

Thanks to NRPA research, we know that many park and recreation agencies across the country already are serving as public health leaders by implementing these practices.

According to NRPA’s 2021 Parks and Recreation: Advancing Community Health and Well-Being report (nrpa.org/HealthReport), nine in 10 park and recreation agencies take specific actions to ensure their health and wellness programs and services promote health equity. Additionally, more than half of all park and recreation agencies have specific initiatives in place to support community engagement to build trust and ensure equitable representation.

Another concept that is addressed within the pages of this issue is that of blue zones — places where people have proven to live longer due to the implementation of holistic health and wellness practices (tinyurl.com/nhe74mk3). These communities show us that health and well-being are a culmination of many different aspects of wellness, including physical fitness, nutrition, sense of purpose, social connectedness, mindfulness and more. In order to cultivate truly healthy communities, we must advance all the various facets of health for all community members. In what ways is your agency cultivating health and well-being in your community? What resources and partnerships could your agency leverage to advance new aspects of health or bring greater wellness benefits to your community? What new stakeholders can you engage to ensure the programs and policies you promote are the right fit for your community?

By taking a holistic approach to health and wellness and leveraging our myriad resources and connections, we can create happier and healthier communities by acting as an integral part of our local public health systems to advance equitable health and wellness solutions.

C AROLYN F. MCKNIGHT-FREDD Chair, NRPA Board of Directors

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2377 Belmont Ridge Rd. | Ashburn, VA 20148 2 703.858.0784 | nrpa.org

NRPA’S MISSION: To advance parks, recreation and environmental conservation efforts that enhance the quality of life for all people.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Chair of the Board of Directors Carolyn McKnight-Fredd, CPRP Eagle Methods Management Consulting Dallas, Texas

Treasurer Xavier D. Urrutia Alamo Colleges District San Antonio, Texas

Joanna Lombard University of Miami School of Architecture; Miller School of Medicine Department of Public Health Sciences Miami, Florida

Mollie Marsh-Heine Earthjustice Boulder, Colorado

Carolyn McKnight-Fredd, CPRP

Secretary Joshua Medeiros, Ed.D., CPRE

Eagle Methods Management Consulting Dallas, Texas

City of Bristol Parks and Recreation Bristol, Connecticut

Joshua Medeiros, Ed.D., CPRE

At Large Nonet T. Sykes Atlanta BeltLine, Inc. Atlanta, Georgia

At Large Mike Abbaté, FASLA, LEED AP Abbaté Designs Portland, Oregon

President and CEO Kristine Stratton, Ex Officio National Recreation and Park Association Ashburn, Virginia

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Michael Abbaté, FASLA, LEED AP Abbaté Designs Portland, Oregon

Kathy Abbott Boston Harbor Now Boston, Massachusetts

Jesús Aguirre, CPRE

City of Bristol Parks and Recreation Bristol, Connecticut

Arnold L. Randall

Atlanta BeltLine, Inc. Atlanta, Georgia

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Xavier D. Urrutia Alamo Colleges District San Antonio, Texas

Lakita Watson, CPRP Richland County Recreation Commission Columbia, South Carolina

Greg A. Weitzel, M.S., CPRP City of Las Vegas Parks and Recreation Las Vegas, Nevada

Philip Wu, M.D. (Retired) Kaiser Permanente Northwest Region Portland, Oregon

North Portland, Oregon

Anne S. Close

Jose Felix Diaz

James H. Evans

Greening Youth Foundation Atlanta, Georgia

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Fort Mill, South Carolina New York, New York

Rosemary Hall Evans Sugar Hill, New Hampshire

Earl T. Groves Gastonia, North Carolina

Charles E. Hartsoe, Ph.D. Richmond, Virginia

Richard Gulley

Harry G. Haskell, Jr.

San Diego Parks and Recreation San Diego, California

Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania

Kathryn A. Porter

Monica Hobbs Vinluan

Mendham, New Jersey

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Ashburn, Virginia

Perry J. Segura

Susie Kuruvilla

R. Dean Tice

Gurnee Park District Gurnee, Illinois

Round Hill, Virginia

New Iberia, Louisiana

Eugene A. Young, CPRP Baton Rouge, Louisiana

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

Parks & Recreation

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EDITOR’S LET TER PRESIDENT AND CEO Kristine Stratton

Commit to Self-Care This Summer Our Health and Wellness issue is a testament to the great work that our members commit to doing for their respective communities, such as providing programming and services designed to help community members achieve better health outcomes. And as the school year draws to a close across the country, parks and recreation is preparing for what’s certain to be a very active — sometimes, demanding — three months. June is the ideal time to shine a light on health equity. After all, many working parents and caregivers rely on park and recreation professionals beyond their summer camp offerings. Some living in underinvested communities view these agencies as a lifeline to vital resources that help their families supplement their nutritional needs until programs, like the free school lunch program, resume in the fall.

In the cover story, “Community Wellness Hubs in Practice,” on page 32, NRPA’s Allison Colman, Maureen Neumann and Liliana Ruiz Fischer take a deep dive into why parks and recreation is central to establishing “a fully integrated public health system.” For one thing, through Community Wellness Hubs, park and recreation professionals offer “trusted gathering places that connect every member of the community to essential programs, services and spaces that advance health equity, improve health outcomes and enhance quality of life.” The contributors also offer real-life examples of Community Wellness Hubs that provide essential services, such as “supporting food access, improving food security, connecting people to social resources, and providing evidence-based nutrition education to improve healthy eating behaviors.”

Next, Lindsay Hogeboom, associate editor and writer, shares how parks and recreation can help communities reach specific health and wellness objectives that could potentially increase the average life span of their residents in the feature article, “Getting Into the Blue Zone,” on page 38. Hogeboom writes that “blue zones” are defined as communities or areas that “have integrated specific health and wellness practices into their daily lives.”

Lastly, contributors Brent Ross and Dylan Fischer discuss how equity played an important role in the design process of Indiana’s West Lafayette Wellness Center in the article, “Making Wellness More Inclusive,” on page 44. Ross and Fischer write, “Special effort was made to obtain input from groups that are typically underrepresented in community outreach efforts....”

While I know you’ll be working hard making sure that your community members are wellcared for this summer, I urge you to commit to self-care to keep your stress levels down. Because if you’re not tending to your personal health, how do you expect others to follow your lead?

VITISIA “VI” PAYNICH Executive Editor Director, Print and Online Content

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VICE PRESIDENT OF COMMUNICATIONS AND CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER Gina Mullins-Cohen gcohen@nrpa.org EXECUTIVE EDITOR AND DIRECTOR OF PRINT AND ONLINE CONTENT Vitisia Paynich vpaynich@nrpa.org ASSOCIATE EDITOR AND WRITER Lindsay Hogeboom lhogeboom@nrpa.org MANAGER OF ONLINE CONTENT Jennifer Fulcher-Nguyen jnguyen@nrpa.org PUBLICATION DESIGN Kim Mabon/Creative By Design CreativeByDesign.net SENIOR CORPORATE DEVELOPMENT OFFICER WESTERN REGION AND ASIA Michelle Dellner 703.858.4635 mdellner@nrpa.org SENIOR CORPORATE DEVELOPMENT OFFICER EASTERN REGION AND EUROPE Paul Semple 916.880.5225 psemple@nrpa.org DEVELOPMENT COORDINATOR Melissa Hunter 703.858.2199 mhunter@nrpa.org PHOTOGRAPHY Dreamstime.com or NRPA (unless otherwise noted)

MAGAZINE ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS Anthony-Paul Diaz, Chair Michael Abbaté, FASLA Neelay Bhatt Ryan Eaker Beau Fieldsend Kathleen Gibi Paul Gilbert, CPRP Tim Herd, CPRE Brian Johnson, CPSI Denise Johnson-Caldwell Roslyn Johnson, CPRP Michele Lemons Sam Mendelsohn Maria Nardi Lisa Paradis, CPRP Paula Sliefert Shonnda Smith, CPRP, AFO Ronnetta Spalding Anne-Marie Spencer Stephen Springs

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WE ARE PARKS AND RECREATION Mindfulness for Balance Over Burnout

By Katie Garrett, CPRP

W

hen you think about “burnout,” you probably can define it more with a feeling than words. I like the classic imagery of a matchstick being burnt at both ends. Burnout happens when we can’t or don’t properly recover from workplace stress. That buildup of stress becomes overwhelming and affects both our mental and physical health. According to the World Health Organization, which classified “burnout” as an occupational phenomenon in 2019, burnout is defined by feelings of exhaustion or low energy, a mental distance and cynicism related to work, and reduced efficacy. While burnout is related specifically to work stress, other stressors outside of work also impact our level of resilience.

Perhaps an image comes to mind when you think about the word “mindfulness.” Popular culture has focused on this term a lot in the past few years, often with a graphic of a healthy-looking person in a pretzellike pose in some idyllic location.

For me, mindfulness is focusing on whatever I’m doing at the moment.

I also like to practice mindfulness in the form of meditation as well as in doing everyday tasks.

You can practice this by bringing attention to your breath. Can you feel it in your body? How long can you keep your focus there? Every-

one gets pulled away by thoughts many times. The mental fitness “rep” happens when you realize you’ve been pulled away and intentionally come back to focus on your breathing. If focusing on your breath doesn’t feel right, try focusing on your hands or feet.

I like to use a synonym for mindfulness, “mental fitness,” to better convey what it is and how to practice it. We all know we must flex and work our muscles from time to time to keep them strong and in working order. The same idea applies to mindfulness,

Every time we practice mindfulness, we are flexing our mental muscles.

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or mental fitness. Every time we practice mindfulness, we are flexing our mental muscles, therefore, strengthening our mental fitness.

Physiology Our central nervous system has two parts — the sympathetic (flight or fight) and parasympathetic (rest and digest). We’ve all had our fight-or-flight response triggered at one time or another — how does that feel? When this happens, your heartbeat may skyrocket, you may get flushed or clammy, or you might want to throw something or scream. When our sympathetic nervous system is triggered, it sends energy to our muscles so we can react. Too much of this leads to built-up stress, causing burnout. To counteract our sympathetic nervous system, we want to intentionally activate our parasympathetic nervous system through activities, like deep breathing, stretching, light movement or laughter.

Our brains have a way of creating pathways when we practice something new — this is called neuroplasticity. Thanks to this process, we can form new and lasting habits. The best way to overcome burnout is to build a toolkit of practices that work best for your life. Find a podcast, a mindfulness app, a book or a teacher to help create this new habit. Practicing mindfulness will allow us to find balance and recover faster from stress.

Katie Garrett, CPRP, is Marketing and Digital Communications Manager at Fox Valley Park District (kgarrett@fvpd.net).

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W E A R E P A R K S A N D R E C R E AT I O N

By Eduardo Tamez Zamarripa

T

hese days, much is said about equity in representation, but less is said about equity in recreation. According to a study published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine in 2008, 70 percent of African American neighborhoods lacked recreational facilities (tinyurl.com/mu7mp2h5). The Aspen Institute’s State of Play 2021 report adds that only about 35 percent of Black children ages 6 to 12 play sports regularly (tinyurl.com/3wnz5cuz). In urban areas, lack of space and concerns about safety create further barriers that keep children of color from participating in sports.

Teaming Up to Create Change To address these issues, the U.S. Soccer Foundation reached out to Musco Lighting in 2018, to develop a solution that could transform unused spaces into lighted mini-soccer pitches. The result was the MiniPitch System™ modular sports solution, which includes fencing, goals, LED lighting and Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant access.

To date, the U.S. Soccer Foundation has installed almost 500 mini-pitches across the United States.

In September 2020, Black Players for Change (BPC) — an organization comprised of more than 170 Major League Soccer players, coaches and staff (blackplayers forchange.org) — partnered with the U.S. Soccer Foundation and Musco Lighting to install 12 mini-pitches in communities of significance to the BPC’s 12 executive board members over the following year.

By the end of January 2021, adidas and the Black Women’s Player Collective (BWPC) (bwplayer collective.org) — comprised of the 43 Black women competing in the National Women’s Soccer League — also had joined the effort.

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Opening Doors and Eyes Over the past year, mini-pitches have opened at parks and schools from California to Texas to New York, each featuring images of multiple members of BPC and/or the BWPC. The mini-pitch at Indianapolis’ Oscar Charleston Park features murals that also depict entrepreneur Madam C.J. Walker, baseball player Oscar Charleston and Olympic gold medalist Briana Scurry.

At the unveiling ceremony for each mini-pitch, members of the BPC and/or BWPC spoke about topics related to race and social justice and led soccer-related activities for local youth. The professional athletes also have connected with students virtually and through other events to serve as role models and mentors.

“It’s important for Black children to see people who look like them and who have made it to the highest levels of their careers,” says U.S. Soccer Foundation President and CEO Ed Foster-Simeon. “Not only do children now have more safe places to play right in their neighborhoods, but [also] they have been connected with athletes and mentors who look like them, which is so important to helping them see themselves in all

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PHOTO COURTESY OF MUSCO LIGHTING

Promoting Equity in Recreation

The mini-pitch at Indianapolis’ Oscar Charleston Park features murals that depict entrepreneur Madam C.J. Walker, baseball player Oscar Charleston and Olympic gold medalist Briana Scurry.

aspects of our sport and society.”

The Initiative Expands The impact of these pitches attracted the attention of other organizations, such as Mutual Assistance Network and Sacramento Republic FC, which this past December helped sponsor the first-ever, fourcourt mini-pitch complex at Charles Robertson Park. By the end of 2021, the initiative surpassed its goal and completed 18 mini-pitches.

“Every mini-pitch installed through this initiative represents new opportunities for youth to discover the sport of soccer, develop essential life skills and have fun,” says Musco President Jeff Rogers.

“We couldn’t be prouder of everything that’s been achieved in the first year, and we look forward to strengthening our commitment to Black Players for Change, the Black Women’s Player Collective and the U.S. Soccer Foundation as we move ahead and continue with this important work.”

Eduardo Tamez Zamarripa is Soccer Market Manager at Musco Lighting (eduardo.tamezzamarripa@musco.com).

Introducing NRPA’s New Business Council

N

RPA recently announced the launch of its Business Council — a collaboration that will strengthen connections between the essential role of parks and recreation and the business sector.

The council focuses on advancing park and recreation solutions in four key areas: relationship building, advocacy, innovation and research. Local park and recreation agencies generated more than $166 billion in U.S. economic activity and supported 1.1 million jobs in 2017. The powerful impact parks and recreation has on economic activity highlights how park and recreation offerings are not merely

“nice-to-have” services, but how essential they are to building strong, healthy and resilient communities for all. “We are thrilled to launch this new initiative and bring Business Council members together to explore, share and deploy powerful park and recreation solutions,” says NRPA President and CEO Kristine Stratton.

“Increased dialogue can help bring more innovative products and services to the park and recreation field faster,” says Paula Sliefert, NRPA Business Council chair and senior manager, sports fields and grounds for The Toro Company.

“The Toro Company is proud to invest in industries like parks and

recreation, and I look forward to working with my colleagues on the Business Council to promote solutions that build stronger, healthier and more resilient communities.”

The Business Council comprises strategic thinkers and collaborative decision-makers, representing businesses and allies who care deeply about parks and recreation.

Business Council members also represent organizations that have demonstrated commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and support the advancement of DEI in park and recreation programs, policies and practices.

To learn more, visit nrpa.org/ BusinessCouncil.

® ™

THANK YOU,

Building communities through play & recreation™

BUSINESS COUNCIL MEMBERS We would like to extend a sincere thank you to the inaugural members* of the NRPA Business Council for their dedication to advancing park and recreation solutions.

*as of March 2022

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

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W E A R E P A R K S A N D R E C R E AT I O N

Green Star Awards® The Professional Grounds Management Society® collaborates with the National Association for Olmsted Parks for a new awards category

By Stephanie Bruno, CAE, and Anne Neal Petri

T

PHOTO COURTESY OF MARY COLOMAIO

his year marks the 50th anniversary of the Professional Grounds Management Society’s (PGMS®) (tinyurl.com/2zmjuw5c) Green Star Awards® program, bringing national recognition to grounds maintained with a high degree of excellence. One of the oldest awards programs in the industry, the Green Star Awards® has more than 15 different entry categories, including Parks, Recreation Areas, Hotels, Athletic Complexes, Public Works Sites and Educational Institutions.

Former award recipients include American University, Disneyland, Sarah P. Duke Gardens and Cornell University.

In 2021, Cornell University earned a prestigious PGMS® Green Star Award for its submission pictured above.

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Parks & Recreation

In conjunction with the 2022 awards celebration, the National Association for Olmsted Parks (NAOP) and hundreds of organizations across the country celebrate the 200th anniversary of Frederick Law Olmsted’s birth (tinyurl.com/2t4skd6t). In a career spanning half a century, Olmsted designed some of the most famous landscapes in the United States, including Central Park in New York and the Emerald Necklace in Boston. Recognizing the profound influence of Olmsted as a social reformer and founder of American landscape architecture,

PGMS® and NAOP collaborated on the new awards category “Olmsted Property,” which will recognize properties whose maintenance practices ensure the integrity of the historic landscape as part of the annual PGMS® Green Star Awards®.

Going forward, NAOP will partner with PGMS® on educational offerings focused on the work and design principles of the Olmsted firm.

“This new awards category honors the profound influence and impact that Frederick Law Olmsted’s legacy has on landscape architecture,” says Joe Kovolyan, CGM, president of PGMS®. “PGMS® was thrilled to have the opportunity to collaborate with NAOP, and we look forward to an excellent submission year.”

The new Green Star Awards category evaluates Olmsted properties in the following categories: landscape maintenance (20 percent); safety (15 percent); challenges (20 percent); Olmsted design and management principles (20 percent); and stewardship, education, and training (15 percent). Olmsted

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properties have landscape management and maintenance that are carefully planned and implemented based on historic documentation. Furthermore, these properties are principally focused on retaining historic landscape authenticity.

Special projects are designed to limit impacts on the historic landscape and exceptional measures are taken to protect the site/resource and to minimize construction impact.

The award will recognize institutions where the historic landscape has been thoroughly researched and documented and guides treatment and stewardship. In these institutions, historic preservation is a primary management/maintenance goal with a focus on protecting, preserving and retaining historic landscape features. The field staff have a clear understanding of the historic landscape and their role(s) in preserving it. In addition, the staff is provided with educational opportunities in historic landscape preservation.

For more information on the PGMS® Green Star Awards®, including the photo portfolio template and application, visit tinyurl.com/yy3hbrwz.

Stephanie Bruno, CAE, is Executive Director of the Professional Grounds Management Society®. Anne Neal Petri is President and CEO of the Professional Grounds Management Society®.

Member Benefit: ePACT Helps Parks and Recreation Reduce Risk in 2022

B

y partnering with ePACT, you’ll have a team that is there to support you through all the unique challenges that 2022 has in store.

Reduced administrative burden – Enable automatic reminders for families, ensuring forms are complete before they are submitted and allowing your team to run customized reports.

Reduced need for paper – Our system is cloud-based, allowing agencies to collect critical data and electronically store and archive the records within the agencies’ database, helping them meet long-term

retention and licensing requirements and making it easy for staff to find records quickly and easily.

No internet, no problem – Authorized staff can use ePACT’s Mobile App to securely access records on mobile devices, even if they don’t have a cellular or internet connection. Staff can sync records for up-to-date access in offline mode.

Family experience – Families can use their single ePACT account to share all their required data with multiple organizations each year.

Families only have to submit one online record per child for any and all programs they attended.

Improved accuracy – ePACT provides complete, up-to-date information for participants. Also, families can update their record, so park and recreation agenies are automatically notified.

Enhanced security – Using a centralized, highly secure system with controlled and monitored administrative access, families’ data are kept safe, secure and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act compliant at all times.

To take advantage of your NRPA member discount, email sales@epactnetwork.com or call 1.855.773.7228, extension 102.

Learn more and download the toolkit at nrpa.org/FamilyFitnessDay PA R K S A N D R E C R E AT I O N .O R G | J U N E 2 02 2 |

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RESEARCH Using the Data to Tell Your Park and Recreation Story

By Kevin Roth

L

ast month’s research column introduced the 2022 NRPA Agency Performance Review (APR) (nrpa.org/APR), the latest edition of the annual report series that summarizes key data from NRPA Park Metrics (nrpa.org/ParkMetrics). The column noted that the report and the benchmarking resources found within Park Metrics allow your agency to compare itself to a peer group that you define. Perhaps that peer group represents similarly sized agencies in your part of the country, or it is a group of agencies that you aspire your department to become. These comparisons are vital when making the case to a mayor, council member or funder for greater and more sustainable funding. If you have not already discovered the Park Metrics reporting tools, I encourage you to give them a try today.

Beyond benchmarking, data is a powerful storytelling tool that can shift how your community and partners view parks and recreation. We use the APR to paint a picture of the broad and deep impact our nation’s local park and recreation agencies have on their communities. This is critical. Even as NRPA surveys of the public find strong support for parks and recreation, we also see the public does not necessarily know every way your agency serves the community. This may even include some people not realizing their local park and recreation agency is responsible for their favorite place to recreate or delivers a vital community service on which they rely.

Take the example of health and wellness. Data from the APR demonstrate how park and recreation agencies are responsible for vital infrastructure and services that advance their communities’ physical and mental health.

It starts with facilities. Using APR data, NRPA points out that park and recreation agencies across the United States operate:

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• Recreation centers that include gyms and other opportunities for physical activity (64 percent of agencies) • Community centers that often are a hub for wellness activities (e.g., nutrition programs and education) (60 percent) • Buildings focused on different segments of the community: senior centers (41 percent) and teen centers (14 percent) We also use the APR to highlight park and recreation agencies’ vast and diverse outdoor infrastructure that promotes improved health and wellness outcomes. This includes: • Playgrounds (95 percent) • Basketball courts (86 percent) • Tennis courts (78 percent) • Outdoor pools (53 percent) • Community gardens (51 percent) • Skate parks (39 percent) Magnifying the impact of this critical infrastructure is programming that welcomes every community member as it educates, inspires and brings joy. The APR notes most local park and recreation agencies deliver to their community:

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• Health and wellness education (80 percent) • Programming targeting older adults (79 percent) • Safety training (72 percent) • Fitness enhancement classes (82 percent) • Team sports (87 percent) • Individual sports (76 percent) Finally, we use the same report to tell the public that parks and recreation is a leader in youth and young adult programming, including: • Summer camps (83 percent) • After-school programs (55 percent) • Preschool (34 percent) • Specific teen programs (66 percent) We note in the APR that no agency is typical. So, while the report’s key insights demonstrate the full power of parks and recreation across the United States, it does not tell your agency’s unique story. But you can take your agency’s data to educate and remind political leaders, key stakeholders and the public of your team’s contribution to a healthy and vital community.

For example, consider creating a health and wellness-themed infographic that notes the number of parks, playgrounds and trail miles your agency manages and speaks to the number of youth participating in out-of-school time programs and the number of healthy meals your team delivers. If your agency already is doing this, great. I encourage you to share your agency’s example of using data to tell its story on NRPA Connect (connect.nrpa.org) to inspire others. Most importantly, use your agency’s data to highlight how parks and recreation is essential in your community.

Kevin Roth is NRPA’s Vice President of Research, Evaluation and Technology (kroth@nrpa.org).

NRPA PARK PULSE

Parks and Recreation Promotes Inclusive Policies and Practices

81%

of U.S. adults want park and recreation agencies to ensure their practices and policies are inclusive, so all people — regardless of their background or abilities — can fairly participate.

More than three in five U.S. adults believe implementing inclusive practices and policies is extremely or very important.

Each month, through a poll of 1,000 U.S. residents focused on park and recreation issues, NRPA Park Pulse helps tell the park and recreation story. Questions span from the serious to the more lighthearted. The survey was conducted by Wakefield Research (www.wakefieldresearch.com).

Visit nrpa.org/ParkPulse for more information.

PHOTO COURTESY OF JODIE DELSERE

ADVOCACY

Kids in Springfield, Oregon, get to meet Una the Mermaid at a Willamalane summer camp.

Using Effective Partnerships to Amplify the Impact of Park and Recreation Offerings

By Kenny Weigandt

A

s park and recreation professionals, keeping kids active and engaged all summer long is our bread and butter. But when program costs are a barrier for many families, not every child has the same chance to take part in the amazing programs that park and recreation organizations offer. In Springfield, Oregon, Willamalane Park and Recreation District partnered with a local school district to give as many children as possible a memorable summer.

Over the past 10 years, Willamalane has run the 1PASS program, which has become a family favorite for summer activities in Springfield and neighboring Eugene. For a flat fee of $50, youth ages 18 and younger can use a single pass to access an entire summer’s worth of admission to more than 15 recreation destinations. Partner destinations include multiple pools, a trampoline park, a bowling alley, museums, a golf

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course driving range, a climbing wall, indoor basketball, roller skating, miniature golf and more.

While the pandemic prevented the program from running in 2020, participating partners were thrilled to bring it back in 2021. An incredible group of organizations came together, eager and excited to offer the 1PASS for the community’s youth once again.

As the administrators of the program, Willamalane has to keep the fixed price of $50 to make it eco-

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nomically viable for the involved partners. While the 1PASS is an amazing deal, the price is a barrier for many families in Springfield, and not every child can get one.

That’s where a partnership with Springfield Public Schools made magic happen.

An Ideal Partnership In the summer of 2021, both Willamalane and the school district wanted to offer an active and engaging summer for as many children in Springfield as possible. The school district was eager to give kids a head start on learning for the coming school year and was looking to offer summer educational programs, as well as outdoor exploration and physical activity.

For its part, the school district got creative with federal relief dollars. It leveraged Elementary and Secondary School Relief money, made possible through the American Rescue Plan Act (with state-level investments in extended learning), to provide summer learning experiences for students.

Best of all, the school district didn’t have to spend these funds alone and could allocate funds to community partners who also provided summer educational experiences for kids.

As the school district evaluated how it could spend its grant funds, school district officials recognized that the 1PASS offered education and wellness for students and qualified for these relief funds. Together Willamalane and the school district seized the opportunity, and every student in the school district was eligible to receive a 1PASS, paid in full by Springfield Public Schools. This was at no cost to families, eliminating the biggest barrier to access this program.

Thanks to this collaboration, 3,477 students received a 1PASS. And, more Springfield kids than ever before received a 1PASS. Across all destinations, 1PASSes were used more than 24,000 times that summer.

The 1PASS wasn’t the only collaboration between Willamalane and the school district that summer.

The organizations also teamed up to offer scholarships to students attending any Willamalane summer camp; preschool; swim lesson; youth sports camp; or science, technology, engineering, math (STEM) class. Again, this was at no cost to families. Despite the uncertainty of the pandemic and a reduced pool of staff, Willamalane offered 31 different qualifying camps and programs, serving an additional 751 students.

Thanks to this partnership, thou-

sands of kids in Springfield had low-barrier access to healthy resources. With a successful pilot completed, the school district will offer the same scholarship opportunities to all in-

coming and current students in the summer of 2022.

Kenny Weigandt is Community Engagement Director at Willamalane Park and Recreation District (Kenny.

Weigandt@willamalane.org).

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PHOTO COURTESY OF MARY PENCHEFF

EQUITY

Metroparks Toledo (Ohio) hosts an adaptive paddling program at Wiregrass Lake Metropark.

Putting Equity Into Action

By Autumn Saxton-Ross, Ph.D.

A

ll three of NRPA’s pillars — Health and Wellness, Equity, and Conservation — are a reflection of how parks and recreation are central to many of the challenges communities face, as well as to potential solutions.

Our equity work is built on the idea that difference meets at the playground. To better support members in seeing difference as a strength, we are working to create opportunities for professionals to learn and practice. This is the reason why we are moving from using “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” (DEI) as a descriptor to “Equity in Practice.” Similarly, our Health and Wellness pillar is built on the idea that the field of parks and recreation is a key part of the public health system, and to better address individual and community health, we work to support agencies in their practice as Community 22

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Wellness Hubs — trusted gathering places that connect community members to programs, services and spaces to improve health outcomes.

To advance equity in all its forms and create change, we have to do more than learn — we also have to practice and take action.

The desire from the field for practice and action was reflected in the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Parks and Recreation report released in 2021 (nrpa.org/DEIReport). Respondents to the survey discussed the need for trusted resources, tools and templates to help agencies not only learn what DEI in parks and recreation can look like, but also

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how to apply that work in what they do, whether it be administration, programs or maintenance.

Also in 2021, NRPA released Elevating Health Equity Through Parks and Recreation: A Framework for Action (nrpa.org/ElevatingHealthEquity).

Authored by Epic Health Solutions, this resource is designed to help professionals be more intentional as they advance health equity, providing them with opportunities to apply a racial equity lens when designing, implementing and evaluating programs and services, and when developing infrastructure, maintenance and operations plans.

Looking back on this resource a year later, I’d like to highlight and focus on the resources, tools, templates and new videos provided in the framework — especially the self-assessment, agency assessment and committing to the call — as an offering to individuals and agencies that are looking to “just get started.”

Getting Started In their simplest form, organizations and agencies are groups of people.

Starting at the individual level helps people to see why this work is important and what it has to do with them. Providing time to reflect on and work through their beliefs, values and life experiences is a good place to start. Part one of the resource, “Self-Assessment,” provides worksheets that challenge individual thinking, providing an opportunity for professionals to consider their identities, beliefs, actions and experiences, and the ways those impact their work and interactions.

Assessing your agency is another place to start. It can give you a solid idea of strengths and challenges, which can help you to prioritize what to do or where

to start. Part two of the resource, “Agency Assessment,” looks at your agency’s culture. Worksheets include examining your local park and recreation history; defining what justice, equity, diversity and inclusion mean in your organization and if your agency’s policies and practices are in line with those beliefs; identifying the communities you serve and how your programs and services reflect them; policy and systems change; and evaluation and impact.

Part four of the resource, “Committing to the Call,” asks you what success looks like for your equity work, the steps and resources needed, and how to hold your agency accountable. These worksheets provide a completed example and a template to assist in creating a

plan of action that builds on your assessment of agency culture, programs, services and facilities.

It’s important to remember that none of us can do “all of the things” or address every inequity, issue or challenge identified in the assessment. However, you can do something and start somewhere for a quick win. Do you have the support to start with the hiring process? Or a culture of inclusion and gratitude? Do you have a new community coming to your center that requires you to adjust a few policies and practices?

What is most important is that you start somewhere. I hope these tools and resources get you started.

Autumn Saxton-Ross, Ph.D., is Vice President of Education and Chief Equity Officer at NRPA (asaxtonross@nrpa.org).

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C O N S E R VAT I O N

As summer’s warmer temperatures lead to higher concentrations of ground-level ozone, older adults and children are likely to be affected by resulting health ailments.

Helping People Beat the Heat This Summer

By Ayanna Williams, MSW, and Angela Hill, CPRP

C

onservation is a key strategy for greater resiliency (tinyurl.com/ yah5zdfc). As summer’s warmer temperatures lead to higher concentrations of ground-level ozone, exacerbating asthma and other health ailments, older adults and children are likely to be the most affected. The effects also are felt by those with chronic illness, people of color and people with lower income.

Using the following case study, let’s explore some resiliency strategies together: It’s summer and temperatures are ranging in the 100s and we are on target to hit some all-time highs. This is the worst summer for these temperatures because coronavirus (COVID-19) is starting to ease and everyone wants to get outside and enjoy summer like we once did. As an outdoor professional who also lives in the neighborhood, you know all too well the allure to get back to normal. Yet, you also are keenly aware of the health risks

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that are brought on by this type of heat.

You have done what you are able to do to address conservation strategies and build a greater resiliency in your community.

However, there are decisions that might need to be made, and soon.

What steps would you take to limit the health risk to the community? What strategies can you implement to create greater resiliency? As you reflect on these questions, here are a few facts to consider on air pollution and vulnerable populations:

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• Black children are four times as likely to die from asthma as white children (tinyurl.com/m4dv5be7).

• One in two Latinos in the United States live in counties that frequently violate air quality standards due to the combustion of fossil fuels (tinyurl.com/ muh3eu6u).

• Hispanic children are twice as likely to die from asthma as compared to non-Hispanic whites (tinyurl.com/2p88hk3h).

• Hispanics are 60 percent more likely to visit a hospital due to asthma compared to non-Hispanic whites (tinyurl. com/2p88hk3h).

• African American women have the highest rate of asthma and more African American women have died from asthma than any other group (tinyurl.com/2p9dppxt).

• Black adults were three times as likely to die from asthmarelated causes than whites (tinyurl.com/2p9dppxt).

Know the danger zone for your area.

It can be impacted by temperature, air quality, cloud cover and other factors.

• Children who grow up in more polluted areas face the increased risk of having underdeveloped lungs, which may never recover to their full capacity. The average drop in lung function was 20 percent below what was expected for a child’s age, similar to the impact of growing up in a home with parents who smoked (tinyurl.com/yc676dtp).

Here are other things to consider: 1. Making the decision: Identify those who have the authority to close a park, postpone a game or adjust hours based on the summer warming trends. Your department leadership or recreation center management team are likely the people to help make these decisions, but also consider inviting a volunteer advisory board to help. Community engagement is helpful — these community members are versed on the community and with basic training can provide the bridge between your department and the community at large.

2. Volunteer/Partner engagement: Volunteer projects can be popular in the summer with corporate volunteers. If they generally work in a climate-controlled office, they might not realize the difference in temperature if the volunteer project starts at 8:30 a.m. rather than 2 p.m. I encourage you to share your local temperatures from a recent hour-to-hour forecast. Encourage participants to consider volunteering outside in the morning, share boxed lunches and release people after a half day.

Consider projects that are meaningful for your park and community, while also being accessible to people with different

abilities. While some volunteers mulch and pick up litter, others might assemble goody bags under the shade of the pavilion.

Encourage participation in community science events that track rain, heat or other things that can be educational, fun and help to better understand how heat is distributed in your community.

3. Communications: Consider the format and the mode in which communication is provided to the community. Relevant messaging informing the public on hazardous conditions, closings or limited access is imperative. Messaging could include emails, social media or text alerts. Consider using colorful flags for traditional green, yellow and red warnings that hang near the park amenity or entrance.

4. Staffing and other scheduling adjustments: Consider adding lights to tennis courts and opening them after sunset or setting up hospitality tents at playgrounds or golf courses that provide a bit of shade. Also, consider providing water during the hottest hours of the day to patrons. If budget is a concern, develop relationships with elected officials or community partners who may be interested in sponsoring items, like water, popsicles or paper

fans, as giveaways during sporting events.

As you consider the options listed above, keep in mind the following: • Know the danger zone for your area. It can be impacted by temperature, air quality, cloud cover and other factors.

• Invest in a thermometer to check temperatures on artificial turf, playgrounds, tennis courts and golf courses.

• Educate staff, coaches and partners on the signs of heat stroke and share strategies for keeping everyone cool.

• Avoid idling trucks.

• Start the workday as early as possible to limit strenuous activity during the hottest part of the day.

• Keep water coolers on trucks and accessible during youth sports and camps.

• Test, repair and monitor access to water fountains.

• Post signs that warn the public about the dangers of heat stroke.

As temperatures continue to rise across the United States, we can help staff and park users beat the heat. Implementing one or more of these tips can help save a life.

Ayanna Williams, MSW, is Director of Community and Environmental Resilience at NRPA (awilliams@nrpa.org).

Angela Hill, CPRP, is Administrator of Parks and Neighborhoods at Shelby County Government (angela.hill@ shelbycountytn.gov).

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L AW R EV I EW

In the case of Steele v. Fox Valley Park District, a plaintiff alleges age discrimination forced her to resign from her employment with Defendant Fox Valley Park District.

Park District Age Discrimination Claim

By James C. Kozlowski, J.D., Ph.D.

I

n the case of Steele v. Fox Valley Park District, Case No. 19-cv-5334 (N.D. Ill. 2/25/2022), Plaintiff Roberta Steele alleged age discrimination had forced her to resign from her employment with Defendant Fox Valley Park District in Illinois.

Facts of the Case In August 1998, the Fox Valley Park District (the Park District) had hired Plaintiff as a part-time dance assistant for the dance program at the Park District’s Prisco Community Center. At the time, Plaintiff was 42 years old. In 2004 or 2005, the Park District promoted Plaintiff to dance coordinator.

Then, in 2010, the Park District promoted her again to the full-time position of recreation supervisor for the dance program.

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employees and oversaw payroll, budgeting and dance registration.

Of particular importance, Plaintiff was responsible for inputting class descriptions on the Park District’s software, so that the public could see the class offerings. When Plaintiff became the recreation supervisor, her direct supervisor was the facility manager for Prisco.

Plaintiff received her first disciplinary action in 2012, two years after she became the recreation supervisor. In July 2012, the Park District issued her a corrective discipline form for a “Procedure Vio-

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lation.” The form stated that Plaintiff had failed to accurately pay two members of her staff during a recent pay period.

The form included a paragraph that covered the necessary “Corrective Action.” The form explained that Plaintiff needed to improve communications with her staff about their schedules. Plaintiff also was informed that she needed to get better at keeping a file of their schedules, hours and shifts to accurately complete payroll every two weeks, among other actions.

One month later, in August 2012, Plaintiff ’s supervisor placed her on a Performance Improvement Plan. The plan spanned nine pages, covering Plaintiff ’s specific areas of needed improvement, including: management and leader-

ship skills, self-management skills, and programming. The plan further noted that Plaintiff ’s “continued employment with the district was in jeopardy” and the Park District “needed to see significant improvement” for Plaintiff to “keep her job.”

Plaintiff ’s supervisor testified that Plaintiff subsequently “righted the ship and completed the Performance Improvement Plan.”

There was no evidence of any additional problems in the few years that followed.

In November 2012, Plaintiff began reporting to the performing arts manager at the Prisco facility.

In September 2015, the performing arts manager issued Plaintiff her second corrective discipline form for submitting “paperwork for staff evaluations and pay raises four months late.” The form described “Corrective Action” needed to be taken by Plaintiff; i.e., “adhere to timelines in place for staff evaluations and raises.”

Plaintiff disagreed with the accuracy of information on this second corrective discipline form.

Plaintiff claimed she had turned in the staff paperwork on time because her instructors “were paid and received their raises differently than other employees of the Park District.” Moreover, Plaintiff noted these particular employees “had not finished out the calendar year for the dance session.”

Further, Plaintiff claimed her late paperwork had been “acceptable every year except this one.”

The corrective discipline form included an “Employee Response” section, which asked: “Do you agree with the description and the action? If not, please

explain.” Plaintiff admitted she had left this Employee Response section blank and had not explained her position on the corrective discipline form itself.

Plaintiff, however, did claim that she had verbally objected to the performing arts manager before signing and dating the form.

Younger Supervisor Language In April 2017, a new 37-year-old facility manager came to Prisco.

Plaintiff alleged her new supervisor discriminated against older employees, using words and phrases like “stale,” “stagnant,” “not up to the task” or “not able to handle” when referring to older employees. In addition, Plaintiff claimed this supervisor used phrases, like “keep everything fresh,” “we need new” and “push for innovation.”

According to Plaintiff, her supervisor “used words like this at a staff meeting” and “she directed it towards older employees and humiliated them.”

The new supervisor admitted she used these phrases and similar language, but argued her purpose was not age discrimination. Instead, the supervisor said she used phrases, like “keep things fresh,” to refer to innovation and staff creativity, and used words, like “stagnant,” to refer to the current programming. As described by the supervisor, she would use this language to ask: “What more can we do to create revenue and increase participation?” Plaintiff, however, characterized her supervisor’s language as “ageist.” Two other employees indicated they had heard the supervisor use similar language with older employees.

Program Registration Software In 2017, the Marketing Department’s timelines for the activity guides required recreation supervisors, including Plaintiff, to enter all programs into RecTrac by February 9, 2017. RecTrac is a software platform that allowed members of the public to see offerings from the Park District and register online.

“Plaintiff alleged her new supervisor discriminated against older employees, using words and phrases like ‘stale,’ ‘stagnant,’ ‘not up to the task’ or ‘not able to handle’ when referring to older employees.”

Plaintiff did not enter the room reservation information for the dance programs by the deadline. Instead, Plaintiff claimed, “[T]here was no deadline for the dance room reservations,” and she had had “a longstanding practice of waiting until later in the season to reserve dance rooms.” After missing the deadline, Plaintiff told her supervisors that she would “begin following the Marketing Department’s deadlines in the future.”

When Summer Registration Day for the park activities arrived, some of the information for the dance programs was incorrect in RecTrac, including the ages for two dance classes. As a result, residents had difficulty registering for dance classes due to an inaccurate program entry in RecTrac, which included incorrect age levels, inactive classes and fees that were different from the printed activity guide.

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Plaintiff filed a Charge of Discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on April 9, 2018.

On May 15, 2017, these registration problems resulted in a third corrective discipline form from Plaintiff ’s supervisor that required her to correct the fees and age levels. The form also noted that Plaintiff needed to have greater attention to detail during program entry, and that she needed to enter all information in RecTrac by seasonal deadlines and keep it updated before registration. The form concluded by noting that Plaintiff could face further disciplinary action up to and including termination if she took no corrective action.

Termination Memorandum On June 14, 2017, the Park District held a meeting with Plaintiff and her supervisors in which a memorandum was read, providing a number of reasons for terminating Plaintiff ’s employment. The memorandum noted Plaintiff ’s “history of missing deadlines and her lack 28

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of attention to detail.” During the meeting, Plaintiff elected to resign in lieu of termination. She provided the Park District with “a letter saying she was retiring” the next day, on June 15, 2017.

Plaintiff believed her termination had nothing to do with her performance. Instead, Plaintiff claimed “the Park District let her go because of age discrimination.”

When she resigned, Plaintiff was 61 years old.

Age Discrimination Lawsuit Plaintiff filed a Charge of Discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on April 9, 2018.

The EEOC issued her a Dismissal and Notice of Rights on May 13, 2019. Plaintiff then filed a complaint in federal district court on August 7, 2019, alleging age discrimination under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). Following discovery,

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the Park District moved for summary judgment.

The federal district court would grant the Park District’s motion for summary judgment if Plaintiff had failed to produce sufficient evidence in the pretrial record from which a reasonable jury could return a verdict that found ADEA age discrimination.

To avoid summary judgment, Plaintiff would, therefore, have to “identify specific facts” indicative of age discrimination in violation of the ADEA. As cited by the court, to constitute a violation of the ADEA, “plaintiff ’s age must have actually played a role in the employer’s decision-making process and had a determinative influence on the outcome”: A plaintiff seeking to recover for disparate treatment under the ADEA must prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, that age was the “but-for” cause of the challenged adverse employment action. In other words, to recover under a theory of disparate treatment in the ADEA context, it’s not enough to show that age was a motivating factor. The plaintiff must prove that, but for her age, the adverse action would not have occurred.

Age Discrimination Evidence In addition to a direct admission that the defendant fired Plaintiff on the basis of her age, the court noted circumstantial evidence also could establish age discrimination by demonstrating the following: (1) suspicious timing; (2) ambiguous statements or behavior towards other employees in the

protected group; (3) evidence, statistical or otherwise, that similarly situated employees outside of the protected group systematically receive better treatment; and (4) evidence that the employer offered a pretextual reason for an adverse employment action.

In addition, the court noted a plaintiff could proceed with an ADEA claim by coming forward with evidence that established the following: (1) she is a member of a protected class, (2) she was meeting the defendant’s legitimate expectations, (3) she suffered an adverse employment action, and (4) similarly situated employees who were not members of her protected class were treated more favorably.

According to the federal district court, if Plaintiff produced such evidence, “the burden shifts to the defendant to articulate a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for the adverse employment action.” In light of a legitimate nondiscriminatory reason, the burden of proof would then shift back to Plaintiff “to submit evidence that the employer’s explanation is pretextual.”

Changing the Culture Plaintiff had claimed her evidence, when viewed as a whole, included “enough circumstantial evidence of age discrimination to support a verdict in her favor.” In so doing, Plaintiff contended the following “statements and behavior of her supervisors” provided “evidence of pretext”: (1) comments about changing the culture at the Park District; (2) phrases by the Facility Manager supervisor about the need for

something new; (3) a perception that older employees were treated worse than younger employees; and (4) complaints about age discrimination to the EEOC by other older employees.

In particular, Plaintiff claimed age discrimination motivated young management in the Park District who wanted “to change the culture at the Park District and push the older employees out.” In so doing, Plaintiff had cited “the ages of the new management, all of whom were between 27 and 37 years old.”

The federal district court rejected this argument. In the opinion of the court, “the relative ages of the terminating and terminated employee are relatively unimportant” in establishing ADEA discrimination. Moreover, the court found “the desire to establish a new management philosophy by assembling a new management team that displaces older employees does not ipso facto [i.e., in and of itself] constitute ADEA discrimination”: Companies, businesses, and government agencies routinely go through culture changes. That’s how they survive long term in an ever-changing world. A desire for a new approach might add a little something to the mix when evaluating a discrimination claim, but it doesn’t add much.

comments had not been directed at Plaintiff ’s job performance.

Further, the court found the supervisor’s remarks lacked a direct link to the Park District’s termination decision. Instead, the court found the supervisor’s statements were made “in the context of innovating the Park District’s programming and improving client experiences” and were not indicative of “the need for a new approach that targeted the old and spared the young.”

As noted by the federal district court, “age-based derogatory remarks made around the time of and in reference to an employment action are relevant to a finding of discrimination.” In this particular instance, however, the court found no indication whether or not the supervisor’s comments “took place around the time of the termination.” In the opinion of the court: “Without a temporal link, the comments don’t lend much support to the notion that Plaintiff ’s age was the reason for her termination.”

Workplace Comments

Plaintiff also had claimed her supervisor was more friendly with younger employees while micromanaging and being “harsh and rude to older employees.” In the opinion of the federal district court, rude and offensive comments by a micromanaging boss “doesn’t say

Similarly, the federal district court found “stray” workplace comments and remarks by Plaintiff ’s supervisor regarding “the need for a fresh approach” were not necessarily “an expression of bias against older employees” and such

“Plaintiff believed her termination had nothing to do with her performance. Instead, Plaintiff claimed ‘the Park District let her go because of age discrimination.’”

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much about whether the boss terminated someone because of her age” in violation of the ADEA: Title VII [of federal civil rights law] is not a general civility code... [which would impose] liability based on the sporadic use of abusive language. Anti-discrimination laws are not triggered by rude behavior.

“In the opinion of the federal district court, the Park District had given ‘a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason’ for termination of Plaintiff’s employment.”

Similarly Situated Employees Plaintiff also had alleged “the Park District extended deadlines for younger employees and cut them some slack when they had performance problems.” To be considered relevant within the context of an ADEA claim, the federal district court would require these younger employees to be “similarly situated” to Plaintiff: In general, a plaintiff who believes another individual is similarly situated must at least show that this comparator (1) dealt with the same supervisor, (2) was subject to the same standards, and (3) engaged in similar conduct without such differentiating or mitigating circumstances as would distinguish his conduct or the employer’s treatment of him.

Although precise equivalence is not required in a comparator, a similarly situated employee must be directly comparable to plaintiffs 30

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in all material respects.

In this particular instance, the court found no such evidence that these younger employees had comparable jobs, or whether they had a long disciplinary history similar to Plaintiff ’s.

Feeling Undervalued Plaintiff had further claimed “older employees were undervalued, treated poorly and pushed out, fired or forced to take early retirement.” Plaintiff had testified that other older employees had told her they had feelings of being treated differently and not being valued in an unhealthy work environment.

According to the court, Plaintiff ’s ADEA claim could be helped by evidence “the Park District forced older employees to hit the exits, while allowing younger employees to stay.” The court, however, found no such evidence existed in the pretrial record based upon “feelings about an unhealthy environment”: There’s a world of difference between former employees feeling undervalued, and an entity forcing out old employees because of their age. The evidence is simply too amorphous and insubstantial to get to trial.... Conclusions must be supported by specific facts, otherwise they are not sufficient to avoid summary judgment.

Pretext In the opinion of the federal district court, the Park District had given “a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason” for termination of Plaintiff ’s employment. The remaining question before the court was, therefore, “whether the Park District’s explanation was pretextu-

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al.” As described by the court, “the explanation from the Park District is straightforward”: The Park District let her go because she had a disciplinary history, and it caught up with her when the mistakes piled up. The Park District points to Plaintiff ’s “missing deadlines, lacking follow through on assignments, and exhibiting a lack of attention to detail when performance issues were brought to her attention.”

As defined by the court, pretext “is not just faulty reasoning or mistaken judgment on the part of the employer; it is a lie, specifically a phony reason for some action.” Moreover, to show pretext, the court would require Plaintiff to “come forward with evidence” that demonstrated “the employer’s nondiscriminatory reason was dishonest” and “the employer’s true reason was based on a discriminatory intent.”

In alleging pretext, Plaintiff claimed the Park District had “exaggerated her mistakes” and had “offered differing explanations for her termination.” The federal district court, however, found Plaintiff ’s argument “overlooks and downplays her work history, which was decidedly choppy”: She was disciplined in 2012.

She was placed on Performance Improvement Plan in 2012. She was disciplined again in 2015.

And she was disciplined again in 2017. All of that took place before the deadline problems in 2017, which immediately preceded her termination. That’s a steady current of evidence flowing against her.

Agency Personnel Policy Plaintiff also faulted the Park Dis-

trict for terminating her, instead of putting her on a Performance Improvement Plan. In so doing, Plaintiff pointed to a Park District policy, which provided: “whenever possible, to resolve disciplinary and/or performance issues by use of verbal, written or other forms of coaching and/or counseling.” According to the court, “the absence of progressive discipline, such as warnings to the employee about poor performance, can support a finding of pretext,” but “the employer must fail to follow its own internal procedures.”

In this particular case, the court noted “the Park District did, in fact, use progressive discipline with Plaintiff,” including “verbal, written or other forms of coach-

ing and/or counseling at least four times with Plaintiff.” Further, the federal district court found the Park District followed its own personnel policy: The Park District’s personnel policy states... “a non-exhaustive list of conduct and/or performance issues that may result in disciplinary action by the District, up to and including dismissal,” the policy manual lists “incompetence, ineffectiveness, inefficiency or wastefulness in the performance of assigned duties and responsibilities” and “failure or refusal to carry out instructions, acts of insubordination, willful disregard of orders.”

Accordingly, pursuant to this Park District’s policy, in the opin-

ion of the court, “terminating Plaintiff for continuing poor performance was within the field of play.”

The federal district court, therefore, granted the Park District’s motion for summary judgment effectively dismissing Plaintiff ’s ADEA age discrimination claim.

SEE ALSO: Age Discrimination Claim by Beach Patrol Chief (tinyurl.com/48z7c5za), James C. Kozlowski, Parks & Recreation, Nov. 2016, Vol. 50, Iss. 11.

James C. Kozlowski, J.D., Ph.D., is an Attorney and Associate Professor in the School of Sport, Recreation, and Tourism Management at George Mason University (jkozlows@gmu. edu). Webpage link to an archive of articles (1982 to present): mason.gmu.edu/~jkozlows/lawarts/artlist.htm.

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Community Wellness Hubs in Practice

By Allison Colman, Maureen Neumann and Liliana Ruiz Fischer

How parks and recreation is helping to create healthier people and happier communities

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ark and recreation professionals are key to a fully integrated public health system.

As stewards of Community Wellness Hubs, park and recreation professionals play a vital role in meeting the evolving health needs of their community members and creating the conditions that lead to optimal health and social outcomes.

With public health and social challenges continuing to escalate and disproportionately impact Black, Indigenous, people of color and low-income communities, park and recreation professionals must build solutions that address the root causes of health and social inequities to advance community health and well-being.

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PHOTO COURTESY OF ASHEVILLE PARKS AND RECREATION

Two volunteers take care of the East End/Valley Street Community Garden that was established through a grant that NRPA gave to Asheville (North Carolina) Parks and Recreation.

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have primarily benefited powerful and privileged social groups while burdening disenfranchised populations. To advance health equity, Community Wellness Hubs must be developed by and with the people most impacted by inequity, and they must focus on systems change approaches, including changing practices, policies, power structures, norms and environments to achieve transformational change.

Between 2020 and early 2022, NRPA worked with 15 communities to develop Community Wellness Hubs specifically focused on supporting food access, improving food security, connecting people to social resources, and providing evidence-based nutrition education to improve healthy eating behaviors. These projects built off the existing nutrition services that park and recreation agencies were already providing to community members (serving as meal sites for youth and older adults, providing

PHOTO COURTESY OF ASHEVILLE PARKS AND RECREATION

NRPA defines Community Wellness Hubs as trusted gathering places that connect every member of the community to essential programs, services and spaces that advance health equity, improve health outcomes and enhance quality of life. Community Wellness Hubs build on the existing strengths, assets and foundations of local park and recreation agencies to create greater public awareness about health and well-being. They reinforce this work by leveraging partnerships and the resources, skills and knowledge of other sectors to integrate new programs and services across multiple dimensions of well-being into the community.

Community Wellness Hubs call upon park and recreation agencies to function in a more holistic, intentional and interconnected way.

At the core of this work is equity. Community Wellness Hubs are grounded in a recognition of unfair systems and how these systems

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nutrition education, supporting community gardens, managing farmers markets and providing mobile meal services). They also worked to advance innovative and upstream approaches to increase access to healthy food. With support from NRPA and a network of technical assistance providers, including the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, National Association of County and City Health Officials, Farmers Market Coalition and the Food Research and Action Center, grantees were guided through an 18-month-long process to center equity within their operations, programs and services, and implement systems change strategies.

Challenging Norms and Understanding Community Needs In the first phase of the grant, agencies were guided through two primary phases — partnership building and conducting a needs assessment to better understand community challenges and wants.

Agencies formed cross-sector project teams and worked as teams to conduct a needs assessment. Fifteen needs assessments were conducted across the cohort, providing community and individual-level data that was used to inform their hub strategies.

City of Bloomington (Indiana) Parks and Recreation partnered with The Indiana University, School of Public Health Department of Health and Wellness Design – Bloomington to construct and implement a health and nutrition needs assessment survey. Many of the survey results countered what they anticipated and Meals are provided to community members through Asheville Parks and Recreation in North Carolina.

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To advance health equity, Community Wellness Hubs must be developed by and with the people most impacted by inequity.

re-directed their attention to the true issues and problems in their community, and opportunities where the park and recreation department could better serve community members at the Banneker Community Center and beyond. Bloomington staff shared that they anticipated the grant to be the conduit for accelerating and expanding nutrition programs. Instead, the assessment demonstrated more opportunity to support their families locally across the community and develop better internal systems, processes and culturally relevant partnerships before expanding the hub.

Bloomington Parks and Recreation prioritized relationship building with other community-based organizations and successfully formed a mutually beneficial partnership with the Plant Truck Project (PTP), a farming initiative led

by Black people, Indigenous groups and people of color. PTP worked with its team on design upgrades to the backyard garden space at the Banneker Community Center and to conduct maintenance of the garden. What’s more, summer camp participants were provided with hands-on gardening and nutrition education led by people who reflect the community being served.

PTP’s support and leadership in developing the backyard garden space and working with youth participants were incredibly impactful for youth, families and staff.

In a focus group conducted in Bloomington, one community member, who is a parent, explained that she was motivated by “the continuity of care and knowing that [her] children are

safe.” She added, “It’s like a family.” Beyond a safe environment, the parent was comforted by the fact that the staff were relatable to her and her children and that, “to find somebody that looks like [her children] and incorporates these things — it is a whole other level of comfort and security,” she noted. Another community member added, “[Banneker community center] remains a very trusting environment for folks, particularly in the Black community.”

Changing Environments, Practices and Policies The second phase of the grant focused on utilizing community input and engaging community members to develop implementation plans and put plans into action. Approaches that focused on system-wide change and long-term sustainability were encouraged.

In West Allis-West Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the West Allis-West Milwaukee Recreation and Community Services department cre-

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ated a new program, changing the structure and social environments where meals were served to youth to provide family programming.

The Family Meals at the Park program was held once a week in the local park as a sit-down family meal event. Using data to determine the ideal location to provide this service, the program was held in a park where the highest percentage of children qualifying for free and/or reduced meals reside. This helped reduce transportation barriers and increase community access to the free meals.

Through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Summer Food Service Program and in partnership with the school district food service vendor and a local food bank, families were able to enjoy a nutritious hot meal together and participate in nutrition education activities provided by a West-Allis Health Department dietician. The program participation, community engagement and nutrition education, which were all products and results of the program, were all significant successes. By coupling its Family Meals at the Park program with its existing Summer Food Service Program, West Allis-West Milwaukee Recreation and Community Services leveraged a captive audience for food access programming that could serve families across generations.

Hot meals were catered and served “sit down” restaurant style to make families feel welcomed, special and less stressed from mealtime. Each week, families also went home with activities and supplies that supported the nutrition education lessons provided that week. Community members felt the impact of the program, with more than 50 percent of participants agreeing 36

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that outreach and resource materials provided through the Family Meals at the Park program were beneficial.

In Little Rock, Arkansas, the Central Arkansas Library System (CALS) and City of Little Rock, in conjunction with the Be Mighty Little Rock program, worked to increase the number of meals served to children from low-income families through federal nutrition programs by offering meal service at all library locations on Saturdays. Prior to 2020, there were only two to three meal sites operating on weekends. Now, children can get meals from their local library six days a week. On Saturdays, they can get two meals. They also standardized their summer meal offerings, updating a pre-2020 process where libraries decided if they wanted to serve breakfast and lunch. Many opted to only serve lunch due to the need to serve the meals at different times, with a certain amount of time between meals. With the waivers issued by USDA during coronavirus (COVID-19), meal program sites were able to distribute breakfast and lunch meals at the same time.

Piloting New Approaches Through Partnership Each grantee implemented its hub model, using a variety of methods to influence community health outcomes. The combination of nutrition education, structural design of accessible community gardens and farmers markets, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), and Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) outreach and enrollment assistance, and policies

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and practices to increase health equity, all contributed to effective, sustainable, multi-layered interventions for improved community health and well-being. Partnerships were key to these successes.

Little Rock made significant community impact providing SNAP outreach and enrollment assistance. The grant allowed CALS and City of Little Rock to have additional staff at a dozen libraries and community centers, trained to support SNAP application assistance. They partnered with the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance to train associates in conducting SNAP enrollment, so they could support community members in applying for and managing SNAP benefits. They conducted food security screenings to inform which resources, such as SNAP, could support each individual through a referral system. In just one year, City of Little Rock and CALS supported 7,495 families with SNAP/ WIC enrollment assistance.

In Asheville, North Carolina, Asheville Parks and Recreation’s influence on community garden development and education grew substantially. With a community partner, the department built new community gardens to increase community access to free, fresh, healthy foods. This environmental change was supplemented with partner-led garden education that demonstrated how residents can grow their own food in Asheville community gardens, and with grow-your-own food pots distributed to older adults. To supplement garden education and awareness, local artists were commissioned for art pieces to highlight the community gardens in a newly developed adult coloring book. The coloring book included a food resource

Asheville Parks and Recreation hosts a Chili Cook Off event as part of its nutrition education program.

guide to assist neighbors with locating food resources in Asheville.

The work has reinvigorated interest in a community garden council that will connect community gardeners and initiatives for increased food access at the county level.

Across all agencies, 17.9 million meals were served to individuals, 228 food access points were established, 327 partnerships were formed or strengthened, and more than 31,000 households were provided with SNAP/WIC outreach.

The nutrition education programming also influenced health outcomes with 30 percent of youth increasing their fruit consumption and 35 percent increasing their vegetable consumption. Twenty-seven percent of youth reported a positive increase in meals prepared at home with family and 21 percent of youth reported increased confidence in making healthy food choices. The programming had additional mental health benefits as well, with adults who participated in nutrition education ranking themselves higher via pre- and post-surveys in every quality-of-life indicator, including overall life satisfaction.

Another element of success was the intentional effort to center health equity within this grant, and within each of the Community Wellness Hubs. NRPA worked with Epic Health Solutions to develop Elevating Health Equity Through Parks and Recreation: A Framework for Action over the grant period. Grantees contributed to the shaping of this framework and received direct training and tech-

PHOTO COURTESY OF ASHEVILLE PARKS AND RECREATION

The Impact

nical assistance from Epic Health Solutions and NRPA during the course of the project. Through the training and assistance provided, 14 percent of professionals reported an increase in health equity knowledge and issues of health equity and social justice, while 43 percent of professionals increased knowledge related to social determinants of health. Feedback from the health equity training and technical assistance sessions included a recognition that “advancing equity requires walking toward discomfort” and having uncomfortable conversations to challenge biases, shift norms and develop concrete goals and objectives to center equity. Grantees also expressed a deeper understanding of systems change approaches and a mindset that embraces continuous improvement. As shared by Integral Youth

Services in Klamath, Oregon, “The work is also never fully complete.

There are always going to be ways the program can do better.”

Moving forward, NRPA will be supporting a second cohort of 15 grantees to create Community Wellness Hubs, working alongside them as they conduct health equity assessments, develop equity action plans, and move through health equity integration in support of advancing community health and well-being. A Community Wellness Hub toolkit and evaluation framework will be released in the summer of 2022 to help park and recreation professionals across the country advance health equity.

Allison Colman is NRPA’s Director of Health (acolman@nrpa. org). Maureen Neumann is NRPA’s Senior Program Manager (mneumann@nrpa.org). Liliana Ruiz Fischer is NRPA’s Program Specialist (lruizfischer@nrpa.org).

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Blue Zone

Getting Into the

Parks and recreation can incorporate Blue Zones® practices to cultivate healthy communities

Blue Zones® communities promote healthy living by integrating specific health and wellness practices into their daily lives.

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By Lindsay Hogeboom

PHOTO COURTESY OF BLUE ZONES PROJECT – WALLA WALLA VALLEY

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n Okinawa, Japan; Sardinia, Italy; Nicoya, Costa Rica; Ikaria, Greece; and Loma Linda, California, the average life span of residents significantly exceeds that of the rest of the world. While many may wonder what their secret is, the answer is really quite simple: these communities have integrated specific health and wellness practices into their daily lives.

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B LU E ZO N E

Thanks to research by Dan Buettner, Michel Poulain and Giovanni Mario Pes, these areas came to be known as “blue zones,” named for the color of pen used to circle locations on the map that they found were home to the highest number of centenarians. As park and recreation departments work to bring health and wellness benefits to their communities, lifestyle characteristics of these five areas and the ways in which they are carried out can serve as case studies for ways to implement healthy practices within our communities.

Creating Blue Zones Communities

PHOTO COURTESY OF MELISSA MCFADDEN

Since conducting his research, Buettner founded a for-profit organization, Blue Zones®, and its initiative — Blue Zones Project® — that aims to help communities

across the United States make healthy choices easy by improving the built environment and implementing new policies and practices based on findings from the original blue zones communities (tinyurl.com/2za5nvxr). Two areas that have taken on this initiative are Hawaii and Walla Walla Valley, Washington. In Hawaii, the program has been running for seven years, and seven communities across the state — including Kapolei, Makiki and Kahului — have become Certified Blue Zones communities (tinyurl.com/2p8ar4p6).

“What that means is we’ve really put in the work to help the community improve their well-being, and we’ve reached the tipping point for long-term well-being change,” says Lisa Delfin, statewide operations manager for Blue Zones Project – Hawaii.

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“When a community is first starting out, there is a selection process…. One of [the qualifications] is having strong leadership that wants this for their community,” she says. “We look at a community holistically, and we look at things within a five- to 10-mile radius of where an individual lives — we call this a life radius. Within that life radius of where people live, work, play and pray, we work with different sectors…like schools, work sites, restaurants, different organizations, clubs and faith-based groups. Then we work on food policy, tobacco policy and the built environment to really lay that foundational policy support

Many of the world’s healthiest people find ways to incorporate movement naturally into their routine.

PHOTO COURTESY OF BLUE ZONES PROJECT – WALLA WALLA VALLEY

Blue Zones® Power Nine®

Lifestyle characteristics of the five original blue zones and the ways in which they are carried out can serve as case studies for ways to implement healthy practices within our communities.

to make sure that it’s long term and not just something that’s temporary.”

Rebecca Thorpe, engagement lead for Blue Zones Project – Walla Walla Valley, also emphasizes the importance of working across all community sectors to ensure sustainable change. “[Blue Zones Project] encounters the whole community rather than an individual, because it’s hard for an individual to make change when their surroundings don’t support it,” she says. “What we do is we try to create a way in which the surroundings can support healthier choices.”

Programs, Projects and Practices There are myriad projects, programs and practices promoted by the Blue Zones Project, many of which overlap with the services provided by park and recreation agencies, such as physical fitness programs, nutrition classes, creating green spaces and more.

One core practice that many Blue Zones communities adopt is that of finding your purpose through purpose workshops. “Being connected and feeling like you are contributing and knowing your ‘why,’ or knowing your purpose, [are] probably the most important [aspects] of health and wellness, even above exercise and diet,” says Thorpe.

Another related yet unique practice is that of developing “moais,” or social support groups. According to Thorpe, “moai” is a word from Okinawa, Japan, that means people coming together for a like purpose. “In their community, children were put together at a very

According to Blue Zones research, there are nine facets of our daily life that can lead to improved health and well-being:

Move Naturally – Physical fitness doesn’t have to mean running a marathon or hitting the gym. Many of the world’s healthiest people find ways to incorporate movement naturally into their routine, such as walking to work or taking up active hobbies, like gardening.

Find Your Purpose –

Finding your purpose has been proven to add seven years to life expectancy.

Down Shift – While stress can’t always be avoided, it is important to find routines that help to alleviate stress, such as meditation, naps or dedicated time with family and friends.

Follow the 80 Percent Rule – Stop eating once you feel 80 percent full, or until you feel “not hungry” rather than “full.”

Practice Plant Slant – In each of the longest-lived communities across the globe, people tend to eat meat only five times per month on average. Additionally, beans are a crucial component of their diet.

Drink Wine at Five – Drinking alcohol moderately and regularly (one to two glasses per day) — or while out to dinner with friends — can help to improve health and well-being.

Find Belonging – Many of the healthiest people across the world find belonging in a faith-based community, regardless of denomination.

Put Loved Ones First –

Keeping aging parents close to home and investing time and love into children and family is a cornerstone of some of the happiest and healthiest people.

Find the Right Tribe – Research shows that both healthy and unhealthy behaviors are contagious, so having a social circle that promotes healthy behaviors is crucial to leading a healthy lifestyle.

To learn more, visit tinyurl.com/nhe74mk3.

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says Delfin. What’s more, she says safe streets lead to opportunities for students to take part in walking school buses, or groups of children walking to school together with the guidance of adults. Similar to the moais, this fosters both natural movement and social connection.

Across the board, the projects and programs advanced by the Blue Zones Project are rooted in the Power Nine® — nine practices that are important to integrate into daily life, in order to enhance overall health and wellness (see sidebar on page 41 for more information).

Assessing Community Need While all communities can benefit

PHOTO COURTESY OF BLUE ZONES PROJECT – WALLA WALLA VALLEY

young age…and their moai would grow up together.” In Walla Walla Valley, the moais consist of walking groups, “but it’s more about the social connection than it is about moving, even though moving is really important,” she says.

In Hawaii, one primary focus for creating healthier communities has been creating safer streets to improve walkability and bikeability. However, in addition to ensuring there are safe walking and bike paths, they also have taken a creative approach. “We do projects like painted bulb outs [curb extensions]. It creates a focus on the street where people naturally slow down when they see it…[which] makes it safer for people to cross,”

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from health and wellness practices, the specific needs of any given community vary widely. In order to determine how they can best help to improve well-being within a community, Blue Zones Project staff work directly with community leaders and members to first assess what types of projects and programs the community could most benefit from and are most interested in participating in.

“As communities are selected, there is a discovery phase that we go through to try and see and assess what’s happening in the community — what areas are their strong suits and what areas need most help and improvement,” says Delfin. “We will hold focus groups in the community and invite everyone to come and have a say in what they want to see done with this project. That’s usually where we find the leaders in that community as well, besides the elected officials.

Doing those focus groups, you identify: ‘Who are the key players in the community? What are the immediate needs that they want to see happen?’ and ‘How can we help them with that?’”

Thorpe explains that in Walla Walla Valley, they begin by addressing the health and wellness of the people who work for the city and will be the ones to implement well-being practices long term, such as park and recreation professionals. “We’re trying to create some nice programming and policies within their work sites, so that they feel more supported and healthy,” she says.

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PHOTO COURTESY OF KELLY BLACK

In addition, Thorpe says to assess community need they also go straight to the source — the residents — and communicate in the ways that those community members are most comfortable interacting. “We do two things. We work with a lot of community partners.

[These] are boots-on-the-ground people who are talking to our friends and neighbors every day….

And we, actually, walk the neighborhoods with fliers and talk to people,” she says. “When they see that you’re going to them and that you’re asking, ‘What do you need?

What do you want?’ there’s a lot more reciprocity. They get invested and they’re like, ‘I’m going to be invested in this because they’re invested in me.’”

Making Health and Wellness a Reality “What I’ve learned is that there is no big secret, you know, it’s quite simple,” says Delfin. “It’s just, communities have a difficult time putting everything together, and that’s where Blue Zones Project comes in. We bring everyone to the table, we build that bridge, so everyone’s talking together, and we help to streamline a lot of things.”

What’s more, Thorpe says that any community can start taking steps today to either begin or improve their health and wellness journey. “Doing a Blue Zones Project is awesome, and I recommend it for any community. But if there’s a community that isn’t ready… there are still things you can do.

Having a social circle that promotes healthy behaviors is crucial to leading a healthy lifestyle.

Parks and rec can be a huge part of that, too. They can do these kinds of projects,” she says.

Though not every community will become a Certified Blue Zones community, each has the ability to implement many of the evidence-based practices learned through Blue Zones research and case studies. What’s more, park and recreation professionals already operate within the center of communities, making them perfectly situated to promote these practices widely.

Lindsay Hogeboom is Associate Editor and Writer for Parks & Recreation magazine (lhogeboom@nrpa.org).

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Making

Wellness More Inclusive An Indiana community and recreation center embraces equitable design

By Brent Ross and Dylan Fischer

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he West Lafayette Wellness Center in Indiana, a community facility more than five years in the making, opened in 2021 to fulfill longstanding needs in the city. With gymnasiums, a fitness center, multipurpose spaces and meeting rooms, a hybrid activity pool, and a child-watch area, the Wellness Center expands upon existing parks department program offerings. While the facility has all the necessary components of a modern recreation center, its true success lies within the intentional outreach, planning and design around inclusivity and equitability.

In 2016, as the West Lafayette Parks and Recreation department began planning a new community and recreation center, it sought input from community members, park and recreation facility users, and accessibility advocates to gather feedback on community needs and preferences for the department’s first indoor recreation space. Special effort was made to obtain input from groups that are typically underrepresented in community outreach efforts — teens, over-obligated parents, cultural and social minorities, and users with special needs. For years, an inclusive wellness center had been a priority for the city — and this was clearly expressed in community feedback seeking a facility welcoming to all. “We wanted to provide each member of the community [with] the feeling of belonging and broaden the programming the parks and recreation department provides,”

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PHOTOS © JAMES STEINKAMP PHOTOGRAPHY

While the West Lafayette Wellness Center in Indiana has all the necessary components of a modern recreation center, its true success lies within the intentional outreach, planning and design around inclusivity and equitability.

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I N C LU S IVE W E L L N ESS

says Kevin Noe, director of the new West Lafayette Wellness Center.

The intentional and consistent outreach by the parks and recreation department and their consultant teams has led to a new highly utilized community facility. The Wellness Center has succeeded in bringing the community together and fulfilling those well-known needs.

Non-binary Facilities As architecture firm Perkins&Will conducted a feasibility study in 2017, the design team was determined that the prospective project meet both the financial goals for City of West Lafayette and the needs within the community. Fast forward to 2018, when West Lafayette was ready to get the design of the facility underway, the city had just passed a resolution allowing people to use the restroom facility of the gender that they identified with within public facilities. This prompted a study of current binary restroom design and how it functioned in today’s society. The design team at Perkins&Will studied other projects and research in the area of non-binary facilities. “Stalled!,” a

study that explored design possibilities for inclusive restroom design, was a source of inspiration. Some of Perkins&Will’s earlier projects in Canada with combined change and locker areas for aquatics facilities served as a valuable resource for technical details and execution.

Conventional multi-fixture restrooms and locker rooms present barriers for many groups. For example, when children reach a certain age, parents struggle with letting their child go into a bathroom alone. Other barriers include: aging seniors who avoid leaving their home due to privacy issues; when parents of special needs children or special needs adults don’t have community places and spaces that can also accommodate them; and people of all ages who struggle with body confidence issues.

Perkins&Will’s research uncovered the true benefit of non-binary facilities with enhanced privacy: the ability to address all of these concerns.

A revised restroom design has the ability to meet the mission of inclusivity for City of West Lafayette and to meet the needs of the community.

One question remained: how would

the public react to a new restroom and locker room convention? A space that patrons have been accustomed to that handles some of their most private activities suddenly looking and functioning differently had some educational challenges to overcome.

Overcoming Challenges The design changed to address concerns around privacy and security.

A key concern is the typical locker area in which people have differing expectations for privacy and behavior leading to discomfort and stress.

For the design team, the importance of delineating between private and public space was the main challenge — providing clear sightlines through the locker and lavatory areas assists users in understanding which “zone” they are in. Visual connections and ease of movement are central to safety and security in the inclusive locker rooms and restrooms.

In 2019, this design exploration was all on paper, but not everyone was convinced. However, the city was confident that the facility design that emerged would offer increased benefit for the community.

In the completed design, handwashing stations and locker areas are clearly visible through glass partitions and open connections to the gym and aquatics center. Security is paramount: signage clearly marks zones for changing rooms and showers; toilets have full-length doors instead of stall doors. “It is important to remember that privacy is at the core of every conversation about inclusive locker room and restroom facilities: the desire to use facilities that are easier and safer for users — regardless of their The pool provides multiple accessible entry points to accommodate different users’ preferences: a chair lift, steps and railing, and zero-depth entry.

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ability, gender, age or family status — stems from our basic human need to belong,” says Lindsey Peckinpaugh, design team member and principal and managing director of the Chicago studio. Parks and Recreation Superintendent Kathryn Lozano adds, “The inclusive locker rooms ensure privacy for every individual and safety for all.”

The center’s inclusive restrooms and locker rooms are designed to be used by all members and visitors and are the first of their kind in the state. When the Wellness Center opened to the public, there was a period of adjustment for users. The park and recreation department continues to provide orientations, and answers questions regarding the design and use of the facilities.

“The biggest obstacle to overcome was educating the public on the inclusive model used in the restroom and shower facilities,” says Noe. “Once people begin to understand the model and the benefits, more and more individuals [will] embrace the design.”

Adapting to the facility flow and operation was challenging for some, but the non-binary restroom facilities won over community members and continues to be broadly supported.

Operationally, the layout makes it far easier to clean and change single rooms at a time without disturbing guests using the private areas of the facilities. “This feature became very important during the [coronavirus] (COVID-19) pandemic,” says Lozano. Initial community surveys post-occupancy found strong support for the inclusive restrooms and lockers, citing ease of use, clearly-marked signage and security measures, and, more broadly, as one community member notes, “a symbol of appreciation for all.” According to another community member: “By changing the way that the bathroom facilities

are addressed, it doesn’t feel like a special effort was made to include or exclude anyone. Instead, the way everyone utilizes the space leaves no reason for gender to be a factor.”

Inclusive Amenities Designing around inclusivity didn’t start and stop at the locker room and restroom facilities. Principles of Universal Design — the practice of creating environments that can be experienced in the same way by the greatest number of people possible, regardless of ability or background — were employed throughout the facility. These measures include clear wayfinding, an indoor childwatch area, enhanced accessibility, and wider doors for sport wheelchairs. The pool provides multiple accessible entry points to accommodate different users’ preferences: a chair lift, steps and railing, and zero-depth entry. Ramps connect different depth areas of the pool as well. These small differences allow community members with different abilities the opportunity to use and experience the facility in the same manner leading to less stress and increased overall well-being.

Sweeping views from one end of the building to another, direct access to outdoor patios and terraces, and multipurpose community and fitness spaces designed for flexibility — from youth camps to senior fitness classes and social events — all are designed to encourage participation and community engagement. Improving wellness in many communities is about improving awareness and access. Making users feel welcome and comfortable at parks and facilities is critical to park and recreation departments’ missions everywhere.

Key Takeaways A key lesson from the community

planning and design of the West Lafayette Wellness Center is the role such centers can play in bringing people from a wider spectrum of life together, promoting social cohesion and resilience within our communities — an especially important aspect now given the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic. After a prolonged time of social isolation, we understand just how important these spaces are and how especially important they are to sensitive groups within our communities.

“This is an all-encompassing wellness and recreation center that is instantly welcoming, bright and open, and unique to this community,” says Noe. In fact, park districts and park departments from Indiana and neighboring states continue to tour the facility to see the building in action.

Others also are choosing to explore inclusive designs for their restroom and locker facilities, as is the Park District of Oak Park’s Community Recreation Center, which is currently under construction. “It’s our belief that we are on the cutting edge of a process that will quickly become the norm of public facility design going forward,” says Noe. “Inclusion is an issue that affects everyone and covers a variety of different individuals. By building an inclusive facility, City of West Lafayette shows that it cares about its citizens and takes into account the privacy of members and guests.”

To hear Brent Ross and Dylan Fischer speak more about the West Lafayette Wellness Center, tune in to the June bonus episode of Open Space Radio at nrpa.org/June2022Bonus Episode.

Brent Ross is Recreation and Entertainment Practice Leader at Perkins&Will (brent.ross@perkinswill.com). Dylan Fischer is Project Architect at Perkins&Will (dylan.fischer@perkinswill.com).

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OPERATIONS Shade Revitalizes West End Park

By Josh Gaunt

I

n 2018, an EF-3 tornado touched down on Marshalltown, Iowa, hitting downtown and West End Park, devastating the area. An old shelter was destroyed at the park during the event along with the majority of trees that were there.

PHOTO COURTESY OF JEREMIAH MURPHY, ROMTEC POST SALES

Two large cottonwood trees remained, but the loss of the 20 other older trees created a huge need for a shade structure. Although many trees have been replanted in the ensuing years, there still isn’t a lot of shade in the park.

13th Street District, a local nonprofit organization located in Marshalltown, had started to develop different community events around the time of the tornado.

They were working with the city of Marshalltown on replacing the old shelter before the tornado hit.

“In the development plans for the renovation of West End Park, we discussed with the 13th Street District how the park could be better utilized for daily use, as well as larger special events,” says City of Marshalltown Parks and Recreation Director Geoff Hubbard.

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“That’s when 13th Street District reached out to Romtec to design for us a shelter that could serve both purposes.”

13th Street District purchased the design and supply of the new custom shelter for City of Marshalltown. The custom pavilion is 25 by 30 feet, featuring a single-slope roof and steel columns.

It works as a shade shelter daily, but also it is used as an amphitheater for larger events.

Close to the shelter is a natural play area, board walk and sidewalks for accessibility.

“The shade structure allows patrons playing in the futsal court or in the park to get out of the sun,” says Neil Dalal, 13th Street District board member. “The structure being much larger than the previous shelter, an entire band can be under the

The newly renovated West End Park includes sidewalks and boardwalks for accessibility.

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shade during the hot afternoon sun.

We also felt it would be a great spot to start, end or take a break when using the Iowa River’s Edge Trail.”

This is a new trail that is .0.8 of a mile away from West End Park and will stretch 34 miles long.

“We have the Marshalltown Municipal Band perform there weekly in the summertime, it was basecamp for a futsal soccer camp last summer, home for Yoga in the Park, and has held several other musical events,” Hubbard says. “It has become the centerpiece of the park and gets used on a daily basis. The Romtec pavilion provides that shade element that is currently missing in most of the park.”

A single-slope shelter like this is a great option for parks seeking a low-cost amphitheater design that also provides shade and cover.

“We were looking for a shelter [that] looked modern, yet simple, enhanced the park and was cost effective,” Dalal says. “We had a set max budget, which was using local grant dollars and Romtec was able to provide a shelter [that] fit our criteria and budget.”

Future plans at the park call for a concession building that includes restrooms and serves as a tornado shelter.

The goal of building the pavilion was to bring people together in the community as an amphitheater for events while also providing shelter for those enjoying the outdoor park, trails and futsal facilities.

Josh Gaunt is a Content Writer at Romtec, Inc. (jgaunt@romtec.com).

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(ISSN 0031-2215) is published monthly by the National Recreation and Park Association, 22377 Belmont Ridge Rd., Ashburn, VA 20148, a service organization supported by membership dues and voluntary contributions.

Copyright ©2022 by the National Recreation and Park Association. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. Opinions expressed in signed articles are those of the writers and not necessarily those of NRPA. Issued to members at the annual subscription price of $30, included in dues. Subscription: $46 a year in the U.S.; $56 elsewhere. Single copy price: $7. Library rate: $58 a year in the U.S.; $68 elsewhere. Periodical postage paid at Ashburn, Virginia, and at additional mailing offices. Editorial and advertising offices at 22377 Belmont Ridge Rd., Ashburn, VA 20148. 703.858.0784. Postmaster, send address changes to Parks & Recreation, 22377 Belmont Ridge Rd., Ashburn, VA 20148.

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Park Bench

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PHOTO COURTESY OF

Recreation professionals can create summer camp experiences that are rewarding for every child.

Y OF NE PHOTO COURTES

T” TION DEPARTMEN WMARKET RECREA

Recognizing one summer camper’s parents at a social event this spring, I was happy to introduce myself as a recreation department staff member, and to say our staff was glad to see their child was already registered for our full 2022 summer session. Eyes brightened, smiles grew on their faces, and I learned our camp is the only camp or school program their child never faked sickness to avoid attending for a day. We laughed, discovered what else we had in common and continued to circulate through the event. Thinking back on how our town’s summer camp was such a comfortable place for their child, I found three main themes: First, “downtime” is planned and carefully orchestrated, so only a few campers are “down” at any given time. Bio breaks, time to fill water bottles and transition times are preplanned, and the campers are familiarized with the daily agenda, which includes these less structured times. Camp staff are aware of how to keep the children occupied, with time during lunch being arranged so as not to overlap other groups in the concession stand lines. Minimized unstructured time removes opportunities for children to lose their group cohesiveness.

Second, considerations are always made as to how teams for group activities are formed. Participants’ social interactions used to be the main consideration when dividing into camp activity groups. Now, effective summer camp groups are formed by age, grade level, and skills or abilities.

Finally, we understand some campers are there because of adult work schedules or other family considerations. Many times, these participants arrive with less enthusiasm than other children who were included in the process of selecting a camp program.

Each aspect of creating a summer camp environment that is conducive to excellent experiences, rewarding for the child, and gives parents and caregivers a strong sense of value-for-dollar, can bring stress to recreation professionals. Recognizing ways to alleviate stress means looking in new places, in new ways.

One day during summer camp last year, I was aware of a camper having a rough day, or more accurately, a “meltdown.” My first thoughts went to, “How can I help? Should I intervene?” With my experiences as an educator and school administrator, I was instantly drawn to the situation. I watched and listened from a close distance, hearing how the camp counselor was handling the situation. As they spoke in several short sentences, in a calming voice, and led the child to the vicinity of a picnic table in the shade, I overheard the most noteworthy sentence of all: “There’s nothing going wrong here that we can’t fix.” I repeated that in my head often this past year. I hope these summer camp planning considerations and the wise quote overheard during a difficult situation help you to develop a rewarding summer camp experience to ensure every child has an experience “not to be missed.” Remember, there’s nothing going wrong that you can’t fix!

– Cris Blackstone, Community Communications Coordinator, Newmarket Recreation Department

OLIVIA FALCIGNO

Planning Successful Summer Camps

PHOENIX, ARIZONA SEPTEMBER 20-22, 2022

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PARKS & RECREATION JUNE 2022 ◆ THE HEALTH AND WELLNESS ISSUE ◆ COMMUNITY WELLNESS HUBS ◆ GETTING INTO THE BLUE ZONE