Parks & Recreation Magazine October 2020

O C TO B E R 2020 N R PA .O RG

BUILDING RACIAL EQUITY Race Forward’s Glenn Harris

2020 NRPA ANNUAL CONFERENCE ISSUE

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P&R Professionals Embrace Inclusive Youth Sports The Green Infrastructure Connection Tennis Nets Big Gains for P&R

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contentsoctober 2020 volume 55 | number 10 | parksandrecreation.org

During the COVID-19 pandemic, tennis has allowed athletes to enjoy the outdoors and stay engaged with friends while staying safe.

FEATURES

46 Glenn Harris: An Advocate for Racial Equity and Social Justice Vitisia Paynich

The president of the new Race Forward and publisher of Colorlines addresses the opportunity for park and recreation professionals to advance equitable practices in their communities.

50 Designing a Safe, Green Schoolyard Barton Robison

In a community that has faced systemic racism, economic collapse and stark health disparities, the creation of a green schoolyard at a local elementary school represents a step toward a healthier, more equitable future.

6

Parks & Recreation

56 COVID-19 and the Changing Face of Youth Sports Jon Solomon

Learn how park and recreation professionals are emerging as key leaders in ensuring a more fair, just and inclusive model for youth sports leagues, especially during COVID-19 response and recovery.

62 Tennis Is Driving Success Mary Helen Sprecher

Three cities discuss how they have reconstructed, renovated and realigned their tennis facilities to achieve maximum impact and elevate community involvement through the sport.

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2020 NRPA ANNUAL CONFERENCE: A VIRTUAL EXPERIENCE

68 Grand Avenue Park: The Heart of the Community for Nearly a Century 72 Education Highlights 74 Virtual Programming 75 Answering Your Questions About the 2020 NRPA Annual Conference: A Virtual Experience 76 Product Preview

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columns

contents october

10 Perspectives Embracing Future Opportunities Jack Kardys

departments

12 Editor’s Letter NRPA Rolls Out the Virtual Red Carpet Vitisia Paynich

14 We Are Parks and Recreation Welcoming the 2020–2021 NRPA Board of Directors 14 NRPA Parks Build Community Project Wins National Award 20 Daniel L. Dustin, Ph.D., to Receive 2020 Pugsley Award 20 Autumn Saxton-Ross Joins NRPA as Vice President of Education and Chief Equity Officer 22 Arts and Culture in Parks and Recreation 24 Connect Hot Topics 26 Member Benefit: NRPA-Sponsored Insurance Programs for Members 26

30 Finance for the Field Capturing Proximate Premiums by Excess Acquisition John L. Crompton, Ph.D.

32 Advocacy Ballot Initiatives for Dedicated Park Funding Exhibit Resilience During COVID-19 Elvis Cordova

34 Health and Wellness

28 Research

Virtual Programming: Innovation in the Midst of a Global Crisis Lesha Spencer-Brown, MPH, CPH, and Lauren Kiefert, MPH

As Park and Recreation Funding Falls, Demand Grows Kevin Roth

36 Equity

29 Park Pulse

Painting the Way to an Equitable Built Environment Through Public Art Eduardo Sida

Public Support for Dedicated Park and Recreation Funding Is Strong

78 Operations

38 Conservation

Raise Your Voice for Healthier and Safer Swimming Kristie Riester

Empowering Nonprofits’ Switch to Solar Mark Parsons

80 Park Essentials

40 Law Review COVID-19 Emergency Orders Restricted ‘Individual Liberties’ James C. Kozlowski, J.D., Ph.D.

87 Advertiser Index 88 Park Bench Simple and Invaluable Public Engagement Erin Shanaberger, PWS

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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Parks & Recreation

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PHOTO COURTESY OF RATZ ATTILA, DREAMSTIME.COM

Cover image: Photo courtesy of Tiye Rose, Race Forward

In 2018 and 2019, local voter ballot initiatives for dedicated park funding had a success rate of more than 85 percent.

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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

Embracing Future Opportunities It seems like just last week when I transitioned to the NRPA board chair role during the 2018 NRPA Annual Conference in Indianapolis, Indiana, with three things in mind: 1) collaborating, partnering and further developing a nationwide park movement that builds on coalitions, alliances and partnerships; 2) owning the voices of NRPA’s Pillars by taking deeper dives into research and data delivery, especially in the areas of resiliency, urban revitalization and economic impact; and 3) returning to NRPA’s roots by rebuilding our philanthropic capacity.

As the board developed an agenda focused on a new strategic plan, President and CEO Barbara Tulipane announced her retirement, and a national recruitment for a new leader and subsequent reorganization at headquarters began. After eight months of due diligence, our board transition team ultimately selected Kristine Stratton to lead NRPA. And, despite a national pandemic creating chaos throughout the nation, this incredible board of directors and Kristine’s leadership team collectively developed an amazing work plan that included: • Finalizing a five-year actionable and inspirational Strategic Plan built on our pillars of community Health and Wellness, Equity and Conservation • Establishing a board Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Task Force that developed internal-and external-facing strategies and established a new vice president of education and chief equity officer • Initiating cooperative international agreements with our counterparts in Canada, Mexico and Australia • Leading the public policy charge to get the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) Great Outdoors Act permanently signed into law • Creating a development manager position at headquarters and re-energizing philanthropy, while connecting and leveraging it with corporate sponsorships • Establishing new partnerships with our state affiliates at the Council of State Executive Directors (CSED), City Park Alliance and World Urban Parks to drive the Parks Movement effort NRPA’s leadership inside and outside of the United States in COVID-19 response and park reopening has been our biggest challenge and most critical success.

Rather than allow it to threaten our momentum, we used data analytics to establish a new normal, with the biggest decision of all being to pivot from a physical conference to a virtual conference format.

10 Parks & Recreation

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As I wrap up my tenure as board chair, I want to thank the incredible volunteers who have worked so hard these past two years as your NRPA Board of Directors! And, as I look ahead, here are just some of our opportunities: • We can continue to serve as the beacon for best practices in our profession by developing a comprehensive continuum of professional development that creates a common language, standards and measurement, and connects academics, certification, accreditation and Gold Medal recognition • We can work with our state associations, allied park nonprofits and World Urban Parks to ensure the strategies for our pandemic recovery and the projected budgetary impacts are mitigated to every extent possible through durable and coordinated advocacy that focuses on revenue stabilization and infrastructure stimulus • As we advance community health and equity, we can level the economic playing field and re-establish our role in youth sports, working with the President’s Council on Sports, Physical Fitness and Nutrition • As a key component of a national Parks Movement, we can continue building on the 10 Minute Walk movement to include the establishment of local “park districts” with permanent, dedicated and sustainable funding in every community across this nation • Without reinventing the wheel, we can learn so much from our international partners, like the Canadian “Parks for All” model, and create a similar unified national public policy framework for parks and recreation in the United States And, if a Parks Movement is to mean anything, we must infuse intelligence and human compassion into today’s political dialogue, actively managing our parks systems and transcending party politics to speak up for what is right, and defend what will endure as tributes to healing and social justice throughout our nation’s public parks. To do that, we must believe that we are strong, we are confident, we are selfless, we are passionate, we are driven and we are essential. WE ARE PARKS AND RECREATION!

JACK K ARDYS Chair, NRPA Board of Directors

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 Jack Kardys J. Kardys Strategies Miami, Florida

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

Chair-Elect Michael P. Kelly Chicago Park District Chicago, Illinois Treasurer Jesús Aguirre, CPRE

Carolyn McKnight-Fredd, CPRP

City of Bristol Parks & Recreation Bristol, Connecticut

parksandrecreation.org

Seattle Parks and Recreation Seattle, Washington

Herman Parker

@parksrecmag

Previously with BREC Dallas, Texas

Joshua Medeiros, Ed.D., CPRP, AFO

Secretary Carolyn McKnight-Fredd, CPRP

Formerly of City of San Diego, California, Parks and Recreation Department San Diego, California

Previously with BREC Dallas, Texas

Ian Proud

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

Jesús Aguirre, CPRE Seattle Parks and Recreation Seattle, Washington

Hayden Brooks American Realty Corporation Austin, Texas

Kong Chang City of Saint Paul Parks and Recreation Saint Paul, Minnesota

Kevin Coyle, J.D.

Playworld Systems Williamsport, Pennsylvania

Nonet T. Sykes Atlanta Beltline, Inc. Atlanta, Georgia

Xavier D. Urrutia Alamo Colleges District San Antonio, Texas

Blog

Philip Wu, M.D. Formerly of Kaiser Permanente Northwest Region Portland, Oregon

nrpa.org/blog

LIFE TRUSTEES Beverly D. Chrisman Lexington, South Carolina

Jose Felix Diaz

James H. Evans

Ballard Partners Miami, Florida

New York, New York

NRPA

Fort Mill, South Carolina

Rosemary Hall Evans

Victor Dover

Sugar Hill, New Hampshire

Dover, Kohl & Partners Town Planning Miami, Florida

Earl T. Groves

Richard Gulley

Charles E. Hartsoe, Ph.D.

J. Kardys Strategies Miami, Florida

@openspaceradio

City of Las Vegas Parks and Recreation Las Vegas, Nevada

Anne S. Close

Jack Kardys

(or your favorite podcast app)

Greg A. Weitzel, M.S., CPRP

National Wildlife Federation Reston, Virginia

City of San Diego Parks and Recreation Department San Diego, California

openspaceradio.org

Gastonia, North Carolina Richmond, Virginia

CONNECT

nrpaconnect.org nrpa.org/connect-app

NRPA SOCIAL MEDIA

Harry G. Haskell, Jr.

@NationalRecreationandParkAssociation

Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania

@nrpa_news

Kathryn A. Porter Mendham, New Jersey

@nrpa

Michael P. Kelly

Perry J. Segura

National Recreation and Park Association

Chicago Park District Chicago, Illinois

New Iberia, Louisiana

R. Dean Tice

Karen Bates Kress

Round Hill, Virginia

Park Advocate Emigrant, Montana

Eugene A. Young, CPRP

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

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Parks & Recreation

11

EDITOR’S LET TER

NRPA Rolls Out the Virtual Red Carpet The NRPA team is gearing up for the 2020 NRPA Annual Conference: A Virtual Experience (NRPA Virtual), which will take place October 27 to 29. Due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, we shifted from our initially planned in-person conference in Orlando, Florida, to an online event. Nevertheless, we are excited to provide NRPA members and the entire park and recreation community an alternative venue for exchanging ideas with colleagues, learning from subject matter experts and honoring our friends in the field. What’s more, we’re rolling out the red carpet to our first-ever virtual exhibit hall, where you can visit exhibitors’ booths and view their latest products and service offerings.

In this special conference issue, you’ll find further details in the Conference Highlights section beginning on page 72 — from fun, interactive virtual events to a sampling of some noteworthy education sessions. Just like our physical conference, NRPA will present engaging keynote speakers who will bring their in-depth expertise and thought-provoking insights to trending topics throughout the three-day event.

Among our featured speakers is Glenn Harris, president of the new Race Forward, a nonprofit racial justice organization, and publisher of Colorlines. He will kick off our Opening General Session on Tuesday, October 27. In the cover story, “Glenn Harris: An Advocate for Racial Equity and Social Justice,” on page 46, Harris addresses topics, such as racial justice as well as what park and recreation professionals can do to build racial equity in communities throughout the country.

“Parks are essential public spaces, and equitable use and design of parks are a powerful exemplar of multiracial democracy in practice,” Harris says.

Equity, as it applies to health and conservation, is another topic that no doubt will be top of mind during NRPA Virtual. In the feature article, “Designing a Safe, Green Schoolyard,” on page 50, contributor Barton Robison explains how green infrastructure played a vital role in fostering racial and health equity in a community plagued by racism and under investment located in Chiloquin, Oregon. “Parks and green spaces provide an opportunity to heal, and the green schoolyard in Chiloquin is an example of how green spaces and public parks can be intentionally designed to improve community health equity,” Robison writes.

Next, in the feature story, “COVID-19 and the Changing Face of Youth Sports,” on page 56, contributor Jon Solomon explores how “the coronavirus response and recovery are providing park and recreation professionals with a chance to emerge as key leaders in ensuring a more fair, just and inclusive model of youth sports.”

Lastly, in the article, “Tennis Is Driving Success,” on page 62, contributor Mary Helen Sprecher shares how free programs offered by the United States Tennis Association (USTA) have helped three major U.S. cities — Memphis (Tennessee), Orlando (Florida) and Birmingham (Alabama) — achieve their park and recreation goals.

If you haven’t already done so, I highly encourage you to register for NRPA Virtual at nrpa. org/Conference. It will be a park and recreation event you won’t want to miss. See you later this month!

VITISIA “VI” PAYNICH Executive Editor Print and Online Content 12

Parks & Recreation

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PRESIDENT AND CEO Kristine Stratton VICE PRESIDENT OF COMMUNICATIONS AND CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER Gina Mullins-Cohen gcohen@nrpa.org EXECUTIVE EDITOR, PRINT AND ONLINE CONTENT Vitisia Paynich vpaynich@nrpa.org ASSOCIATE EDITOR Lindsay Hogeboom lhogeboom@nrpa.org WEB EDITOR Jennifer Fulcher-Nguyen jnguyen@nrpa.org PUBLICATION DESIGN Kim Mabon/Creative By Design CreativeByDesign.net SENIOR CORPORATE DEVELOPMENT OFFICER, WESTERN REGION, MEXICO AND ASIA-PACIFIC Michelle Dellner 949.248.1057 mdellner@nrpa.org SENIOR CORPORATE DEVELOPMENT OFFICER, EASTERN REGION AND EUROPE Lindsay Shannon 703.858.2178 lshannon@nrpa.org DEVELOPMENT COORDINATOR Meghan Fredriksen 703.858.2190 mfredriksen@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 Anne-Marie Spencer Stephen Springs

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WE ARE PARKS AND RECREATION Welcoming the 2020–2021 NRPA Board of Directors

E

ach year, during the NRPA Annual Conference, NRPA officially welcomes its incoming class of board members. NRPA’s board members are representative of its membership, which includes professional and advocate leaders in the park and recreation movement; park and recreation agencies and organizations representing the public, private, voluntary, commercial and industrial sectors; firms supplying park and recreation products and services; and individuals and civic groups interested in the park, recreation, conservation, health and equity fields. This year, we are excited to welcome five new members to the 2020– 2021 NRPA Board of Directors.

Kathy Abbott Abbott is the first president and CEO of Boston Harbor Now, an organization that partners with public agencies, community leaders, businesses and other nonprofits to realize Boston Harbor’s potential to benefit the city and region.

Upon assuming this role, Abbott has come full circle since beginning her career in college on the Harbor Islands as a park ranger to currently leading Boston Harbor Now. She is responsible for working with the

PHOTO COURTESY OF KATHY ABBOTT

Kathy Abbott, president and CEO of Boston Harbor Now.

14

Parks & Recreation

board and staff to create a welcoming and resilient harbor that benefits everyone in the Greater Boston region. Abbott has a history of leading change through public and nonprofit organizations, including advancing statewide park planning, management and land conservation, educating students and impacting resource-based economies in primarily developing countries through applied environmental studies, creating a new national park through a first-of-its-kind public-private partnership in Boston Harbor, creating and managing a statewide park system, increasing funding for public parks in Massachusetts, and growing the impact of the only year-round botanic garden in New England. She asserts that she has never done this work alone and credits great teams and collaborations for her success.

Abbott has worked locally and globally and volunteered nationally to advance the interests of urban parks as the co-chair of the City Parks Alliance. Her experience as an executive and entrepreneur in government and nonprofits uniquely qualifies her to build upon the

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successes of the current waterfront renaissance. Her proudest accomplishments have come as a volunteer working with kids throughout her career, as a former foster mother and now as a proud mom of a 30-year-old daughter. In 2016, she was named one of Boston’s Power 50 by the Boston Business Journal, and in 2018, was named one of the 100 Most Influential People in Boston by Boston Magazine. She received her degrees from the Stockbridge School of Agriculture at University of Massachusetts Amherst and Harvard University.

Angelou Ezeilo Ezeilo’s love for the environment stretches far back to when she was a little girl who had the chance to escape the dense urban streets of Jersey City, New Jersey, to summer in upstate New York.

After a brief stint of practicing law, it was through her work as a legal specialist for the New Jersey State Agriculture and Development Committee that Ezeilo embarked upon a career as an environmentalist.

She further honed her skills as a project manager for The Trust for Public Land (TPL) in both its New Jersey and Georgia offices. In her position, Ezeilo acquired land for preservation and worked on the New York/New Jersey Highlands Program, Parks for PeopleNewark, the New York/New Jersey Harbor Program in New Jersey, the Atlanta BeltLine and the 20 County Regional Greenspace Ini-

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Afro; and subcommittee member of the National Park Service’s 21st Century Conservation Corps.

Angelou Ezeilo, CEO and founder of the Greening Youth Foundation.

tiative in Georgia. While at TPL, Ezeilo realized the disconnect between the land that was being preserved and the education of people about that preservation — particularly as it related to our next generation. This was the impetus for the Greening Youth Foundation.

Under her leadership, the foundation has taken up the charge of providing environmental access to underserved children and young adults through its Public School Initiative and Youth Conservation Corps programs. Greening Youth Foundation provides its services throughout the country and in Ghana, West Africa.

Ezeilo is a graduate of Spelman College, Georgia. She received her Juris Doctorate in law from the University of Florida, College of Law. Ezeilo is a member of the National Center for Civil and Human Rights' Women's Solidarity Society and South Fork Conservancy boards; advisory board member for the Arabia Mountain National Heritage Area, The Million Mile Greenway, Inc., Keeping It Wild, Inc., and Outdoor 16

Parks & Recreation

Vinluan joined the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) in 2015 as a senior program officer.

She has been a passionate, professional advocate for health promotion and a distinguished government relations professional on a variety of health and well-being issues for two decades. Through her work at the foundation, Vinluan strives to ensure that all children in the United States have a healthy start. She views her role as “bringing new strategies and approaches to helping make sure all children get the nutritious foods and drinks they need to learn, grow and thrive.”

Previously, Vinluan served as director of the Healthier Communities Initiatives for the YMCA of the USA, which catalyzed community- and state-level leadership teams to put in place strategies and policies that enabled people to make healthy choices. The Healthier Communities Initiatives — Monica Hobbs Vinluan, senior program officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

PHOTO COURTESY OF MONICA HOBBS VINLUAN

PHOTO COURTESY OF ANGELOU EZEILO

Monica Hobbs Vinluan

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funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, RWJF and a host of other funders — created nearly 250 community teams and enacted 39,000 policy changes in advocating for physical activity, healthy eating and health equity policy strategies.

Vinluan’s experience also includes serving as a senior policy associate with the National Recreation and Park Association. She has worked with the National Women’s Law Center, the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, the National Association of Child Advocates and in the office of former U.S. Senator Charles Robb of Virginia.

Vinluan earned her Juris Doctorate at the American University Washington College of Law and her Bachelor of Arts in political science from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech).

She was the recipient of the Sandra P. Grasso Scholarship for her commitment to advancing social justice and feminism, and also was honored for her work in opening the Women’s Center at Virginia Tech.

Born in Virginia, Vinluan currently resides there with her husband and two children. She enjoys “just about any out-of-doors activities,” including hiking, camping and attending her children’s numerous sports activities.

Susie Kuruvilla Kuruvilla entered the park district world in 1997 as the superintendent of business services for Gurnee Park District in Illinois. In 2006, she was promoted as

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Susie Kuruvilla, executive director of Gurnee (Illinois) Park District.

the executive director. Kuruvilla is a certified public accountant and has worked in the private sector and in a municipality previously.

In 2010, the district won the National Gold Medal Award under Kuruvilla’s leadership. The district also achieved the Distinguished Accreditation Agency Award from the Illinois Association of Park Districts (IAPD) in 2010 and 2015. In 2013, Kuruvilla led the acquisition of a 75,000-square-foot Gold’s Gym facility and converted it into a park district-owned fitness facility named FitNation. The facility was financially successful within the first year.

Kuruvilla spearheaded a movement in Gurnee, named “GO Gurnee,” inspired by the message delivered by former U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy, at the 2015 NRPA Annual Conference. GO Gurnee encourages people to walk 30 minutes each day. The movement became so successful that it has been modeled in 25 other communities throughout Lake County in the past three years through a partnership with the Lake County Health Department.

Under Kuruvilla’s leadership, the 18

Parks & Recreation

Gurnee Park District has thrived fiLakita Watson nancially and has been part of seeWatson is a certified park and recing it grow from a small district with reation professional (CPRP) with a $3.6 million budget to a much more than 20 years of experience larger district with a budget of $17.6 in recreation program planning, million in the past 20 years. staff development, capital projKuruvilla has served on various ect implementation and strategic boards and committees and made planning. She comes from Suffolk, many contributions to the field of Virginia, where she served as the parks and recreation over the past 20 president of Virginia Recreation years. She has served on the finance and Parks Society in 2010. committees for IAPD, as well as The Virginia native currently holds the chair seat for the National the Park District Risk Management Recreation and Parks Ethnic MiAgency (PDRMA). She currentnority Society and is past chair of ly serves as the chairperson for the the National Recreation and Parks PDRMA Health Benefits CommitAssociation’s Leadership Developtee and recently joined the board of directors for HR Source. Kuruvilla is ment Network. She also founded an active member on the Joint Legisthe Women in Parks and Recreation lative Committee led by IAPD. Facebook group, which boasts more Kuruvilla is a member of the than 7,000 members after less than a local Exchange Club and Healthy year of recruitment.

Community Healthy Youth Watson attended Norfolk State (HCHY), a local organization foUniversity, where she earned her cused on the health and well-being bachelor’s degree in social work. of young adults in the community.

She is finishing a master’s degree in Kuruvilla was born and lived in public administration from Liberty India until the age of 22. Growing University. She lives in Richland County, South Carolina, with her up, she didn’t have many of the recthree children. reational opportunities available to those who were born and brought up Lakita Watson, executive director of in the United States. Richland County (South Carolina) Recreation Kuruvilla feels that Commission. her exposure and connection to the park and recreation field has changed her life in a positive way. And, she holds a strong desire to impact lives by expanding parks and recreational opportunities and improving quality of life for all.

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PHOTO COURTESY OF LAKITA WATSON

PHOTO COURTESY OF SUSIE KURUVILLA

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

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

NRPA Parks Build Community Project Wins National Award

U

rban Land Institute has announced that Trojan Park in Wellston, Missouri, the 2016 NRPA Parks Build Community project, has been awarded its 2020 Urban Open Space Award. This honor acknowledges outstanding examples of vibrant public open spaces that have been instrumental in promoting healthy, sustainable and equitable outcomes in communities.

NRPA and Great Rivers Greenway worked in concert with the city of Wellston to develop Trojan Park back in 2016. NRPA’s Parks Build Community is a national initiative aimed at demonstrating the transformative Children play on the newly renovated playground at the grand opening of Trojan Park during the 2016 NRPA Annual Conference.

value of parks on the health and vitality of communities across America and has historically included building or refurbishing a park at the location of the NRPA Annual Conference, which, in 2016, was held in St. Louis.

“We are thrilled that such a deserving park is being recognized with this prestigious national award,” says Kristine Stratton, NRPA president and CEO. “This year, we are celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Parks Build Community initiative, and this award is a prime example of how an investment in a local park makes a lasting impact on the community it serves. Building a beautiful, sustainable and culturally relevant park in a community — and seeing its transformative effect — illustrates the importance of healthy gathering places for everyone.”

O

n October 20, 2020, Daniel L. Dustin, Ph.D., will be awarded the prestigious Cornelius Armory Pugsley Medal from the American Academy for Park and Recreation Administration (AAPRA). The AAPRA Honorable Cornelius Armory Pugsley Medals are the most prestigious awards that recognize outstanding contributions by an individual to the promotion and development of public parks and conservation in the United States.

Dustin serves as a professor in the Department of Health, Kinesiology and Recreation for the University of Utah’s College of Health. He is a philosopher, teacher, mentor, environmentalist, activist, public intellectual and scholar in the field of parks and recreation. He is the author of more than 22 books, dozens of book chapters and hundreds of presentations and professional articles. Dustin’s

20 Parks & Recreation

writings and presentations focus on emerging ideas related to conservation, equity, and health and wellness, primarily through connections with the outdoors. He also has taught outdoor courses about the wilderness and human values and has provided thought-provoking insights into how careers in the outdoors provide meaningful contributions to society.

Dustin joins a distinguished list

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PHOTO COURTESY OF BILL KESHLEAR

Daniel L. Dustin, Ph.D., to Receive 2020 Pugsley Award Daniel L. Dustin, Ph.D., is the 2020 Pugsley Award Recipient.

of Pugsley Medal winners, including Stephen Mather, the founder and first director of the National Park Service; Frederick Law Olmsted, landscape architect; Bruce Babbitt and Stuart Udall, two former Secretaries of the Interior; Lamar Alexander, U.S. senator and former governor of Tennessee; and Richard J. Dolesh, NRPA’s former vice president of strategic initiatives.

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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

Autumn Saxton-Ross Joins NRPA as Vice President of Education and Chief Equity Officer

By Jennifer Fulcher

S PHOTOS COURTESY OF AUTUMN SAXTON-ROSS

everal years ago, Autumn Saxton-Ross fell in love with parks and recreation. Now all her passions and experiences are intersecting as she takes on the new role of NRPA vice president of education and chief equity officer.

Autumn Saxton-Ross joins NRPA as vice president of education and chief equity officer.

Saxton-Ross began her career as a physical education teacher in the Washington, D.C., public school system, which is when she became aware of the field of parks and recreation. “I’ve always either been in the field of parks and recreation or adjacent,” she says. Her involvement with parks and recreation as well as NRPA continued to develop as she went on to work for the D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation and then Montgomery County, Maryland, focusing on health education and programs. She also has worked at the D.C. Department of Health, Washington Parks & People, the National Collaborative for Health Equity and NatureBridge. She joins NRPA 22 Parks & Recreation

equipped with a master’s degree in health education, as well as a Ph.D. in sociology, both from Howard University. Read more about her numerous other achievements in NRPA’s press release announcing her appointment to the position (tinyurl.com/ y2jfwdgf).

“We have this infrastructure that is so integral to what we do, but people don’t really see how useful it can be,” Saxton-Ross says. She adds that parks and recreation offers numerous pieces of infrastructure and tools across the country that can build community. In the new role, SaxtonRoss explains that she wants to lift up the field, get everyone to see its importance and use its numerous assets to their full extent. “Across the country, you have parks and recreation departments, you have buildings, you have spaces, you have parks…[I recognize] how important it should be to building community,” she says.

Parks and recreation has the power to be more than just a source for “fun” — it has the potential to improve health, decrease violence, provide jobs, boost economy, build community, shift perspectives and increase Saxton-Ross explores the outdoors with her two children.

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equity and inclusion. The dedication of those in the field has true power that can bring people together, Saxton-Ross says. “By helping folks see this is something that brings money back to the community by [creating] jobs and connecting young people to this as a profession…that’s a big piece of what we should be doing, especially as we’re supporting the field for the next century.”

As Saxton-Ross takes on this new position at NRPA, she strives to shift not only how others see the field, but also how those in the field see their communities and incorporate equity into everything they do. “For so long, we’ve been a field where people have to come to us,” she says. “Now we are demanding of people to think about: How do we bring people to us?” This will require a shift to intentionally thinking about building the spaces and programs that welcome everyone, everywhere.

The first step to building diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) begins with listening. Saxton-Ross wants to learn and understand where those in the

field are, what problems they face and what resources they need. The things needed will vary depending on many different factors, such as population served, demographics and location, just to name a few. The next step will be finding similarities between these needs, developing categories and creating strategies that provide resources for these different groups. All of these strategies need to be grounded in the idea of equity, which is not providing everyone the same thing, but is giving people what they need, she says.

“I feel like education is that first step to change,” Saxton-Ross says. “It’s this idea of if you know better, you do better.” Education has to be a twopronged approach, working on both an organization level and an individual level. Individuals need to internalize messages to fully advocate for these messages externally. “If we don’t have that understanding internally, we can’t advocate it for other people,” she says.

Then, processes on an organization level must back up these commitments to DEI. “That is operationalizing equity and inclusion.”

While education is key, the “secret sauce” to DEI success is developing safe spaces for people to work through being uncomfortable with these new lessons, Saxton-Ross says.

“What’s going to be really key to… [bringing] equity and inclusion and diversity to the entire field is how… we create these spaces for people to work through those conflicting ideas and lived experiences.”

As people learn and grow, they will be better able to understand the importance of sharing these lessons with others. “We have to be intentional about our approach,” SaxtonRoss says. The policies that have created divisions in communities were intentional, so our work to fix these

problems also has to be intentional.

But the field offers a perfect place to implement change, because parks and recreation brings people together. Read more about Saxton-Ross’

view on the professionals working in the field in NRPA’s Open Space blog (nrpa.org/Blog).

Jennifer Fulcher is Web Editor at NRPA (jnguyen@nrpa.org).

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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

Arts and Culture in Parks and Recreation Resilience, Reflection, Rebuilding: Artists Respond to COVID-19

By Devin Graham

T

he arts have the remarkable ability to create a sense of togetherness, belonging and community. They can help decrease stress, loneliness and anxiety. They can provide opportunities to reflect, process experiences and feelings, imagine what our future might look like, and connect us through our common humanity. These are all things echoed in parks and recreation.

The park and recreation field has the unique opportunity to create a bridge of access to arts and culture for the community by making it attainable.

The Johnson County Arts and Heritage Center, managed by the Johnson County Park and Recreation District (JCPRD) Culture Division in Kansas, is comprised of

IMAGE COURTESY OF TIM BAIR AND JUSTIN BORDER, JOHNSON COUNTY PARK & RECREATION DISTRICT.

The mission of the JCPRD art exhibitions program is to celebrate the diversity and rich culture of our home.

24 Parks & Recreation

Fine and Performing Arts, Theatre in the Park, the Johnson County Museum and the Rentals Department. Through the Fine Arts division, this facility manages five art exhibitions each year centered around public engagement with a focus on local artists, many of whom are up-and-coming.

The mission of the JCPRD art exhibitions program is to celebrate the diversity and rich culture of our home. It is our goal to create thought-provoking exhibitions that encourage a new perspective of Johnson County’s place within the global community.

The Johnson County Museum’s remarkable team moved quickly to respond to present times by creating a historical exhibition on pandemics, called Rising to the Challenge: Suburban Strength in Difficult Times (tinyurl.com/y6yh7hwx).

They reached out to the Arts Council of Johnson County and the Fine Arts department staff within JCPRD to collaborate and discuss the power of the arts in coping with the mental strain of this pandemic.

The cover of the Resilience, Reflection, Rebuilding: Artists Respond to COVID-19 exhibition catalog, featuring artwork by Adrian Marsh. | O C TO B E R 2 02 0 | PA R K S A N D R E C R E AT I O N .O R G

Questions these three teams sought to answer were: What is happening in our world right now? How is our community coping with the ripple effects of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic? How can we become a beacon of light for our community and a resource through these challenging times?

These notions planted the seed for what would eventually become Resilience, Reflection, Rebuilding: Artists Respond to COVID-19, an art exhibition that hosts 54 local artists with 64 works of art, including painting, photography, mixed media, sculpture, textiles and multimedia (tinyurl.com/y6mgolup).

For the exhibition, the teams put out a Call for Entry (CFE) requesting local artists submit works along with an artist statement in direct response to the global pandemic.

They received more than 90 submissions from the CFE, and after difficult deliberation and with help from professional artists within the greater Kansas City region, a curatorial team narrowed the submissions down to what is currently on display. The curatorial team was comprised of myself; Allison Bowman, administrative assistant for the Arts Council of Johnson County and painter; Kwanza Humphrey, painter; Jason Piggie, photographer and videographer; and Andrew Ordonez, program supervisor for Imagine That! KC and mixed media artist.

Artist Adrian Marsh states, “…I

knew I had to make a piece to reflect this historical time period, something people could look at in the future and clearly see what was going on.” And the art exhibit is just that. As artists, historians and art advocates for a better world, we felt compelled to provide a response to this pivotal period in our global history. In doing so, we were able to provide an outlet for our community during a time of great need as an essential resource.

Through the CFE, artists were asked to create a reflection of their experiences and feelings during the COVID-19 pandemic and to consider the pandemic as a catalyst toward change.

The response from the community has been overwhelmingly positive, which has prompted the JCPRD Culture Division and our partners, the Arts Council of Johnson County, to take further action by producing companion programming. These new programs will explore mental health and support through the arts, as well as artist and historical panels in response to COVID-19. Many of these programs will be virtual.

Engaging our community’s voice in recording our present-day experience, the Johnson County Museum Foundation has underwritten a people’s choice selection through digital voting. The artwork then will be approved by the Johnson County Museum Collections Committee to become part of the museum’s permanent collection as part of its “Collecting COVID-19” initiative. The winning artist(s) will be awarded a financial prize.

Resilience, Reflection, Rebuilding: Artists Respond to COVID-19 will

be on display and free for public viewing at the Johnson County Arts and Heritage Center, located in Overland Park, Kansas, until January 22, 2021. In addition,

Devin Graham is Fine Arts Coordinator for Johnson County Park and Recreation District (devin.graham@jocogov.org).

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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

Hot Topics NRPA Connect is an online network with 64,000 professionals to answer your questions, share your challenges and discuss trending topics in the field.

Check out what is being discussed this month: Traditional holiday events during a pandemic – An NRPA member has asked the community to share ideas about hosting traditional holiday events during a pandemic, including events like trick-ortreating, parades and breakfast with Santa.

NRPA members offered the following suggestions: We will do a drive-through trick or treat at our complex the night before Halloween (in order to not conflict with neighborhood drivethrough trick or treats), a downtown Halloween scavenger hunt the week prior to Halloween where we will hide a small pumpkin at a different business each day and give clues on our social media on where to find it, and a virtual pumpkin carving/decorating contest where citizens can pick up a decorating kit from our facility, and then email us photos of their creations [that] we will then post on social media.

Typically, we do a “Scarecrow Kingdom,” in which we have [approximately] 100 scarecrows on our town green [where] families can gather ([this part is] not allowed this year) and decorate them.

Instead, we will be having our local business association take the scarecrows and decorate them for display at their business. Then, we will have clues to where they are at (sort of scavenger hunt style) so families can still do something together without being around so many people. We hope they will take pictures and share on the business associations’ and our Facebook pages.

Our Halloween Extravaganza is transforming from a traditional trick-or-treat walk through a residential neighborhood to an event with volunteer groups being masked, gloved and costumed handing out wrapped candy using “no touch” methods of distribution. They place the candy on a tray, plate or basket and allow kids to take the candy with no contact. We are looking at changing our Christmas Parade to an “upside down parade.” The floats would be stationary along the street and cars with spectators would drive past and view them. We still are trying to figure out Santa in the Park visits and photos.

Log in to connect.nrpa.org today to share ideas or chime in to the discussion!

26 Parks & Recreation

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NRPA-Sponsored Insurance Programs for Members

N

RPA offers its members insurance discount programs provided by K&K Insurance.

During these uncertain times, it is important to make sure you are keeping your department and employees safe and covered.

So, what type of coverage does NRPA offer?

Directors and Officers – Directors and Officers Liability insurance protects directors, officers, volunteers and nonprofit sports organizations themselves against claims alleging mismanagement of the organization and other exposures.

• Blanket Accident – Blanket Accident insurance is typically purchased by parks and recreation departments or municipalities to provide protection for participants engaged in both sponsored athletic and non-athletic recreational activities.

• Instructors and Interns – Instructors and Interns insurance provides important general liability protection for instructors and interns while acting within the scope of their duties granted to them by the sponsoring organization, which is typically a parks and recreation department.

• Team Sports – This combined liability and excess accident medical coverage provides valuable protection to youth and adult sports teams for multiple risks, on and off the playing field.

• Football – This combined liability and excess accident medical coverage provides protection to youth tackle, flag and touch football teams.

• Equipment Property – Equipment Property insurance provides property coverage for team inventory of sports equipment. It covers all equipment owned by the insured organization while in the building specified for storage.

For those activities your agency officially sponsors, we can offer stand-alone excess accident medical coverage for the participants, which is a way for you to provide enhanced value and an incentive for increased participation. This is not just valuable protection for you, but for your community, too!

For more information, visit nrpainsurance.com, email info@nrpainsurance.com or call 1.800.722.5676.

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RESEARCH As Park and Recreation Funding Falls, Demand Grows

By Kevin Roth

T

he damage the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has wreaked on park and recreation budgets is startling. Park and recreation professionals and their agencies have reaffirmed their essential nature throughout the public health crisis. Public parks, trails and other open spaces provided millions of people countless opportunities to improve one’s physical and mental health every day, often serving as the sole remaining respite as other services and businesses shut down. The list of different ways parks and recreation has served the public is immeasurable.

Yet even in the face of recordsetting usage, many park and recreation agencies are facing their greatest budget crisis ever. Twothirds of park and recreation leaders responding to a late-June NRPA Parks Snapshot Survey (nrpa.org/ ParksSnapshot) say they were slashing their operations budgets. The typical operations budget cut ranged between 10 and 19 percent from original levels, with 1 in 6 agencies reporting cuts of at least 30 percent.

Similarly, 3 in 5 agency leaders say they slashed capital expenditures, with typical reductions of at least half of original budgeted levels.

Unfortunately, this is not surprising. According to the 2020 NRPA Agency Performance Review (nrpa. org/APR), the typical park and recreation agency recovers more than a quarter of its annual operating budget through registration and entry fees, rental income, sponsorships, concessions and other earned revenues. At best, these revenues are challenged in a pandemic world, but for many agencies, these revenues are simply nonexistent.

Also weighing heavily on park and recreation agency budgets has been the steep decline in local and state

28 Parks & Recreation

government tax revenues. The 2020 NRPA Agency Performance Review finds more than 70 percent of operating funds at the typical agency comes from a combination of general fund and dedicated tax support.

The National League of Cities (NLC) City Fiscal Conditions 2020 report (tinyurl.com/yxlw7ctb) paints a bleak picture of the damage suffered by cities’ major revenue streams in just the first few months of the pandemic. NLC estimates sales tax revenue plummeted 10.9 percent in fiscal year 2020, as retailers and restaurants shut down or reduced operations during the spring and early summer. The sharp rise in unemployment resulted in a 3.4 percent drop in income tax revenue.

Property tax revenues held firm, rising 1.9 percent for the year. (Because of the property assessment process, it can take several years before a recession detrimentally affects property tax revenues.)

Even worse, city finance leaders are pessimistic for the future.

Eighty-seven percent of city finance officers indicate that their government will be less able to meet their 2021 fiscal year financial needs than they were in 2020.

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Respondents to the NLC survey anticipate that general fund revenues will decline 13 percent during fiscal year 2021. This is particularly noteworthy, as revenue bottomed out six years after the 2007 start of the Great Recession and was “only” off 12 percent from prerecession levels. Even more worrisome is that we do not know when the bottom of this financial crisis will occur, meaning local governments may face further fiscal challenges in the coming years.

Even as local government revenues continue to fall, the demand for their services rises in response to both the pandemic and the recession. The fiscal stress experienced by most cities, towns and counties will only expand in the coming years and will result in even greater competition among government services for funding.

But one thing is clear: the public wants high-quality parks and recreation and is willing to pay for it.

NRPA’s Park Pulse poll (nrpa.org/ ParkPulse) finds that two-thirds of U.S. adults support their local government dedicating revenues, taxes and levies that specifically target park and recreation operations and expansion projects. It is critical to share your team’s incredible contributions to every political leader, funder, stakeholder, media member and indvidual in the general public to ensure you will be there for them tomorrow.

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

NRPA PARK PULSE

Public Support for Dedicated Park and Recreation Funding is Strong

2/3 (66%) of U.S. adults want their local government to dedicate funds through revenues, taxes and levies that directly support parks and recreation.

People across all generations support dedicated park and recreation funding.

GEN X

68%

73% 72% 59% MILLENNIALS

GEN Z

BABY BOOMERS

Parents (77%) are

strong supporters of dedicated funding for local parks and recreation.

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.

FINANCE FOR THE FIELD Capturing Proximate Premiums

by Excess Acquisition

By John L. Crompton, Ph.D.

I

n a recent article featured in the Journal of Park and Recreation Administration, I explored the relevance of excess acquisition and benefit districts for addressing the contemporary challenge of how to fund city parks.

During the mid-1800s in England, the world’s first large city parks emerged in London (Regent’s, Victoria and Battersea Parks) and Liverpool (Prince’s, Birkenhead, Newsham, Stanley and Sefton Parks). However, at that time, there was no general-enabling legislation authorizing municipalities to purchase land or to develop it for a park. Consequently, these pioneering public parks were developed as central attractions in speculative real estate developments.

Developers acquired a large acreage of land and allocated approximately one-quarter of the site around the periphery for the sale or lease of lots for the construction of up-market residences for wealthy residents. It was anticipated that the attraction of the park would raise the price of lots to a level that increased the profitability of the real estate.

This was the same principle that

has been adopted in residential golf and marina developments since the 1960s in the United States. Investment in these recreation facilities was driven by the knowledge that they led to a substantial increase in a development’s lot prices.

When the concept of city parks transitioned to the United States in the 1850s, ’60s and ’70s, this principle of “value capture” was similarly prominent. The land for nearly all the early large parks in U.S. cities was obtained through eminent domain. The mechanism of “excess condemnation” (sometimes called “recoupment condemnation”) involved the taking of more land through eminent domain than was necessary for a park, selling or leasing the balance of the land when its value had appreciated after the park was created, and using the profit from the transactions to finance the project.

Figure 1 Changes in Assessed Valuations in Response to Discovery Green Park

30 Parks & Recreation

Year

Average Assessed Value Per Sq. Foot ($)

2005

87.87

2006

102.68

2007

116.77

2008

133.08

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By the early 1900s, excess condemnation for this purpose was authorized by constitutional amendment in eight states and by statutes in an additional 13 states. However, by the early 1940s the courts had ruled that when eminent domain was used to take land from an unwilling seller to subsequently sell parts of it to other private interests for a profit, it was an abrogation of private property rights and unconstitutional.

Contemporary Versions of Excess Condemnation In the current environment of a major economic recession and subsequent large decreases in local government funds for parks, the principle of “value capture” to pay for the construction and/or operation of parks is worth revisiting.

It can take a variety of forms.

As an example, the property-lease model was pioneered on a major scale by the 4,235-acre Mission Bay Park in San Diego, California (46 percent land and 54 percent water). The park was created by dredging and filling between 1945 and 1962. Upon the park’s completion, the city established two guiding financing principles designed to make it fully selfsufficient: 1) there would be no private ownership of land in the park; and 2) commercial leaseholds would not exceed 25 percent of the land area. The intent was for the commercial lease revenue to pay for the park’s operations, and any surpluses would go

to fund enhanced infrastructure and other park improvements.

Mission Bay attracts around 15 million visitors annually. Its leases to hotels, restaurants, a theme park and other commercial businesses generate large amounts of surplus revenue. Inevitably, much of this surplus has been diverted by the city for other uses. However, the basic principle of capturing the value to pay for the capital and operating costs of the public park remains intact.

Discovery Green in downtown Houston, Texas, is a 12-acre park built at a cost of $70 million. Its impact on the assessed values of surrounding properties is shown in Figure 1. In the four-year period prior to the park’s announcement in 2005 to when it was completed

in 2008, the assessed values abutting it increased by 51 percent.

The increased tax revenues created by the new park fully justified the city’s investment in it.

My city council is considering the purchase of a 105-acre site on the periphery of our city. Although it likely will be another decade before the area around it is developed, one of the financing options under review is to use economic development funds for part of the purchase price rather than park funds. This would enable the city at some future date to capture the property value that the park will create by leasing/ selling some of the acres on its periphery and use the transaction profits to partially redeem the bonds.

These examples reflect large-

scale projects, but the principle is equally applicable at a small scale.

Parks clearly create added value.

Typically, this has been a “windfall gain” for developers of the area around a park. The essence of the principle was expressed more than a century ago by Robert E. Cushman, author of Excess Condemnation: “We propose that they who sow shall reap and that the taxpayers’ money having produced the increment [of value], the taxpayers shall receive the return....” Perhaps, it is time to revisit this principle.

John L. Crompton, Ph.D., is a University Distinguished Professor, Regents Professor and Presidential Professor for Teaching Excellence in the Department of Recreation, Park and Tourism Sciences at Texas A&M University and an elected Councilmember for the City of College Station (jcrompton@tamu.edu).

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ADVOCACY

In 2018 and 2019, local voter ballot initiatives for dedicated park funding had a success rate of more than 85 percent.

Ballot Initiatives for Dedicated Park Funding Exhibit Resilience During COVID-19

By Elvis Cordova

D

uring the past few decades, local ballot initiatives for dedicated park funding have experienced a steady stream of success with voters. These ballot initiatives have provided local governments with special funding mechanisms — such as bonds and dedicated taxes — that can finance parks and land conservation projects. These types of ballot measures have become very popular throughout the country, because they provide municipalities with viable options for sustaining new investments to grow and transform the green spaces, parks and quality of life for their residents. Recent data shows that in 2018 and 2019, local voter ballot initiatives for dedicated park funding had a success rate of more than 85 percent. Given the severe economic challenges being experienced by state and local governments due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, one would imagine that this trend would have buckled in 2020. Surprisingly, we are seeing that these types of local ballot initiatives continue to maintain a relatively comparable degree of support. By our count, there have been nearly a dozen local ballot initiatives (so far) that are linked to dedicated funding for park and conservation projects throughout the country. This notable incidence is a sign that voters continue to embrace these types of funding mechanisms even in a difficult economic climate.

It is important to note that there are many variables that can influence the success of these initiatives.

32 Parks & Recreation

Generally, a thoughtfully crafted mix of robust public opinion research, strong grassroots communi-

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ty advocacy, clear ballot language, a positive and professional campaign, and the support from pivotal elected officials can lead to the success of these types of ballot initiatives.

These aspects have been incorporated into many campaigns that have resulted in successful ballot initiatives over the years and throughout the country. Developing an effective campaign strategy that is driven by the clear identification of community needs, relevant programming/ operational recommendations, consideration of voter preferences, and the timing of the election is vital toward achieving success. In short, having a campaign that is clear, specific and transparent is beneficial to the overall success of the initiative.

It is important to underscore that last element; transparency. Being

open and straightforward about how the funds will be utilized can assure voters that the money raised will be used for a project they consider an important community priority. Transparency is a critical element to the success of these ballot initiatives.

While the full scope of the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic remain to be seen, the ongoing occurrence of these local ballot initiatives provides a potential bright spot for the future of the field. The recent passage of the Great American Outdoors Act displayed strong bipartisan support for legislation that enhances outdoor recreation opportunities, local park improvement projects and sensible land conservation measures. Moreover, given the recent uptick in

public appreciation for local parks, it will be interesting to see if that inclination translates to continued support for these local ballot initiatives in the voting booth. As we enter the next fiscal year, municipal budgetary constraints are severely impacting the economic resources available to the park and recreation field. These ballot initiatives appear to provide voters with a direct opportunity to make judgments on the amount and purposes of government spending for relevant park improvements and land conservation projects in their communities.

As the economic reverberations of the pandemic further develop, we will be closely monitoring how it impacts the voters’ appetite for these particular ballot initiatives.

We are very interested to see if the

aforementioned elements that have led to past success for these ballot initiatives remain intact or whether new aspects emerge that will affect the viability of these types of initiatives. NRPA will be attentively tracking these ballot initiatives across the country to enhance our understanding of them and determine how the voter engagement campaigns evolve during these challenging economic times. Ultimately, we believe that our future advocacy strategy must incorporate the effective public engagement techniques that can help our members continue to utilize these ballot initiatives as a relevant and sustainable funding option for their organizations.

Elvis Cordova is Vice President of Public Policy and Advocacy at NRPA (ecordova@nrpa.org).

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HEALTH & WELLNESS

Virtual Programming: Innovation in the Midst of a Global Crisis

By Lesha Spencer-Brown, MPH, CPH, and Lauren Kiefert, MPH

I

n March of 2020, the world as we once knew it changed forever. In response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, states across the country began issuing stay-at-home orders and strongly encouraged people to practice physical distancing to slow the spread of the disease and combat this global crisis. In the midst of this chaos and fear of the unknown, local park and recreation professionals quickly pivoted to establish virtual recreation centers, preventing significant disruptions to programs that communities across the country rely on every day to keep them healthy and happy. According to NRPA’s most recent Parks Snapshot survey (nrpa.org/ParksSnapshot), 83 percent of senior centers, 64 percent of indoor gyms, 47 percent of recreation centers, 42 percent of outdoor pools/aquatic centers and 37 percent of playgrounds are currently closed. Still, local park and recreation staff have risen to the challenge to support communities to let them know that parks and recreation is still a go-to resource for staying healthy, happy and connected.

The Benefits and Challenges Offering programs virtually (via email, phone, online platform/social media or a combination) is a great way to continue to engage community residents when you are unable to offer in-person classes or are offering

Park and recreation professionals continue to support their communities during COVID-19 through virtual recreation offerings.

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limited capacity classes. Additionally, virtual programming allows for: • Expanded reach to a larger segment of the population by engaging participants from different remote locations in large or small groups • Engagement from community members in programs on their own time and at their own pace, especially if classes are recorded and distributed • Reduced transportation barriers for participants, particularly in rural communities • Reduced competition for facility space and minimal weatherrelated disruptions to programming • Flexibility to develop innovative offerings Some barriers that may be experienced include: • Reliable access to internet, technology and comfort-level navigating online platforms • Ability to keep in regular contact with participants to maintain motivation and reduce attrition

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• Recruiting participants for programs and services and providing materials for programs that require use of specific equipment It is important to remember that the highlight of virtual programming for many people is simply staying connected with friends and peers. Although the pandemic has had alarming impacts on individual and collective social and emotional health, virtual connections are helping to turn the tide.

Examples of Virtual Programming Whitemarsh Township Parks and Recreation in Pennsylvania created a website featuring more than 100 resources (tinyurl.com/y5g29sb9) for community members. The activities presented respect physical distancing policies and are in accordance with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s guidelines. These activities range from art to education to virtual field trips. Mental health resources — something that is critical in times of isolation and uncertainty — are available as well. Thanks to this invaluable body of resources, community members are still able to stay healthy, engaged and supported.

For residents in Baltimore, Maryland, Baltimore City Recreation and Parks’ virtual recreation center (tinyurl.com/y4mo4njg) provides opportunities to explore the city, as well as indoor and outdoor activities for youth, adults and older adults — the latter being a population that has experienced significant mental

and social health challenges during the pandemic. “The main goal is to keep them connected to their peers because some of them feel invisible and isolated,” says Leslie Yancey, city of Baltimore Recreation and Parks senior division program manager. “Participation in programming has decreased, but we have also been able to reach a new segment of older adults. We provide different options for joining our virtual offerings, offer descriptive instructions ahead of the classes for the activities we will do, and our classes are live versus recorded, so that participants are getting the connection they need and value.”

Considerations for Virtual Programming Here are a few questions to consider

to ensure you are creating both engaging and sustainable virtual offerings: • Is the platform you use to host your programs user friendly? Do you need to create a how-to-join guide?

The resource “Tools for Reaching a Remote Audience” may help with that determination (tinyurl.com/ y8nt528l).

• How will you keep your participants engaged? The educational videos, “Expert Insights on How to Deliver an Online Exercise Session: One-to-one and Group” (tinyurl.com/y5ggx3w8) and “Creating a Sense of Community in Virtual Group Sessions” (tinyurl.com/yymnkplx), might be good places to start.

• Do you want to include music in your videos to keep participants

engaged? Learn the legal aspects through the video, “Music Licensing and Virtual Classes: Understanding the Law” (tinyurl. com/y3hwhvqz).

• How will you make your virtual offerings inclusive for people with disabilities? Learn more from the National Endowment for the Arts (tinyurl.com/yxdyb7wg).

It is important now more than ever that infrastructure and resources necessary for streamlining these new virtual offerings and services are in place. After all, it’s all about helping communities stay healthy, happy and connected — whether in person or remote.

Lesha Spencer-Brown, MPH, CPH, is a Senior Program Manager at NRPA (lspencer@nrpa.org). Lauren Kiefert, MPH, is a Program Manager at NRPA (lkiefert@nrpa.org).

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EQUITY

In Perris, California, public art is helping to develop equitable opportunities to support a built environment that boosts economic vitality and celebrates the diverse culture in the city.

Painting the Way to an Equitable Built Environment Through Public Art

By Eduardo Sida

W

ith a growing population as an urban small city, Perris, California, has transformed its approach to public art by prioritizing equitable and sustainable opportunities that cultivate its rich history and celebrate its vibrant community. Public art has traditionally served as a beautification element for city streets, community parks and social gathering spaces. For the city of Perris, public art was one of the missing elements in developing equitable opportunities to support a built environment that boosts economic vitality and celebrates the diverse culture in the city.

Over the past year, Perris has introduced a Public Art Initiative that provides a blank canvas for the community to paint works of art that support the city’s vision for creating an identity that reflects its diverse community. The city’s leadership believes that public art can be used as a powerful tool of expression to raise public awareness on social issues, preserve a com-

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munity’s history, influence the lives of individuals, enhance the level of civic engagement, and transform the small hometown feel of the city into a vibrant cityscape.

In 2019, the city of Perris adopted an ordinance that implemented a public art fee on new industrial developments within the city that would fund the new Public Art Initiative. The initiative allows

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the creation of public art projects throughout the city that provide art enrichment activities for the community and celebrate Perris’ past, present and future through an equitable lens and scope. Simultaneously, the city is working on the revitalization of the parks and recreation master plan, which will incorporate a sustainable approach to set the vision in motion for public art in open spaces through policy development and implementation of equitable programs.

Launching the Public Art Project A kick-off mural project inaugurated the public art initiative and future artistic cityscape vision. A city priority was to ensure that the mu-

ral reflected multiple generations of citizenry to preserve the city’s rich history, celebrate its diversity, and inspire the youth to thrive and express their generational characteristics. Perris hosted several workshops to engage various stakeholders in the community, including its historical society, local school districts, youth groups, local leaders and more. Through this series of workshops, the community provided input that represented their legacy, heritage, culture and future.

The intergenerational interaction between youth and adults provided for a productive collaboration between two groups that shared a similar vision in incorporating the city’s rich agricultural and railroad history, diverse culture, recreation and destination points. Healthy discussions and disagreements eventually led to a consensus on the shared pride of Perris’ residents, resulting in a beautiful representation of a community that fosters inclusivity, cultural equity and hope for a bright future.

The mural project sparked a concatenation of public art projects in the city that provide new opportunities for our youth, local artists and residents to come together and “create.” An Art Apprenticeship Program was introduced to give young aspiring artists the opportunity to learn and work alongside professional artists. On the musical spectrum, a Youth Mariachi Program was established to provide youth with the opportunity to learn how instruments and culture interweave to create music. In the future, the city plans to integrate permanent and temporary interactive art experiences, such as public art street overlays and art expositions,

that contribute to a healthy built environment, as well as performing art activities, music festivals and art gallery fairs that preserve history and engage the community.

Perris’ efforts to elevate equity through the parks and recreation master plan revealed that parks play an active role in supporting public art in open spaces. The latest public art project approved will be incorporated into a 22acre park development in a disadvantaged community, known as Enchanted Hills. The first park in this community will commission local artists, residents and youth to create a mural on-site. This park also will feature an art rock element that originally began with an existing boulder painted

by residents in the community.

The existing boulder art piece will be preserved and will help set the tone for the theme of the park.

Historical preservation, cultural representation and providing spaces and opportunities that cultivate public art will paint the way to an equitable built environment.

The parks and recreation master plan will incorporate policies that support art elements and sustainable enrichment programs. We’ll let the community voices become the strokes on a vibrant canvas to celebrate our diverse community and bring identity to the place they call home.

Eduardo Sida, MPH, is Management Analyst for city of Perris Community Services Department (esida@cityofperris.org).

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CONSERVATION

Opened in 2016, the Pittsburgh-based Frick Environmental Center is the first and only municipally owned, free and open-to-the-public building to receive the Living Building certification.

Empowering Nonprofits’ Switch to Solar

By Mark Parsons

O

n a mission to invest in nonprofits to advance sustainability, Green Mountain Energy Sun Club (greenmountainenergy. com/SunClub) celebrates a special milestone in 2020 — reaching $10 million in grants for nonprofit organizations to implement sustainability projects, including the adoption of solar energy. Green Mountain Energy, one of the longest-serving renewable energy retailers, founded Sun Club in 2002 to help a growing number of nonprofits install solar panels and reduce their environmental footprint as a way to expand their focus from solely individual-level change to larger societal impacts.

Sun Club has provided funding for more than 120 projects from a variety of nonprofits, which often have limited resources to invest in solar energy. One such project is Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania’s Frick Environmental Center.

The Frick Environmental Center Flips the Switch A Sun Club sustainability grant provided to the Frick Environmen38 Parks & Recreation

tal Center (tinyurl.com/y6fftat8) helped the center to reduce its environmental impact while promoting sustainability in the community. The center, owned by the City of Pittsburgh and operated by the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy (pittsburghparks.org), opened in September 2016. The center is a cutting-edge facility that acts as a living laboratory, providing adults and children from all parts of the

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city with access to hands-on, experiential environmental education. It was designed to be a selfsufficient building for water and energy. Sun Club partnered with the Parks Conservancy and City of Pittsburgh to provide renewable, solar energy from the start of operations with a grant totaling $63,400.

In 2017, the Frick Environmental Center achieved Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum status, a widely used green building rating system.

The center is now the first and only municipally owned, free and open to the public building to earn “Living Building” certification through the Living Building Challenge (tinyurl. com/yyb9j3kh), a stringent green building certification program.

In June 2020, the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy announced an

Applying for a Sun Club Sustainability Grant While helping nonprofits install rooftop solar has been the beacon of Sun Club over the past 18 years, the organization also supports other sustainability initiatives, including clean transportation, education and awareness, energy efficiency, renewable energy, resource conservation and sustainable agriculture.

Sun Club accepts applications (tinyurl.com/ y4m2th33) from nonprofits in Texas and the Northeast with three years of current tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)(3), (4), (6) or (19). Recipients are chosen on a quarterly basis by Sun Club’s board of directors and the donation amounts depend on several factors, including the environmental, social and financial impact of the donation. Past donations have ranged from $50,000 to $400,000.

Understanding that partnerships play a critical role in achieving long-term impact, Green Mountain Energy and Sun Club have combined the power of crowdsourcing, partnerships and a shared mission by connecting Green Mountain customers, its employees and nonprofits. While anyone can donate to Sun Club, its strongest supporters are Green Mountain customers and employees.

The world is in a large-scale transition to renewable energy, and leadership for social change is critical. As charities and civic organizations add panels to their roofs, awareness and adoptability of solar energy becomes top of mind for local businesses and homeowners. We believe

PHOTO COURTESY OF JEREMY MARSHALL

online dashboard (tinyurl.com/yxnl7j82) to monitor and measure the center’s sustainability efforts and to make this real-time information available to the public. This project was made possible through a partnership with Worldwide Environmental Services (WES) and MachineQ, a Comcast Company. This customized dashboard, developed with WES’ Foreseer Monitoring System (wes.net) and MachineQ’s (machineq. com) sensors using long-range wide-area networking (LoRaWAN®) technology, provides data on energy use, carbon offset, solar energy generation, air quality, ambient light, water collection, resource use and other information about the Frick Environmental Center.

The project is also facilitated via ethernet connections delivered by Comcast Business.

The dashboard has the potential to serve as a hub for sustainable resources. It has the capability to reach a global audience and create learning opportunities for everyone from school children to industry professionals.

A key feature of the Frick Environmental Center’s net energy profile is solar array panels provided through a $63,000 grant from Sun Club.

that facilitating the increased adoption of solar by nonprofit organizations could be one of many tipping points in the greener energy movement. Not only are they promoting alternative energy with their eco-friendly facilities, but, more importantly, their actions remind all of us about the importance of preserving the place we call home.

Mark Parsons is Vice President and General Manager of Green Mountain Energy.

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L AW R EV I EW

In the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, an emergency order issued by the Governor of Maryland forced non-essential businesses to close to help slow the spread of the disease.

COVID-19 Emergency Orders Restricted ‘Individual Liberties’

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

I

n the case of Antietam Battlefield KOA v. Hogan, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 88883 (Dist. Md. 5/20/2020), a number of plaintiffs brought a lawsuit in federal district court to enjoin an emergency order issued by the Governor of Maryland, defendant Larry Hogan, to slow the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19).

Plaintiff Antietam Battlefield KOA provides campgrounds and RV sites for outdoor recreation activities around Williamsport, Maryland. Another similarly situated plaintiff, Adventure Parks USA, LLC, operates a 17.5-acre indoor and outdoor amusement park and fun center in Monrovia, Maryland. Under the emergency order, Antietam Battlefield KOA and Adventure Parks USA were both deemed “non-essential businesses” and, therefore, forced to

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close, causing them to lose substantial amounts of money.

Non-essential businesses were defined in the emergency order as “businesses not part of the critical infrastructure as identified by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.” The order specifically required the continued closure of senior centers, restaurants and bars (except for takeout and delivery), fitness centers (except for childcare services),

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theaters, malls (with certain exceptions), and other recreational and miscellaneous establishments.

In their request for a temporary restraining order (TRO), the plaintiffs argued the federal district court should temporarily block and prohibit the enforcement of the emergency order because of its unconstitutional impact on “individual liberties.”

As described by the federal district court, in response to what was described as a “worldwide pandemic, a public health crisis more severe than any seen for a hundred years in the United States,” Governor Hogan had issued a series of executive orders to “slow the spread of the disease and protect

the health of Maryland residents.”

In so doing, Hogan had implemented emergency powers granted to him by the state legislature. Specifically, the coronavirus-related executive orders all referenced Title 14 of the Maryland Public Safety Article, Section 14-3A-03. This Section empowered the Governor, following the declaration of a catastrophic health emergency, to “order the evacuation, closing or decontamination of any facility” and to “order individuals to remain indoors or refrain from congregating.”

Accordingly, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, on March 5, 2020, Governor Hogan issued a Proclamation of Catastrophic Health Emergency, which declared a state of emergency in Maryland. This emergency order was renewed on March 17, 2020; April 10, 2020; and May 6, 2020.

This series of executive orders, referred to as “stay at home” orders, prohibited gatherings of certain numbers of people and ordered the closure of certain businesses.

In pertinent part, the most recent May 6 order prohibited gatherings of more than 10 people and ordered the closure of certain non-essential businesses, but also allowed certain outdoor recreation areas and non-essential retail establishments to open. In addition, the order required individuals to wear face coverings in retail establishments and on public transportation.

Violation of the order is a misdemeanor “subject to imprisonment not exceeding one year or a fine not exceeding $5,000 or both.” The order would remain in effect until termination of the state of emergency or until it was otherwise rescinded, superseded or amended.

In issuing these emergency orders, Governor Hogan consulted with and relied on the advice of acknowledged public health professionals. Based on that advice and the data related to the rate and number of infections and hospitalizations, the Governor decided to make “a number of extremely difficult choices that affected the economic health of the state and imposed restrictions on individual liberties that, in ordinary times, are freely enjoyed by all Maryland residents.”

The plaintiffs in this case were individuals threatened with arrest if they violated the executive orders or who otherwise objected to having to comply, including businesses that had been deemed nonessential, including defendants Antietam Battlefield KOA and Adventure Parks USA, LLC. One of the plaintiffs, a Maryland state delegate, Dan Cox, claimed he was “threatened with criminal prosecution” for “violating the prohibition on large gatherings” if he “attended or spoke at a VehicleRide Rally to Reopen Maryland on May 2, 2020,” to protest the Governor’s executive orders.

Accordingly, the plaintiffs petitioned the federal district court to “enjoin the Governor’s orders because of their impact on those individual liberties” guaranteed by the First Amendment. As noted by the federal district court, to overturn the Governor’s orders, the plaintiffs would have to show that these emergency orders had “no real or substantial relation to protecting public health, or that they are beyond all question, a plain, palpable invasion of rights secured by the fundamental law.”

Judicial Review Standard In reviewing these emergency measures curtailing constitutional rights during the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal district court applied a judicial standard of review that would tend to defer to “the legislature’s power to decide the best way to protect public safety.” Accordingly, in reviewing legislative actions to protect the public health, the duty of the court would be limited to “adjudge, and thereby give effect to the Constitution.”

The plaintiffs in this case were individuals threatened with arrest if they violated the executive orders or who otherwise objected to having to comply.

As a result, in order to secure a TRO or preliminary injunction, the plaintiffs would have to demonstrate likely success in “showing that the Governor’s orders have either no ‘real or substantial relation’ to protecting public health or that they are ‘beyond all question, a plain, palpable invasion of rights’ secured by the fundamental law.”

Public Health Crisis Response In the opinion of the federal district court, the emergency order at issue had a “real or substantial relation to the public health crisis.”

Specifically, the court found the aim of the emergency order was to reduce “the opportunities for the virus to spread”: The limit on gatherings has a real and substantial relation to re-

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L AW R EV I EW

ducing the spread of COVID-19, since COVID-19 can spread easily in large groups, because respiratory droplets carrying the virus can spread up to six feet, with some studies showing they can spread even farther.

Moreover, the court found “the Governor’s measures are informed, based on science, and substantially related to the COVID-19 pandemic.” As noted by the court: “the Governor has taken these measures based on the advice and with the assistance of an advisory committee of eight individuals, all with either disease, public health, and/or emergency management experience.”

The plaintiffs disputed “the state’s projections regarding COVID-19,” as well as the Governor’s “characterization of the severity of the COVID-19 outbreak and the need for such measures” in the emergency orders.

In response, the plaintiffs disputed “the state’s projections regarding COVID-19,” as well as the Governor’s “characterization of the severity of the COVID-19 outbreak and the need for such measures” in the emergency orders.

In so doing, the plaintiffs rejected the Governor’s consideration of projections for cases outside of Maryland. Instead, at the time, the plaintiffs argued that COVID-19 had “not caused extensive loss of life” and the number of Marylanders who had “succumbed to the disease is far less than those 42 Parks & Recreation

who have died even this year from the annual flu or possibly from the effects of being under the stay-in home lock-down orders from suicide and overdoses.”

The court, however, found the plaintiffs’ argument ignored “the likelihood that the restrictions that were put in place reduced the number of deaths and serious disability the State has experienced.” Moreover, the court noted: “the Governor’s executive orders, including the gradual easing of restrictions based on COVID-19 data, are in line with the federal government’s Guidelines for Opening Up America Again.”

In conducting a review of the emergency orders, the federal district court acknowledged the limited role of the judiciary was “not to usurp the functions of another branch of government in deciding how best to protect public health, as long as the measures are not arbitrary or unreasonable.” In so doing, the court recognized, “there may be more than one reasonable way to respond to the COVID-19 outbreak.” In this particular instance, the court noted a reasonable response might include the plaintiffs’ claim that “the prohibitions in place are not necessary to ensure public health and safety,” or, conversely, “it might be that even stricter prohibitions are warranted.” Regardless, in response to the threat of COVID-19, the court found it “clear that the Governor’s orders have at least a real and substantial relation to protecting public health.”

Freedom of Assembly and Speech As noted by the federal district

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court: “The right of peaceable assembly is a right cognate to those of free speech and free press and is equally fundamental.” The specific issue before the court was, therefore, whether a TRO was appropriate because the plaintiffs could likely demonstrate “beyond all question” the challenged emergency order would produce “irreparable harm” and “effect a plain, palpable invasion of rights secured by the fundamental law.”

The plaintiffs had argued that the prohibitions in the emergency orders restricted their fundamental rights to freedom of speech and assembly, and should be subject to “strict scrutiny” by the federal court. The strict scrutiny standard of judicial review would require the government to show that a challenged regulation is “narrowly tailored to serve a compelling government interest” and “no less restrictive alternative” would serve the compelling governmental purpose.

In response, the government argued the prohibitions in the emergency order were “more akin to a time, place and manner restriction, subject to intermediate scrutiny” by the federal court. Under a less strict intermediate scrutiny standard of judicial review, a federal court would uphold government prohibitions if such restrictions were “narrowly tailored to serve a significant governmental interest and leave open ample alternative channels for communication of the information.”

In this particular instance, the federal district court agreed with the government that “[t]he prohibition on large gatherings of individuals for the duration

of the public health crisis is more akin to a time, place and manner restriction.” While “contentbased regulations are normally subject to strict scrutiny,” the court acknowledged, “content-neutral time, place and manner restrictions are not.” Within the context of First Amendment judicial review, content-neutral speech restrictions are “those that are justified without reference to the content of the regulated speech.” As noted by the court, the “government’s purpose is the controlling considerations” in determining whether a regulation regulating First Amendment activity is content-neutral.

In this case, the federal district court found “the Governor’s executive order does not regulate speech based on its content.” Instead, the challenged emergency order merely regulated “the time and manner in which speech can be expressed.” Specifically, the Governor’s order prohibited “all gatherings of more than 10 people, no matter the purpose for the gathering or the type of speech the gathering wishes to express.” Moreover, the court noted: “the order does so only for the duration of the public health emergency.” Further, the court found “no evidence that the order is being applied selectively to discourage speech that the Governor disagrees with.”

“interactions at businesses, such as retail stores, pose a lower risk of spreading COVID-19 than a group congregating near one another for a longer period.”

Accordingly, the court concluded the prohibitions in the emergency order were “aimed at conduct most likely to spread COVID-19.” The federal district court also recognized that the Governor, in issuing the emergency order, had to “balance the food, shelter and security needs of Maryland residents” to “ensure public health.”

As a result, unlike non-essential businesses that included plaintiffs Antietam Battlefield KOA and Adventure Parks USA, LLC, essential businesses were allowed to remain open based on the Department of Homeland Security’s definition of critical infrastructure.

Regulating First Amendment Rights As a general principle, under certain circumstances, the federal district court recognized the government has a substantial interest in regulating the First Amendment rights of individuals, in order to promote the health and safety of the general public:

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Governmental Interest As noted by the federal district court, a reasonable time, place and manner restriction on the First Amendment right to assembly and speech must also satisfy the following “narrow tailoring requirement”: The content-neutral regulation must be narrowly tailored to serve a significant governmental interest, and leave open ample alternative channels for communication of the information. The requirement of narrow tailoring is satisfied so long as the regulation promotes a substantial government interest that would be achieved less effectively absent the regulation.

Even if the plaintiffs’ First Amendment claims (free speech and freedom of assembly) were subject to more demanding strict scrutiny standard of judicial review, the federal district court found the State of Maryland had demonstrated a “compelling interest” in preventing the spread of communicable diseases, specifically “slowing the spread of COVID-19.” Moreover, the court noted the plaintiffs did not “effectively dispute that the best way to slow the spread of COVID-19 is to restrict large gatherings.” Further, the court noted,

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L AW R EV I EW

Whenever the state restricts the right of assembly the state must have a compelling interest in the subject matter to justify abridgment, and the scope of the abridgment itself must not be greater than reasonably necessary to serve the state interest. Additionally, under the pressure of great dangers, constitutional rights may be reasonably restricted as the safety of the general public may demand.

That settled rule allows the state to restrict, for example, one’s right to peaceably assemble, to publicly worship, to travel, and even to leave one’s home.

In this particular instance, the federal district court determined: “Reducing the spread of COVID-19 is a legitimate and substantial government interest.”

Moreover, the court “found the prohibition on gatherings larger than 10 people “promotes a substantial government interest that would be achieved less effectively absent the regulation”: Because of the ease with which COVID-19 spreads, and because asymptomatic individuals may spread the virus, a gathering larger than 10 people poses an increased risk that more people will get the virus if one of the attendees has it.

In addition, the federal district court noted: “The history of the orders also indicated narrow tailoring”: The Governor’s March 12, 2020 order banned gatherings over 250 people. That was amended on March 16, 2020, to gatherings over 50 people. On March 19, 2020, an amended order prohibited gatherings over 10 people, which is the limit currently in effect.

In the opinion of the court, this 44 Parks & Recreation

history demonstrated “a gradual tailoring of the prohibition based on the COVID-19 figures and how well the previous prohibitions were working.” In addition, the court found the challenged emergency order satisfied the “narrow tailoring” standard required by the First Amendment because it left open “ample alternative channels for communication, at least in view of the COVID-19 context.”

In order to satisfy this standard, the available alternatives need not be the speaker’s first or best choice or provide the same audience or impact for the speech. Rather, the relevant inquiry is simply whether the challenged regulation provides avenues for the more general dissemination of a message. Still, the available alternatives must be adequate.

In this case, the court found “the ban on gatherings larger than 10 people leaves open several alternatives,” because state delegate Cox and Reopen Maryland could “still protest in groups of 10 or fewer, and can also communicate information in other ways such as through the internet, newspaper or signs.” In making this finding, the court recognized that “these alternatives might not carry the same force as a large rally,” but these available alternatives were sufficient to pass constitutional muster, especially in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Face Coverings, Symbolic Speech In this case, several plaintiffs also had argued the prohibition on gatherings and the face covering requirement in the emergency order violated their First Amendment

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right to freedom of speech. These plaintiffs were veterans who objected to the requirement to cover one’s face when entering a retail establishment because it reminded them of the battlefield in Iraq.

In particular, these veterans of the Iraq War associated the wearing of a face covering as a “sign of capture on the battlefield, and subservience to the captor.”

In order to “bring the First Amendment into play” with regard to the face covering requirement, the federal district court had to determine “whether particular conduct possesses sufficient communicative elements.” Specifically, the court had to decide “whether an intent to convey a particularized message was present, and whether the likelihood was great that the message would be understood by those who viewed it.” As noted by the court: “the fact that such explanatory speech is necessary is strong evidence that the conduct at issue here is not so inherently expressive that it warrants protection as symbolic speech” under the First Amendment.

While recognizing that “wearing a face covering might be to several of the plaintiffs a sign of capture on the battlefield, and subservience to the captor,” in the opinion of the federal district court, Antietam Battlefield KOA provides campgrounds and RV sites for outdoor recreation activities around Williamsport, Maryland. Another similarly situated plaintiff, Adventure Parks USA, LLC, argued that meaning was not “overwhelmingly apparent.” On the contrary, within the context of the pandemic, the court found “wearing a face covering would be

viewed as a means of preventing the spread of COVID-19, not as expressing any message.” Quoting precedent from the Supreme Court, the federal district court acknowledged: “It is possible to find some kernel of expression in almost every activity a person undertakes — for example, walking down the street or meeting one’s friends at a shopping mall — but such a kernel is not sufficient to bring the activity within the protection of the First Amendment.”

Conclusion Having found the plaintiffs had not shown that the alleged “harm they are facing is the result of constitutional violations,” the federal district court denied the request

for a temporary restraining order to enjoin the emergency order.

In so doing, the court found the plaintiffs had tried to “minimize the risks of this pandemic, but cite no contrary scientific authority” to demonstrate that the challenged emergency order had “no real or substantial relation to protecting public health” or the “measures are, beyond all question, a plain, palpable invasion of rights secured by the fundamental law.”

As noted by the federal district court: “Public officials cannot responsibly exercise their broad authority to protect the health of the entire community without considering the data, the science and the advice of experienced public health professionals.” In the face

of the COVID-19 crisis, the court found Governor Hogan had indeed used executive powers granted by the state legislature to make “reasonable choices informed, if not dictated by, such data, science and advice.”

POSTSCRIPT: As of August 2020, the business establishments of defendants Antietam Battlefield KOA and Adventure Parks USA, LLC, were open subject to Governor Hogan’s relaxed order of June 10, 2020.

Read more at tinyurl.com/ y6xhafj5.

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 with link to law review articles archive (1982 to present): mason.gmu.edu/~jkozlows.

2 020 N R PA A N N UAL C O N F E R E N CE : A V IR T UAL E XP E R IE N CE

O C T O B E R 2 7 - 2 9, 2 0 2 0 nrpa.org/Conference

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HARR Glenn Harris: An Advocate for Racial Equity and Social Justice The president of the new Race Forward and publisher of Colorlines addresses the opportunity for park and recreation professionals to advance equitable practices in their communities

By Vitisia Paynich

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ext year, Race Forward — a nonprofit racial justice organization — will celebrate its 40th anniversary. Although prominent on its own merits, Race Forward further elevated its profile when it joined with Center for Social Inclusion (CSI) to become the new Race Forward in 2017.

“We work to bring a systemic analysis and an innovative approach to complex race issues to help people take effective action toward racial justice,” says Glenn Harris, president of the new Race Forward and publisher of Colorlines. Prior to his current role, Harris served as president of CSI beginning in 2014. He spent more than 25 years working on issues around race and social justice.

On October 27, Harris will speak during the Opening General Session at the 2020 NRPA Annual Conference: A Virtual Experience. Parks & Recreation magazine caught up with Harris, who shared his insights on racial justice, anti-racism and the role that parks and recreation plays in building racial equity across our nation.

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PHOTO COURTESY OF TIYE ROSE, RACE FORWARD

RIS

On October 27, Glenn Harris will speak during NRPA Virtual's Opening General Session.

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GLENN HARRIS

Parks & Recreation: Tell us about Race Forward and its mission.

Glenn Harris: Race Forward is home to the Government Alliance on Race and Equity (GARE) (racialequity alliance.org), a national network of local government working to achieve racial equity and advance opportunities for all. Race Forward publishes the daily news site Colorlines (color lines.com) and presents Facing Race (facingrace.raceforward.org), the country’s largest multiracial conference on racial justice.

[The organization] catalyzes movement building for racial justice. We work in partnership with communities, organizations and sectors to build strategies that advance racial justice in policies, institutions and culture.

P&R: How have current events, such as the murder of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter protests, impacted your work?

Harris: In the days since four Minneapolis Police Department officers killed George Floyd, hundreds of demonstrations have broken out around the country. Race Forward stands in solidarity with the millions who have marched to demand justice for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Jacob Blake and for Black lives that have been taken prematurely by police brutality. We join their condemnation of all forms of racist violence — whether state or state-sanctioned or from individuals and groups.

The uprising opens up opportunity, because it lays bare what too many people were reluctant to see and allows Race Forward to build on the foundation that we had been laying for years in working to eliminate systemic racism.

In this moment, we at Race Forward affirm with a renewed sense 48 Parks & Recreation

of purpose our work of catalyzing the racial justice movement. In media, advocacy, training, research, policy and narrative, we continue to center communities of color that are setting the course for a shared, equitable future. We continue to convene those working for racial justice to share best practices in the movement for equity and justice.

We continue to tell the untold stories, advance the best ideas and lift up the leadership of communities of color. We continue to advance decriminalization, demilitarization and restorative justice. We continue to organize and lead governments to advance racial equity.

We stand with the Movement for Black Lives and communities of color across the country that are calling for divestment from police and investment in health, education, housing, arts and culture, and the environment. We support and lift up the work of local Black-led organizing on the ground.

P&R: When it comes to racial justice, do you believe the country has reached an inflection point?

Harris: Our democracy is at an inflection point. Americans face a trifecta of crises — state and vigilante violence against Black people, a pandemic and an economic depression. Political leadership — beginning with the White House — offers us only a toxic combination of malign neglect and counterproductive, divisive measures.

One in 1,625 Black Americans has died from COVID-19. One in 6 Black people is unemployed. Black people make up only 13 percent of the U.S. population, and yet 23 percent of those shot and killed by police are Black.

The structures of racism that leave Black, Indigenous people and

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people of color more vulnerable to death than whites are being laid bare. The social contract is broken.

Communities of color are demanding a new one that centers [on] our health and well-being and pivots toward life. Now is the moment to go all in by supporting communities protesting and supporting the institutions that can meet and implement those demands.

P&R: Why is it difficult for people to talk about racism?

Harris: Race is a complex subject in American culture. We have [more than] 400 years of purposeful and systemic injustice. The challenge for many white Americans is recognizing how they benefit from a system that they did not create — but, nonetheless, benefit from. In addition, we don’t always have a shared understanding of racism, with some focusing on individual acts of racism while others are thinking about how racism is manifest in systems and structures. Developing a shared understanding of racial equity makes it easier and more productive to talk about racism.

In this moment, we need to lean in and discuss the systemic realities of racism in America. That means finding truth in the uncomfortable discussions of our history of race and its current impact.

P&R: How does unconscious bias impede an organization’s efforts to institute anti-racist practices?

Harris: Unconscious bias plays for all individuals and organizations.

It is the manifestation of our culture in how we see the world, and it creates and maintains ways of operating that work better for people who are white, male, able, middle class and heteronormative.

We all have bias, and it is neces-

sary and possible to interrupt our unconscious bias. Pairing implicit bias training with institutional action leads to better results. There are three approaches we use to interrupt unconscious bias organizationally: Re-priming, Removing the Opportunity, and Stop and Think.

• Re-priming involves training, conversations and cultural shifts that organizations adopt to increase capacity in shifting away from racial bias in day-to-day operations.

• Removing the Opportunity involves creating policies or protocols that limit the opportunities for individual subjective biases to come into play.

• Stop and Think involves taking proactive action by designing policies or protocols where considerations of racial equity are built into the way decisions are made in the organization, most frequently by using a racial equity tool in decision-making processes.

P&R: How is racial diversity different from racial equity?

Harris: Diversity, equity and inclusion are frequently confused or conflated. Diversity is a measurement of representation. Inclusion is a measurement of the quality of experience of that representation.

And, equity is a measurement of justice and power. The simplest example I’ve heard is that if you were to take a photo of everyone in your organization, how representative the group is of your community would be a measurement of diversity. How many people in the photo are smiling would be a measurement of your organization’s inclusivity. And, who got to decide when and how to take the photo would be a measurement of equity. The distinctions matter because each requires different inter

ventions and strategies for success.

P&R: What are the key concepts for building racial equity?

Harris: What is key is a deep and sustained commitment to racial equity. Racial equity is both a process and an outcome. How are we centering equity in our processes and decisions and how are we measuring if our processes and decisions are making a tangible difference in the lives of people of color?

We use an organizational framework for implementing racial equity. The four key components are visualize, normalize, organize and operationalize. Visualize focuses on identifying the shared values of the organization that support racial equity, along with a vision for a racially equitable future organization. Normalize focuses on education and discussion on the core terminology of racial equity and our historic understanding of race in America for all staff and community. Organize focuses on finding and supporting the core advocates in the organization for racial equity. And, operationalize focuses on implementing racial equity tools and measuring impact and success.

P&R: How can parks and recreation help build racial equity within their communities?

Harris: Parks and recreation can and does play a key role in building racial equity in communities. Green space and activity are central components to a healthy, thriving community. Key questions include: Who has access to parks?

Who designs parks? Who decides what programs and services will be offered at parks? What dollars are allocated to which parks?

Parks are essential public spaces, and equitable use and design of

parks are a powerful exemplar of multiracial democracy in practice.

It’s that kind of practice that offers hope to the nation.

P&R: What do you believe is the key to addressing racial and health inequities in underserved communities?

Harris: There is no silver bullet for addressing racial and health inequities. Systemic racism is baked into all of our institutions, policies and practices. But we can lean into changing what we have the most influence over, and we can play a catalytic role in moving other organizations and institutions in the same direction. And, we must remember that the answers lie within the communities that are most impacted by inequity. We must listen, take action and evaluate if our actions are having an impact for communities of color.

P&R: Are you optimistic that real change is on the horizon?

Harris: I am always optimistic for change. But as Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle.” I know that we at Race Forward are committed to taking action in the struggle for racial equity. We will not stop until we all live in the kind of just, vital, multiracial democratic society that we all deserve.

Justice is our horizon line. We look forward to walking alongside you on this march to freedom.

Tune in to the October bonus episode of Open Space Radio to hear more from Glenn Harris at nrpa.org/ OctoberBonusEpisode.

Vitisia Paynich is Executive Editor, print and online content at NRPA (vpaynich@nrpa.org).

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Designing a

SAFE, Green Why green infrastructure is critical to bringing racial and health equity to communities

Schoolyard

PHOTO COURTESY OF KRISTIN KOVALIK, THE TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND

By Barton Robison

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hen Art Ochoa looks out across the fields behind Chiloquin Elementary School in Oregon, he sees more than dead grass and dilapidated monkey bars. “I see my home. This was my childhood.”

As a member of the Klamath Tribes, who have made their homes in the region since time immemorial, Ochoa’s connection to the place goes back before his childhood. Growing up, he sat in these same classrooms and played on this same equipment. “It probably looked a little bit newer back then,” he says with a wry chuckle. “But it was what we had.”

Now, 50 years later, Ochoa and The Trust for Public Land are leading a collaborative network to build a green schoolyard at Chiloquin Elementary. The old play-

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ground equipment will be replaced by new, nature-based elements designed to inspire the imagination and encourage physical activity, the cracked blacktop will be resurfaced, and a blacktop cover will be added to ensure kids can still get out and play during the snowy winter months. During non-school hours, the schoolyard will double as a public park that is open to the community and serves as a safe space for socializing and gathering.

The intention is to create a safe place for kids to recreate, and project partners have higher hopes for the schoolyard, too. In a community that has faced systemic racism, economic collapse and stark health disparities, the green schoolyard represents a step toward a healthier, more equitable future.

Art Ochoa, community coordinator for the green schoolyard program, is also a member of the Klamath Tribes.

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Community Health and Parks In the United States, health experts believe that your zip code can help them better predict your health outcomes than your genetic code (tinyurl.com/y9l7tgdx). The social determinants of health — things like air and water quality, access to healthy foods and steady employment — follow trends at neighborhood levels (tinyurl.com/ y3xdjrd5). If you live close to a busy freeway with only a few trees to help collect particulate matter from the air, you and your neighbors are more likely to develop

asthma and breathing issues than people across town who live in tree-lined suburbs.

That’s a significant problem in a country with a long history of segregation and discrimination. In fact, our history is precisely what has created these disparities in our communities. Redlining in the early to mid-20th century kept white and nonwhite residents segregated from each other, and the planning and development that occurred during this time created two separate realities in many major cities across the United States.

Neighborhoods that were red-

PHOTO COURTESY OF KRISTIN KOVALIK, THE TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND

Old playground equipment like these swings and hanging bars will be replaced with new, nature-based play equipment.

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lined have fewer parks and green spaces, meaning residents of those neighborhoods have a harder time accessing the physical and mental health benefits of time in nature.

These are the same neighborhoods where city planners and local governments put their factories, freeways and other pollutants that white neighborhoods were largely protected from (tinyurl.com/ y97wy9u8). These racist planning decisions mean that communities of color are disproportionately affected by harmful environmental factors across the United States and experience health disparities that

PHOTO COURTESY OF DAN MEYERS, UNSPLASH.COM

can reduce life expectancy by as much as 20 years when compared to neighborhoods across town (tinyurl.com/yyo48mrj).

Racism has shaped Chiloquin in very specific ways. A small, rural town, it’s the ancestral homelands and current administrative center of the Klamath Tribes. During the mid-20th century, the federal government began a campaign to terminate many Native American Tribes in order to assimilate them into mainstream U.S. culture and cancel their treaty-mandated responsibilities to support tribes with government services. Congress terminated the Klamath Tribes in 1954, which shrunk their reservation land from 1.8 million acres of productive timberland to almost

nothing. Losing their land base and the government services that were promised to them in perpetuity was tragic; the community continues to feel the effects today. Though the Klamath were reinstated as a Tribe in 1986, their reservation is now slightly more than 300 acres. And being a rural community, Chiloquin experiences challenges similar to other comparable-sized communities across the country, with no local hospital and limited access to medical services.

Parks as a Tool for Health Equity Parks and green spaces provide an opportunity to heal, and the green schoolyard in Chiloquin is an example of how green spaces and

A view of the Klamath Basin from the west of Chiloquin, Oregon.

public parks can be intentionally designed to improve community health equity. Play structures will be designed to encourage physical activity, helping reduce childhood obesity and associated diseases. In addition, the schoolyard will heavily feature natural elements like native plants, wood-based structures and greenhouses. In general, just being in nature offers mental health benefits like reduced episodes of depression and restored mental focus. Research has even shown that exposure to nature positively affects academic outcomes in places where students have windows that

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look out onto these green spaces.

In addition to the health benefits of the new space, the project also will improve the local environment. The design incorporates native plants and other features that require less water to maintain than grass fields. Nearly every summer, local water use is limited to reserve water for the lakes that provide habitat for endangered suckerfish and more than 350 species of birds.

By designing for low-water use, the schoolyard can keep up an attractive appearance year-round, and the native plants will help create new habitat for local wildlife.

Park and recreation agencies, city planners and even school districts can use park development as a tool to combat systemic racism and improve community health equity by understanding a community’s specific needs and designing spaces that reflect the community’s values.

Park and recreation agencies, city planners and even school districts can use park development as a tool to combat systemic racism and improve community health equity by understanding a community’s specific needs and designing spaces that reflect the community’s values. Especially through centering community voice in the decision-making process, park development can give power to people who have historically been silenced or ignored when it comes to making choices about their own communities.

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Building Support on a Community Scale Community support for projects like this is paramount to a project’s success, so one of the first steps should be finding out what your community actually cares about.

In 2019, the Chiloquin City Council completed a community survey to understand what their residents cared most about. Having a new park made the list, but the number one concern for the community was safety. “The one tiny park in town now isn’t a place I’d feel safe sending my kids to go play because of some inappropriate behaviors being made by some older teens and adults who use the park,” says Ochoa. Even though community members wanted a new park, they were much more concerned about safety.

To build broader community support for the green schoolyard, the team emphasized the safety aspects of the new space. “It’s on school property, so during the day you know that it’s being watched and that kids are safe there,” Ochoa says. And, since it’s located on a school site, the space really is ideal for children to utilize during afterschool hours — something parents will appreciate. Ochoa adds that the green schoolyard is being billed as “a safe space for kids and families,” and the community has responded with widespread support.

Messaging around the project also describes the other benefits of the new space. Kids will still reap the mental and physical health benefits of a green schoolyard, and the district won’t need to worry about dry, dead grass during the hot summer months. And, research shows that these types of greening projects can have the biggest mental

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health impact on people facing the worst outcomes, which can have a marked effect on community health equity. But by leading with the public’s number one value in messaging, the core team of partners has been able to drum up widespread community support for the project in ways that “a new playground for the school” all by itself wouldn’t have done.

Values-based messaging, or leading with a community’s values in your communications, is a skill that park and recreation professionals can use to build support for projects in your own communities.

Learning what your community cares about is an important step in community engagement that can help make your projects more valuable, and it’s an important step in the project design process, too.

If your community’s values don’t align with the project you’re trying to create, then it’s probably not the right project.

Once you know what your community values, you can find messages that connect your project to those values. NRPA’s Greener Parks for Health Advocacy Toolkit is one tool that park and recreation professionals can use to craft valuesbased messages for various audiences in their own communities.

In Chiloquin, values-based messaging has been critical to increasing public support for a project that was already led and designed by community members. In February, community supporters spoke about the importance of the project in front of the Klamath County School Board. Ochoa led by explaining the difference having a safe space for their kids would make to the community. Three elementary school students talked about how a green schoolyard

PHOTO COURTESY OF KRISTIN KOVALIK, TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND

Ochoa and The Trust for Public Land are leading a collaborative network to build a green schoolyard at Chiloquin Elementary School in Oregon.

would make them more active and give them places to play and exercise, and about what it would mean for their families to be able to take them someplace outside on the weekends.

The following week, the school board voted unanimously to support the project.

Bringing It Home In a pandemic, having a safe outdoor space for recreation is more important than ever before. However, economic uncertainty and decreased state revenues almost certainly mean that projects like the one in Chiloquin will require broad public support to compete for resources.

In addition to the Greener Parks for Health Advocacy Toolkit, NRPA created a Greener Parks for Health

Communications Toolkit to help park and recreation professionals explain the health, economic, social and environmental benefits of greener parks to a variety of community stakeholders. The final tool in the Greener Parks for Health library is the Greener Parks for Health Policy Action Framework, a national policy agenda for local, state and federal leaders that will make it easier for projects like Chiloquin to come to fruition. Taken together, these three resources can help other communities build support for local park projects.

In Chiloquin, partners are just starting to raise money to build the green schoolyard, with hopes for construction in summer 2021.

And even though kids won’t be physically returning to school in

2020, they’re staying engaged with the project through take-home activities that encourage them to get outside and explore.

“This is something the community wants for our kids,” says Ochoa. “We’ve faced challenges before, but we’re resilient. We can make it happen.”

Visit healthandoutdoors.org/Chilo quin to learn more about the Chiloquin Elementary School Green Schoolyard Project, and check out nrpa.org/Greener ParksForHealth to access NRPA’s Greener Parks for Health Resource Library.

You can learn more about The Trust for Public Land’s Green Schoolyard program at tpl.org/Schoolyards.

Barton Robison is Director of the Willamette Partnership’s Oregon Health & Outdoors Initiative (robison@willamettepartnership.org).

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Park and recreation professionals say that the coronavirus response and recovery provide them with a chance to emerge as key leaders in ensuring a more fair, just and inclusive model of youth sports.

COVID-19 and the Changing Face of

YOUTH SPORTS Park and recreation agencies embrace a more fair, just and inclusive model for youth sports leagues

By Jon Solomon

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n an odd way, David Andreatta found himself enjoying life as a youth sports parent in Rochester, New York, during the early months of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

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Andreatta discovered that his family priorities changed for the better. His children’s travel sports teams were shut down, so the family shared more dinners together instead of racing to and from practices and games almost every night of the week. His kids eventually rediscovered their love of sports by playing outside through free play, a lost art in recent years in the United States.

But despite how much Andreatta wishes he and other parents would stick with this slower routine when it’s safe to return to organized sports, he doubts he will. The reason: Andreatta doesn’t believe another quality alternative to travel sports exists where he lives.

“I hope that recreational leagues — the leagues that were the foundation of youth sports for so many years before tourism bureaus and for-profit organizations got in-

volved — can step up their efforts and offer a level of play that’s competitive enough, but also sane enough that people can participate…,” Andreatta says. “This is a big opportunity for recreational leagues to step up.”

Embracing Inclusivity in Youth Sports Park and recreation professionals say that the coronavirus response and recovery provide them with a chance to emerge as key leaders in ensuring a more fair, just and inclusive model of youth sports.

In a recent survey by NRPA, the report for which will be released in November of 2020, 86 percent of park and recreation professionals say their role should include identifying inequities in access to youth sports.

They also identify that they should provide coach training on safety and

health for anyone using their sports facilities (71 percent) and convene partners to address access gaps to youth sports (71 percent).

Park and recreation professionals expressed less interest in managing permits for other youth sports organizations (43 percent), convening youth to help design the delivery of youth sports (41 percent), and administering all youth sports in the community (21 percent). The most significant challenges they cited in providing community-based youth sports activities: not enough volunteer coaches (59 percent) and competing with travel sports leagues (49 percent).

“This is the only country in the world where you have to spend a boatload of money and go play all over the country,” Orlando (Florida) Mayor Buddy Dyer says. “If you’re in Spain, you’re just playing in towns around you.… I do think it’s a municipal government’s responsibility to try to make sports available for every child.”

Overcoming Financial Obstacles Many park and recreation officials say they are rethinking how they deliver youth sports. But doing so comes as many face significant budget cuts and uncertainty about when and how to return to play.

Nationally, more than half of park and recreation professionals (58 percent) expect COVID-19 to have a significant, detrimental impact on fall programming, according to the NRPA survey. Only 10 percent expect mild or no impact.

“The biggest challenge we’re struggling with [are] the finances,”

According to an NRPA survey, more than half of U.S. park and recreation professionals expect COVID-19 to have a detrimental impact on fall programming.

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INFOGRAPHIC COURTESY OF THE ASPEN INSTITUTE PROJECT PLAY INITIATIVE

says Josh Medeiros, superintendent of the city of Bristol (Connecticut) Department of Parks, Recreation, Youth and Community Services.

“We’ve had to modify a lot of our programs and buy extra protective equipment. How do we afford it without jacking up the price, which then hurts access for kids in lowerincome families?”

Bristol is creating a new plan for parks to be compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act since many of its sites are not accessible to people with disabilities. The city also created a diversity, equity and inclusivity committee that is considering creating a website in Spanish to meet the needs of Bristol’s large Hispanic community. The committee also wants to recruit more diverse coaches and instructors who better represent the communities where they will be working.

“For any department to be inclu

sive, it has to embrace inclusivity as a mission and then start tackling it in all the areas that touch on it,” Medeiros says.

An Opportunity for Creativity In Columbus, Ohio, the city’s 27 recreation centers were closed through the summer, making it nearly impossible for Jack Castle, recreation and parks administrative coordinator, to register kids for fall sports. So, he pivoted away from league registration to offering the community a lot of free programming. Instead of offering a fall soccer league, Columbus is providing soccer skills classes. Instead of only having five or six soccer balls for 30 kids, now there are 30 balls for 30 kids at each recreation center.

“We want to build confidence back up with parents that this is where you want your kids to be,”

Research from the Aspen Institute shows that physically active communities experience countless health benefits.

says Castle, who created committees of youth and adults to hear community ideas. “My message on a daily basis to my staff is that this is an opportunity. Let’s [not] just rest on what we’ve done in the past. Let’s take this downtime and think of new, creative ways to get people involved.”

Two years ago, Columbus brought its community centers under one umbrella in hopes of creating greater equity. Each center used to have wide-ranging costs and services. Now the department sets the fees and benefits. By 2022, Castle hopes to have coaching curriculum for every sport the city offers — including the new addition of esports — so every community center teaches kids the same way.

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The evolution to a centralized model caused Castle to quickly notice vast differences in what families can afford for sports. The recreation and parks department developed a youth sports scholarship subsidized by corporate donations, sponsorships and the city budget.

In 2019, the first year of the scholarship, $42,000 in aid went to families. “We all need to look at those kinds of scholarships to promote equity,” Castle says.

The Impact on Parks and Recreation In Orlando, the city actually plans to increase its parks and recreation budget by 15 percent, Dyer says. Because the government largely relies

on property taxes, increased property values can lead to more available funding for park and recreation agencies. In August, for example, Orlando broke ground on construction of the Grand Avenue Neighborhood Center and Park in a historically African American community.

The renovation project will include a gymnasium and a 12-acre park with fitness equipment and multiple playgrounds. NRPA is facilitating the work, which is expected to be completed in fall 2020, as part of its Parks Build Community project. Grand Avenue Neighborhood Center and Park will allow Orlando to expand its recreation and sports programming for kids, about 85 percent of whom live in

low-income households.

Clifford Charlton, the city of Orlando’s athletics district manager, worries about high costs imposed on inner-city families from for-profit sports organizations. Other local football programs charge up to $200 per child, compared to city fees of $30. As of August, the city had delayed the start of football season due to COVID-19 and Charlton personally did not think it should be played at all.

“If I’m not having a season this year and the parents want their kids to play football, these kids are probably going to play for another organization,” Charlton says. “I’m OK with waiting and seeing what happens [to COVID-19].”

In a recent survey by NRPA, 86 percent of park and recreation professionals say their role should include identifying inequities in access to youth sports.

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Park and recreation professionals cite lack of volunteer coaches and competing with travel sports leagues as their biggest barriers to offering community-based youth sports activities.

Even before the pandemic, Charlton says he constantly tried to change public perception that the best youth football coaches are in private programs, not in parks and recreation leagues.

“At the end of the day, this is only recreational and it’s honing and starting kids’ familiarity with the sport,” says Charlton, a former college football and NFL player. “Kids don’t really know who and what they are until they get to high school.”

Inclusivity Builds Confidence For more than five years, Nate Baldwin led youth sports programming for the Appleton (Wisconsin) Parks and Recreation Department.

The department’s youth participation in four sports (basketball, baseball, soccer and flag football) increased by 70 percent from 2014 until early 2020, including gains of 188 percent in basketball and more than 100 percent in baseball.

Baldwin grew community-based participation by focusing on quality programming and not ceding ground to travel teams. While travel teams spun inclusion at recreation programs as a negative, Baldwin opted to sell it as a strength.

His pitch: Regardless of someone’s financial background, ability, size or experience level, there was a place for that child in recreation programming.

“We have some really talented players,” Baldwin says. “But inclusion means giving kids some really unique ways to develop their confidence, sense of empathy, mentor

ship capability and leadership instead of participating in a program where you’re one of 10 clones.”

Baldwin, who no longer works at Appleton, sees a unique opportunity for parks and recreation departments to play a major role in establishing a more inclusive youth sports model.

“They might get the initial wave of kids who can’t afford the elite sports experience,” he says. “But if they don’t take this seriously and provide an experience to stick around for, that’s going to be short lived. I think there will be a gravitation back to community-based leagues and they need to seize on that opportunity.”

A Turning Point Myisha Owens, the coordinator of Broadview Park District in Illinois and the mom of a 13-year-old girl who plays multiple sports, understands firsthand this opportunity for greater inclusion. Broadview Park District, which operates seven parks and three facilities, is opened

for kids who need access to WiFi for virtual learning during the pandemic. It’s a partnership with the local schools, which includes lunches and breakfast, and a way to help working parents.

“We’re not only the park district, we’re the school,” Owens says. “Once the school day is over, they’ll still have recreation with [park district staff].”

Since the pandemic started, Owens has noticed many more kids utilizing parks. They’re walking, riding bikes, exercising on fields, shooting hoops, jumping rope and riding skateboards.

“We used to beg and plead for people to come out and get involved, and a lot of parents said their kids didn’t want to come because they were playing video games and watching YouTube,” Owens says. “We were asking, ‘What can we do for you?’ Now they’re asking us what we have for them.”

Jon Solomon is Editorial Director of the Aspen Institute’s Project Play initiative (jon.solomon@aspeninstitute.org).

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During the COVID-19 pandemic, tennis has allowed athletes to enjoy the outdoors and stay engaged with friends while staying safe.

Is Driving Success How the United States Tennis Association’s free programs have helped three cities accomplish their goals

By Mary Helen Sprecher

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f you’re looking for a way to help propel your parks back to popularity in the wake of COVID-19, the answers have been with you all along, in the form of those green, 120-foot-long rectangles, surrounded by a high fence — your tennis courts.

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TENNIS

It is on public tennis courts that many individuals picked up a racquet for the first time. It’s in the parks that countless others have rediscovered the sport during the pandemic. And, it’s on those same courts that athletes have found themselves able to enjoy the outdoors and stay engaged with friends — in one of the safest sports around, health-wise.

A host of free services are available from the United States Tennis Association But maybe at the moment, your courts are looking a little worn out — and with budget cutbacks, maintenance and improvement projects have been deferred. If you want to use tennis to create new energy, you’re going to need some help.

A host of free services are available from the United States Tennis Association (USTA), the national governing body for the sport, that wants municipal and park projects

to thrive as much as you do. From consulting on the design of a stateof-the-art multi-court facility with spectator seating, to helping with information about setting lines for 30-foot and 60-foot courts for youth play, to providing assistance with cracked courts, the USTA’s services are free.

The USTA has a proven history of success in the partnerships it has formed with organizations over the years — partnerships that are benefitting tennis, as well as the larger communities. Here are three examples of cities that leveraged a variety of benefits to help reconstruct, renovate and realign tennis facilities to achieve maximum impact and elevated community involvement.

Memphis, Tennessee:

Creating a New Tennis Hub Memphis, Tennessee, is looking at tennis as the catalyst for a number of programs, not only to create sports opportunities but also, ulti-

mately, to elevate the overall profile of this Southern city.

The Leftwich Tennis Center will feature 24 outdoor courts and 12 indoor courts, a pro shop, offices and classroom space, as well as spectator and concession areas, and is expected to house everything from league play to college teams to mentoring programs for disadvantaged youth. In addition, the local convention and visitors bureau believes it has the potential to attract international tournaments and create a much-needed tourism boost for a city that, like others, has seen its economy ravaged by the COVID-19 pandemic.

When the city’s biggest facility, the Racquet Club of Memphis, closed several years ago, it took with it the potential for tournaments (it had hosted the Memphis Open, an Association of Tennis Professionals Tour stop) and subtracted a number of courts from an already dwindling supply — something the city could ill afford, considering the demand. The University of Memphis, a growing force in collegiate tennis, needed practice and competition facilities, as did local high schools and middle schools. In addition, there was an enormous USTA League tennis population, as well as a strong National Junior Tennis and Learning (NJTL) program in the area. And, all those requests for court time were weighing heavily upon the city’s supply.

“We had other courts located around the city, but they were generally in banks of four or six — and it’s really hard to send people to different locations to play,” says

In Memphis, Tennessee, tennis not only is creating sports opportunities, but also is elevating the profile of the city.

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PHOTO COURTESY OF FLEMING ARCHITECTS

Kevin Kane, president and CEO of Memphis Tourism. “We really needed one place that could serve as a hub for everything.”

One possible answer was found in the Leftwich facility, located just off the university’s campus. It had tennis facilities but, having been built in the 1960s, was too small and badly in need of updates.

“We looked at keeping the courts and rebuilding the clubhouse,” says Stephen Lang, executive director of Tennis Memphis, the organization tasked with managing the city’s public tennis facilities, “but we finally decided that getting the best use of the land meant starting from scratch.”

Lang, Kane and a group of oth

ers began exploring the concept, meeting with Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland, City Council member Worth Morgan and Dr. David Rudd, the university’s president — all of whom saw the potential of the plan. The next step, however, was to create the plan to transform the existing building.

They found the help they needed in the USTA, whose Tennis Venue + Design Group’s Facility Services program was able to provide design assistance, budgets, operating standards, construction document review and business models. The Memphis contingent made a visit to the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Florida, to meet with representatives and

The Leftwich Tennis Center in Memphis, Tennessee, will feature 24 outdoor courts and 12 indoor courts.

to discuss the potential of the project.

Two-and-a-half years from inception, the old tennis center is coming down and the group hopes to break ground on the new facility in the next few months. Slightly more than $20 million has been raised, with a goal of adding another $2 million to $4 million.

And, says Kane, the USTA helped provide the launchpad.

“We feel like we’ve orchestrated a perfect team here,” he says.

“We are putting together the ideal facility.”

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Orlando, Florida:

Moving and Expanding If a venue built in the 1960s sounds like a challenge, the city of Orlando, Florida, has been working with one built in 1932. It was, therefore, something of a relief when a parcel of land was donated approximately three miles away, and the Orlando Tennis Centre could begin its longplanned-for expansions and improvements.

“Having the extra space will also allow us to add another school or two to our programs.”

The USTA assisted the city by creating profit/loss statements, cost recovery statements, business models and key performance indicators — all pointing to the need for, and the inherent reward in, building the new facility.

Scott Thornton, Tennis Centre manager and director of tennis, says

that the new building will be Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessible, and will include 16 courts and updated lighting, as well as men’s and women’s locker rooms and covered seating for spectators.

It will be able to accommodate tournament play as well as leagues.

More importantly, he notes, it will have plenty of space to host the community’s programs for disadvantaged youth — an integral part of the facility’s mission.

“We’re going to bus the kids over from the academic center of excellence in town and bring them out here between two and four days a week,” he says, his voice filling with excitement. “Having the extra space will also allow us to add another school or two to our programs.”

The program includes academic help, providing a listening ear and plenty of tennis play.

“Tennis is the vehicle for the tutoring and mentoring we offer. It teaches a healthy lifestyle, as well as sportsmanship,” he notes. “I would say 99 percent of the kids

who come here have never played tennis in their lives, but a few of them have gotten really good at it.”

And, ultimately, it builds relationships.

“It’s fantastic how many hugs we get each day. We can’t wait to be able to get that program started up again,” he says.

Birmingham, Alabama:

Streamlining Operations In some cases, it’s not new courts that are needed, but the ability to optimize the ones you have. Birmingham, Alabama, had three large city-owned tennis centers that, put together, offered up a total of 30 courts.

The problem, says Shonae Eddins-Bennett, director of Birmingham’s parks and recreation department, was that all three facilities were managed separately, making it difficult to create consistency when booking large events or even scheduling routine maintenance work. Her vision was to have a more organized, streamlined system that would tie the facilities together and generate better usage.

“What we needed was to put all three of the tennis centers all under one umbrella, so that we would have one person to communicate with about everything that was going on.”

Working with the USTA, EddinsBennett was able to discuss and evaluate potential business models that took into account an overall management strategy for finances, programming and instruction, as

Part of the mission for Orlando, Florida’s new tennis facility is to provide space to host the community’s programs for disadvantaged youth.

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PHOTO COURTESY OF FLEMING ARCHITECTS

well as the ability to create models for the economic impact that could be generated from regular use and from tournament use. The USTA assisted Birmingham in developing a request for proposals for the combined management of all three sites and was able to review the document to ensure it would attract quality applicants.

The new management will help elevate the profile of tennis in the city by connecting operations with multiple entities, says Eddins-Bennett, including bringing in inner city youth for tennis and mentoring programming.

And, that’s only the beginning.

“We want to engage our colleges and all of our schools to partake in what we have here rather than going outside the city to play,” she

notes. “We also have programming in place in our rec centers for seniors, but we need to get them more involved in tennis as well. We want to bring tennis back to life here.”

The USTA’s services, she adds, were invaluable.

“I learned a lot from talking to them. They’re just so engaged,” Eddins-Bennett says.

Growing the sport through grassroots programming and play opportunities afforded by public parks and schools is a prime directive of the USTA. Its services, which range from design, to business model recommendations, to assessment of current venues and more, are free. And, since parks are an enormous driver of play in the United States, the USTA fully in-

The Memphis, Tennessee, convention and visitors bureau believes the new Leftwich Tennis Center will create a tourism boost for a city that has seen its economy ravaged by the effects of COVID-19.

tends to continue its support.

“Public parks represent a key area of focus for the USTA as we look to grow the game and increase access to our wonderful sport,” notes Craig Morris, USTA’s chief executive, community tennis.

“Our ability to service and support park agencies through trained providers, facility improvements, program opportunities and digital tools is critical to our mission and will remain at the forefront for years to come.”

Mary Helen Sprecher is a freelance writer and editor based in Columbia, Maryland. (mhsprecher@gmail.com).

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Grand Avenue Park: The Heart of the Community for Nearly a Century

By Paula M. Jacoby-Garrett

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t was the 1920s and Orlando was experiencing an unprecedented population boom, nearly tripling its population, when Florida architect Howard M. Reynolds designed a pair of identical schools for the area to meet the growing demand. The schools’ design incorporated Mediterranean Revival architecture with arched entries, columns, tile-clad gable roofs and stucco walls. Inside, the classrooms were designed with high ceilings to maximize air circulation for the hot Florida climate. One of these schools, the Grand Avenue Elementary School, provided a learning environment for students in the local Holden Heights community for more than 90 years. In 1995, the school was designated as a city of Orlando Historic Landmark due to its architectural significance.

In a shift to consolidate students into larger, more modern facilities,

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the elementary school was closed in 2017. Through a land swap, the

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city of Orlando traded land to the local Orange County School District for the 13-acre Grand Avenue school and park. The Orange County School District created the Academic Center for Excellence on its newly acquired parcel for pre-kindergarten to eighth-grade students.

The Grand Avenue Elementary School was repurposed as a community/recreation center, but wear and tear had put a toll on the aging building. On October 8, 2018,

DESIGN RENDERINGS COURTESY OF BORRELLI + PARTNERS

An artist’s rendering reveals some of the design elements planned for repurposing Grand Avenue Elementary School in Orlando, Florida..

the city of Orlando approved a design/pre-construction agreement with Gilbane Building Company for renovation of the center.

Plans were created that included improvements to the building and associated site, including a new gymnasium, a pottery studio, an associated gallery and a storage building. The planned remodel of about 30,000 square feet includes updates and a renewal of the existing building. An additional 40,000 square feet will be added to the facility’s overall size to provide for more programming space. On August 10, 2020, the Gilbane Building Company construction agreement was approved at the Orlando City Council Meeting. Construction has begun, and the project is expected to be completed in 2021.

This year’s NRPA Parks Build Community project includes updates to the Grand Avenue Park facilities alongside the renovations to the recreation center to create a revitalized, vibrant neighborhood park for the local community. Each year, NRPA selects a high-need area in the city where the NRPA Annual Conference is held, to build or renovate a park. NRPA has worked closely with the city of Orlando’s Families, Parks and Recreation Department to create a dynamic, all-encompassing plan for the park that meets the needs of the local community.

“The city of Orlando would like to thank the National Recreation and Park Association and their generous donors for supporting the 2020 Parks Build Community project at Grand Avenue Park,” says Lisa Early, director of the city of

Orlando Department of Families, Parks and Recreation. The generosity has added tremendously to the park project and allowed for equipment and facilities to be installed that otherwise would not, due to cost constraints. “These inkind equipment and service donations total [more than] $450,000.”

Amenities for the park will include age-specific playgrounds with

The Grand Avenue Elementary School was repurposed as a community/ recreation center, but wear and tear put a toll on the aging building. The planned remodel of about 30,000 square feet includes updates and a renewal of the existing building.

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Greenfields Outdoor Fitness gfoutdoorfitness.com BCI Burke Company bciburke.com GameTime gametime.com PlayCore playcore.com Musco Lighting musco.com Playground Grass by ForeverLawn foreverlawn.com Epic Outdoor Cinema epicoutdoorcinema.com DuMor Site Furnishings dumor.com Gared Sports garedsports.com Most Dependable Fountains, Inc. mostdependable.com Freenotes Harmony Park freenotesharmonypark.com Shade Systems, Inc. shadesystemsinc.com UltraSite ultra-site.com

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PHOTO COURTESY OF CITY OF ORLANDO FAMILIES, PARKS AND RECREATION DEPARTMENT

The 2020 Parks Build Community Donors Include:

Left to right: Orlando Children and Education Manager Brenda March, PKZ student Sasha Mills, and Families, Parks & Recreation Director Lisa Early at the July 16 groundbreaking event for the 2020 Parks Build Community project.

new, engaging, developmentally appropriate equipment. Included in the park will be accessible fitness equipment stations with shade coverings, outdoor nature-themed musical instruments, park benches, picnic tables, game tables, drinking fountains, grilles and waste cans.

Sports furniture, such as bleachers, batting cages and goals for soccer, lacrosse and basketball, will provide recreational sport opportunities for children of all ages. Outdoor lighting is included for evening sports and community events, as well as an outdoor movie screen for movie nights in the park.

Groundbreaking for the new Grand Avenue Neighborhood Center took place on Thursday, July 16, 2020. In attendance were local officials, the city of Orlando Department of Families, Parks and

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Recreation personnel, as well as community residents and stakeholders. In attendance was Bakari F. Burns, commissioner, District 6, city of Orlando, who conveyed his enthusiasm for the project. “By providing new services in Holden Heights and having a venue for community programs, this facility will strengthen the fabric of our neighborhood, teach our children well, and prepare them to lead the way, but most of all, it will give them a sense of pride,” he stated during the event.

Existing programs will continue to be located at the center but will be expanded. For example, the Parramore Kidz Zone provides early childhood education and afterschool programs centered toward creating thriving, healthy adults.

“I’m excited for the community to see the expansion of the Parramore Kids Zone and all the opportunities that Holden Heights now will have here at this center,” said Regina I. Hill, commissioner, District 5, city of Orlando, at the recent groundbreaking event. “It’s quite amazing.”

For Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, it’s about the people and their surrounding neighborhood. “Redeveloping Grand Avenue is part of our efforts to invest in city neighborhoods by providing residents with amenities and programs to help them thrive,” he said at the groundbreaking event. “I look forward to having children’s laughter once again fill these historic halls as we return Grand Avenue to a place of compassion and support for the community.”

For more information about the 2020 Parks Build Community project and how you can be involved, contact Gina Mullins-Cohen, NRPA’s vice president of commu-

NRPA and the city of Orlando’s Families, Parks and Recreation Department have worked closely to create an all-encompassing plan for Grand Avenue Park.

nications and chief marketing officer, at gcohen@nrpa.org.

Paula M. Jacoby-Garrett is a freelance writer based in Las Vegas, Nevada.

THANK YOU TO THE DONORS OF THE 2020 NRPA PARKS BUILD COMMUNITY PROJECT

® THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE NATIONAL RECREATION AND PARK ASSOCIATION

NRPA.ORG/PARKSBUILDCOMMUNITY

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Education Highlights

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ith more than 60 sessions and 12 education tracks being offered at the 2020 NRPA Annual Conference: A Virtual Experience, you are guaranteed to learn something new and leave inspired. Below are just a few of the education sessions that will be offered during NRPA Virtual.

WE GOT ENGAGED!: Tips for Communicating Effectively with Your Part-Time Workforce This session will focus on tackling the challenges of effectively communicating with large numbers of part-time employees in an efficient manner that encourages collaboration, mentorship, cross-training and employee development. Attendees will learn about the benefits of creating a part-time advisory council and embracing the unique talents found in a diverse department, while exposing the part-time workforce to the varied and wide-ranging careers that can be found under the park and recreation umbrella. Interactive discussion topics will include lessons learned from an array of communication and efficiency barriers, best practice suggestions for managing today’s part-time employee and tips for how to prepare for the future of increased service demands balanced with staffing challenges.

Speakers: Adam Blackmore, City of Henderson Public Works, Parks and Recreation Track: Career Development

Safe Spaces for High Performers: How to Create a Safe Space for Your Workforce In this interactive learning experience, participants will explore the characteristics of high performers and how engaging these key team 72 Parks & Recreation

members within the workplace can be critical to work performance.

Identifying these characteristics will create an opportunity for managers and coworkers to put into action the concept of “checking on your strong friends.” Highperforming staff members can be an asset to your team. However, managing and staying engaged with such members can be a challenge. This session will stimulate a conversation that identifies characteristics of high performers and also puts into action essential staff engagement tools to support the continued success of high performers within the workplace.

Speakers: Atuya Cornwell, MarylandNational Capital Park and Planning Commission, Prince George’s County Department of Parks and Recreation; Cortni Grange, Grange Enterprises Track: Employee and Volunteer Management

There’s an Octopus in the Parking Garage?! ‘Futureproof’ Your Parks for Resiliency to Climate Change With the election upon us, one topic that is often discussed is climate change and its dramatic effects on communities all over the world.

Increased flooding, drought, expanding ranges of non-native invasive species, access to clean water and changes in the growing season

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are just a few impacts that show that this isn’t just a coastal problem. Resiliency is another term often used — but what is resiliency and why should you be thinking about it when developing/redeveloping parks? Making decisions regarding the location of parkland, the use of those lands, the placement of infrastructure and overall park design will be critical in the coming decades. This discussion will give you a good idea of how climate change will be affecting parks and recreation departments, what jurisdictions around the country are doing to be more resilient, and how you can describe these changes and their effects to elected officials and the public.

Speakers: Chris Matthews, Mecklenburg County Parks and Recreation; Jai Cole, Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, Montgomery Parks Track: Conservation

Equity: The Case for Redlining the Term ‘Social’ and Getting Comfortable with ‘Racial’ Why “racial,” not “social” equity?

While wealth is a major driver in outcomes, race is the stronger predictor. When studies control for income, racial disparities remain key factors in health, education, employment and incarceration outcomes. Racial equity strategies are currently a major focus of parks departments in large, diverse, urban cities. Parks departments — such as the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, New York City Parks and Recreation, Los Angeles County

Parks and Recreation, San Francisco Recreation and Parks, Minneapolis (Minnesota) Park and Recreation Board, and Portland (Oregon) Parks and Recreation — are developing equity initiatives to ensure that their parks are focusing on resources that best serve these changing demographics. Creating a racial equity strategy provides a framework, tools and resources that also can create social equity solutions. During this session, you will learn strategies for gathering the appropriate data to ensure that the predominant race and income of an area does not predict the quality and/or quantity of its parks, and that parks in diverse, low-income areas best reflect the community needs in that area.

Speaker: Jai Cole, Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, Montgomery Parks Track: Social Equity and Inclusion

The Esports Experience: Determining the Best Esports Programs to Build and Strengthen Communities Esports, or competitive video gaming, not only has grown to be an impressive billion-dollar industry, but also is now known as the “new social network,” attracting multi-generational players and spectators alike. For park and recreation professionals, this means esports can have tremendous impacts on equity and health and wellness within communities. The opportunities to bring esports experiences to the population at large are endless.

From recreational esports programs to STEM/STEAM learning, to tapping into the sports tourism business, understanding all the possibilities to bring inclusive and innovative esports

experiences to communities will be the focus at this interactive lecture.

The presenters will provide field-tested and proven concepts from real-life case studies of esports experiences they’ve activated over the past year. In addition, they will share best practices and guidelines to determine the best approach to launching a successful esports program for your community.

Speakers: Karen Mendoza, Global Youth Enterprises; Matthew Reiter, Maricopa Esports; Scott Novis, Bravous Youth Esports and GameTruck, LLC Track: Recreation and Sports Programming

Did COVID-19 Make Us Essential?

Every park and recreation professional knows how essential our agencies’ services are to the health and wellness of communities across the nation of every size and composition, but decision-makers and voters don’t always connect what we do with the value we bring. At no time in recent history has our agencies’ value been more obvious than during this current COVID-19 pandemic. This session will explore how agencies across the country have responded to the crisis with both in-house and partner programming for those relegated to their homes and how agencies can capitalize on that work to strengthen their value as an essential service.

Speakers: Janet Bartnik, Mountain Recreation; Cortney Weinstock, Baltimore City Recreation and Parks Track: Health and Wellness

Next Practices for Parks and Recreation in a COVID-19 World As we start thinking of what a post-pandemic world may look like

in this coming decade, this session will help attendees think of next practices they want to shape in order to design an inclusive, welcoming and financially/environmentally sustainable park and recreation agency. During these increasingly unpredictable times, with changing demographics and technologies, this session will share insights for how to build an agency culture and mindset that can innovate and thrive in chaos and embrace change as park and recreation agencies look to continue playing the role of essential components that sustain the community’s very fabric and way of life.

Speaker: Neelay Bhatt, PROS Consulting, Inc. Track: Leadership and Management

Park Foundations and Friends Groups: Filling Budgetary Gaps Through Alternative Sources of Funds Park and recreation leaders are facing ever-expanding budgetary challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic recession. Local park foundations and friends groups can play a crucial role in filling these budget gaps while, at the same time, raising awareness of the essential value of local parks and recreation in the areas of conservation, health and wellness, and equity. Moderated by NRPA President and CEO Kristine Stratton, a panel of mayors and city managers will share their experiences and offer best practices that led to strong working relationships with foundations that maximize alternative sources of park and recreation funding.

Speaker(s): Kristine Stratton, NRPA Track: Leadership and Management

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Virtual Programming

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he 2020 NRPA Annual Conference is going virtual, and we’ve still got it all! In addition to the highly anticipated general sessions, education offerings and exhibit hall, we also will continue to provide some favorite conference events through our virtual platform, as well as some new events and programming. Here are a few of the exciting virtual programs that will be available to attendees during the 2020 NRPA Annual Conference: A Virtual Experience (NRPA Virtual).

Join us for the NRPA Virtual 5K Race — a race you can run, walk or roll at any location and at your own pace.

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5 K

Join us for the NRPA Virtual 5K Race — a race you can run, walk or roll at any location and at your own pace. You can head to your favorite park or trail, walk in your neighborhood or around your home, race alone or in a group with family, friends or coworkers.

After registering online, you will be able to download your race bib and finisher’s certificate. You also will receive a special NRPA Virtual 5K race medal in the mail! And, once you complete the virtual race, don’t forget to share your accomplishment on social media. Take a selfie wearing your hard-earned medal and share it with us using #NRPAVirtual.

Celebrate This Year’s NRPA Award Honorees at the Virtual Best of the Best Ceremony V

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Race Your Way into Conference with the Virtual 5K

While the 2020 Best of the Best awards ceremony won’t look the same as in years past, it still will be a fun and engaging way to recognize some of the best park and recreation professionals in the field. The virtual ceremony will be hosted by our emcee, Neelay Bhatt, vice president

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and principal at PROS Consulting, and will recognize and celebrate the most inspirational people and programs in the park and recreation profession. Recognized at the ceremony will be the 2020 Innovation and Spotlight Awards, Young Professional Fellows, Diversity and Student Scholarship recipients, and newly accredited and reaccredited park and recreation agencies.

NRPA Virtual attendees are welcome to attend the ceremony at 7 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, October 28, from the comfort of their home.

Make sure to BYOBAH (bring your own beverage and hors d’oeuvres)!

Learn More About the 2020 Parks Build Community Project at the PBC Booth Each year, as part of its Parks Build Community (PBC) initiative, NRPA conducts a complete park makeover in partnership with park equipment manufacturers and community organizations within the city hosting the NRPA Annual Conference.

This year, although the NRPA Annual Conference transitioned to a virtual event due to the COVID-19 pandemic, NRPA, along with its donor partners and the city of Orlando (Florida) Families, Parks and Recreation Department, remained committed to seeing through the 10th NRPA PBC project at Orlando, Florida’s Grand Avenue Park.

During NRPA Virtual, a PBC booth will be available for attendees to learn more about the 2020 PBC project and the partnerships that made it possible.

Answering Your Questions About the 2020 NRPA Annual Conference: A Virtual Experience

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he 2020 NRPA Annual Conference: A Virtual Experience (NRPA Virtual) not only will bring the park and recreation community together, but also will serve as a platform for networking and exchanging ideas in new and imaginative ways. Here are answers to some of the questions you may have regarding this year’s conference.

What are the dates of NRPA Virtual?

This year’s conference dates are Tuesday, October 27 to Thursday, October 29. The NRPA Virtual Schedule at a Glance can be found at nrpa.org/Conference /About/Schedule-at-a-Glance.

• Student Pass (Member): $45 • Student Pass (Nonmember): $65 Both the All Access Pass and Student Pass registrations include access to all education sessions, all general sessions, entrance to the virtual exhibit hall and any networking opportunities.

How do I register to attend?

You can register for NRPA Virtual by visiting nrpa.org/Conference/ Registration.

Where can I find my Member ID number to register?

You can find your Member ID by logging in to your NRPA account at connect.nrpa.org and clicking “Sign In.” Once you are logged in, click the arrow next to your photo and select “Profile.” Your Member ID will appear beneath your bio. If you are unable to locate your Member ID on NRPA Connect, contact NRPA’s Customer Service Team via email at customerservice@nrpa.org or call 800.626.NRPA (6772).

What is the conference cancellation policy?

Registration refund and cancellation requests must be provided in writing

by Friday, September 25, 2020, no later than 5 p.m. EDT, and will incur a $100 administrative fee. No refunds will be issued if requested/postmarked after September 25, 2020.

Those wishing to cancel and receive a refund may submit their request prior to the indicated cutoff date of Friday, September 25, 2020, via the following: • Email: nrpa@mcievents.com • Mail: NRPA c/o MCI USA, 6100 W. Plano Parkway, Suite 3500, Plano, TX 75093 • Fax: 972.349.7715

What is the registration fee and what does registration include?

The rates for NRPA Virtual are: • All Access Pass (Member): $295 • All Access Pass (Nonmember): $395

If someone is unable to attend, can we substitute another person from our agency for an existing paid registration?

Yes! To do so, please contact MCI at 888.385.8010 or email nrpa@

mcievents.com. If you registered as a nonmember and received a threemonth trial membership, that membership also will be transferred.

What is the Conference Code of Conduct?

NRPA is dedicated to providing a safe, productive and welcoming environment for all participants and NRPA staff. We ask that you please review and keep the NRPA Code of Conduct in mind during the NRPA Virtual Conference.

The NRPA Code of Conduct can be found at nrpa.org/Conference/ About/Code-of-Conduct.

What is the platform NRPA will be using for the Virtual Conference?

NRPA will be using the Hubb platform to host NRPA Virtual. To ensure best performance with the Hubb platform, we recommend using the Google Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge or Safari internet browsers. Internet Explorer is not recommended.

When can I access my Hubb account to build my profile?

Starting Friday, October 23, you will be able to access your Hubb account and can begin setting up your profile.

Once you have your profile completed, you can start navigating through the platform. You will be able to highlight sessions you would like to attend, as well as any exhibit booths you would like to visit.

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product preview

Who do I contact if I am having trouble logging in to my Hubb account?

Within the Hubb platform, there will be a live chat function where you will be able to receive assistance from a member of the Hubb team. Below are the dates and times you can connect with a Hubb representative.

• Friday, October 23, 9 a.m. – 7 p.m. EDT • Monday, October 26, 9 a.m. – 7 p.m. EDT • Tuesday, October 27, 9 a.m. – 7 p.m. EDT • Wednesday, October 28, 9 a.m.

– 7 p.m. EDT • Thursday, October 29, 9 a.m. – 7 p.m. EDT

What type of computer equipment will I need to access the content in Hubb?

You do not need a computer camera or microphone to participate in any of the education sessions.

Just be sure to test your computer sound to ensure it’s working properly — you don’t want to miss out on any education session presentations or exhibitor videos!

How can I ask a speaker/ presenter a question(s) during an education session?

During the education sessions, questions for the presenters can be submitted through the live chat function. At the conclusion of the session, the speaker will use

any remaining time left to answer any questions that were submitted during the presentation.

How do I connect with exhibitors and sponsors?

Come explore the Virtual Exhibit Hall! While visiting an exhibitor’s booth, you will be able to book an appointment, download resources, chat with a representative or request more information.

I have more questions! Where can I get more information?

For all information about the 2020 NRPA Annual Conference: A Virtual Experience, visit nrpa.org/ Conference. We can’t wait to see you there!

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Products you want, Service you need.

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SmartRec by Amilia is a recreation software that helps you optimize resource allocation and lets residents find, register, and pay for activities online.

We help you deliver a seamless digital experience while creating your sustainable agency. www.smartrec.com 1-877-343-0004

OF THE

Congratulations!

BEST

BEST C E R E M O N Y

The 2020 NRPA Innovation Award Winners Innovation in Conservation Award The Woodlands Township: Three Pillars of Sustainability The Woodlands, Texas Innovation in Health Award City of Golden Valley HomeRECed: A Navigational Guide To Everyday Recreation City of Golden Valley, Minnesota Innovation in Park Design Award City of Spokane Parks & Recreation U.S. Pavilion & Howard St. Promenade, Riverfront Spokane Spokane, Washington Innovation in Social Equity Award Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy Restoring Pittsburgh Parks: The Parks Plan Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

The 2020 NRPA Spotlight Award Winners National Distinguished Professional Award Dr. James D. Worsley, CPRE, CTRS, director, Chesterfield County Parks & Recreation, Chesterfield, Virginia Robert M. Artz Advocate Award Greg Cox, chairman, County of San Diego Board of Supervisors, San Diego, California Robert W. Crawford Young Professional Award Anthony Iracki, recreation supervisor, Whitefish Bay Recreation, Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin RWJF-NRPA Award for Health Equity Carol Zernail, senior vice president, social responsibility and foundation executive director, WellMed Charitable Foundation, and Daryl Quarles, senior program division manager, Dallas Park and Recreation Department, Dallas, Texas

The 2020 NRPA Scholarship & Fellowship Recipients Young Professional Fellowship Meredith Lawrence, City of Mendota Heights Jenna Stevenson, City of Baytown Parks & Recreation Diversity Scholarship Jairo Rios-Campos, PlayEast!

Student Scholarship Abigail Sandy, Texas A&M University, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences For more information, visit nrpa.org/Awards

OPERATIONS Raise Your Voice for Healthier and Safer Swimming

By Kristie Riester

T

his year’s swim season looked different than any other in recent history, with recreational water facilities across the nation either closed or operating at partial capacity with multiple safeguards in place due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The face of aquatics and its intersection with public health is changing rapidly as the role of public health in our country becomes paramount.

Now, more than ever, we must work together to safely operate and regulate public aquatic facilities.

As park and recreation professionals, you have valuable insight to contribute about how to make aquatics healthier and safer for everyone. One of the best ways to share your expertise is through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) Model Aquatic Health Code (MAHC).

What Is the Model Aquatic Health Code?

The CDC’s MAHC is the only all-inclusive model pool code in the United States. Not unlike restaurant owners and operators who rely on health codes to guide them on food safety, those who work in or with public aquatic facilities The Model Aquatic Health Code provides aquatics professionals with guidelines for providing a safe swimming environment.

depend on MAHC guidelines for providing a safe swimming environment. The MAHC is a set of voluntary procedures based on the latest science and best practices, which are known to help keep public pools healthy and safe for swimmers, visitors and staff. If followed, the guidelines in the MAHC can help reduce the risk for disease outbreaks, drowning, chemical injuries and other types of injuries at public pools across the country.

State and local government officials can reference some or all of the guidelines when developing or updating their own pool codes.

Aquatics professionals also can refer to them when they are designing and building new aquatic facilities or considering updating their operation and maintenance policies.

The CDC releases an updated edition of the MAHC every three years, and the fourth edition of the MAHC is scheduled for release next summer. The process to update the MAHC is managed by a nonprofit organization, called the Council for the Model Aquatic Health Code (CMAHC).

What Is the Council for the Model Aquatic Health Code?

The CMAHC was created in October 2014, just after the release of the first edition of the MAHC, with a mission to help ensure a healthy and safe swimming experience for everyone. Specifically, CMAHC partners with the CDC to: 78 Parks & Recreation

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• Keep the MAHC up-to-date based on the latest science and best practices • Promote voluntary adoption and use of the MAHC by state and local health departments, environmental health specialists and the aquatics industry • Coordinate and prioritize research needs to help inform updates to the MAHC • Educate partners and the public about the MAHC and its potential to make aquatics healthier and safer Leading up to each new edition of the MAHC, aquatics, public health and environmental health experts have the opportunity to submit, comment on and vote on proposed changes through the CMAHC. Voting takes

place following the CMAHC’s triennial Vote on the Code Triennial Conference, where proposed changes to the MAHC are presented, discussed and debated. The CMAHC uses the voting results to update the MAHC and submits those results to the CDC for consideration. The recommendations from CMAHC then go through rigorous vetting within several layers of the CDC resulting in the final, updated MAHC. This year, some of the best and brightest minds in the industry have submitted 530 proposed changes to the MAHC for consideration.

CMAHC is preparing to discuss and debate these changes at its first-ever virtual conference, October 21–23, 2020. CMAHC members will then have an opportunity to vote on the

proposed changes from November 13 to December 14.

There Is Still Time to Get Involved!

The CMAHC offers opportunities for research, education and service year-round. Right now, our most urgent need is ensuring the next edition of the MAHC represents balanced and high-quality input from experts in our industries. The CMAHC values your background and welcomes your expertise. It will take all of us working together to ensure a healthier and safer swim experience for everyone. Learn more and get involved at cmahc.org.

Kristie Riester is the Executive Director at CMAHC (kristieriester@cmahc.org).

NRPA invites you to join

CLIMATE FOR HEALTH AMBASSADORS TRAINING November 10, 2020 1:00-5:00 p.m. ET

This 4-hour interactive training facilitated by ecoAmerica will cover the links between climate and health, explore the spectrum of solutions, review ways we can speak effectively on the topic, and leverage opportunities to act and advocate.

Registration is free, but space is limited.

Sign up today by visiting nrpa.org/GreenerParksForHealth

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park essentials American Swing Products Get the most fun out of your playground Call 1-800-433-2573

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BCIBURKE.COM/ELEVATE Trademark(s) are the property of BCI Burke Company. © BCI Burke Company 2020. All Rights Reserved. 800-356-2070

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Bright Idea Shops, LLC Akron, Ohio 800-886-8990 fax 330-258-0167 www.brightideashops.com www.park-signs.net

Create, Launch, and Grow Your Virtual Recreation Programs Parks and rec departments are redefining what citizen

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www.openspaceradio.org

United States Postal Service Statement of Ownership, Management, and Circulation 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

Publication Title: National Recreation & Park Assoc/Parks & Recreation Publication Number: 422240 Filing Date: September 2020 Issue Frequency: Monthly Number of Issues Published Annually: 12 Annual Subscription Price: $30.00 for members; $36.00 for nonmembers Complete Mailing Address of Known Office of Publication (not printer): National Recreation

and Park Association, 22377 Belmont Ridge Road, Ashburn, VA 20148-4501

Complete Mailing Address of Headquarters or General Business Offices for Publisher (not printer):

National Recreation and Park Association, 22377 Belmont Ridge Road, Ashburn, Loudoun County, VA 20148-4501 Full Name and Complete Mailing Address of Publisher, Editor, and Managing Editor: > PUBLISHER—Gina Cohen, National Recreation and Park Association,

22377 Belmont Ridge Road, Ashburn, VA 20148-4501 > EDITOR—Vitisia Paynich, National Recreation and Park Association, 22377 Belmont Ridge Road, Ashburn, VA 20148-4501 Owner: National Recreation and Park Association 22377 Belmont Ridge Road, Ashburn, VA 20148-4501 Known Bondholders, Mortgagees, and Other Security Holders: None Tax Status: The purpose, function, and nonprofit status of this organization and the exempt status for federal income tax purposes has not changed during the preceding 12 months.

Publication Title: Parks & Recreation Issue Date of Circulation Data Below: September 2020

15. Extent and Nature of Circulation

a. Total Number of Copies (Net press run) (1) Mailed Outside-County Paid Subscriptions Stated on PS Form 3541 (include paid distribution above nominal rate, advertiser’s proof copies, and exchange copies) b. Paid Circula- (2) Mail In-County Paid Subscriptions Stated on PS Form 3541 (include paid distribution above nominal rate, advertistion (By Mail er’s proof copies, and exchange copies) and (3) Paid Distribution Outside the Mail Including Sales outside Through Dealers and Carriers, Street Vendors, Counter the Mail) Sales, and Other Paid Distribution outside USPS® (4) Paid Distribution by Other Classes of Mail Through the USPS (e.g. First-ClassMail®) c. Total Paid Distribution (Sum of 15b (1), (2), (3), and (4))

Average No. Copies Each Issue During Preceding 12 Months

No. Copies of Single Issue Published Nearest to Filing Date

15,172 14,683

12,127 11,651

0

0

179

135

0

0

14,862

11,786

16. Electronic Copy Circulation a. Paid Electronic Copies b. Total Paid Print Copies (Line 15c) + Paid Electronic Copies (Line 16a) c. Total Print Distribution (Line 15f) + Paid Electronic Copies (Lines 16a) d. Percent Paid (Both Print & Electronic Copies) (16b divided by 16c x100)

0

0

0

0

302

289

0

0

302

289

15,164 0

12,075 0

15,164 98.00%

12,075 98.00%

52,135 66,997

52,135 63,921

67,299

64,210

100.0%

100.0%

I certify that 50% of all my distributed copies (electronic and print) are paid above nominal price.

17. Publication of Statement Ownership: If the publication is a general publication, publication

of this statement is required. Will be printed in the October 2020 issue of this publication.

18. Signature and Title of Editor, Publisher, Business Manager, or Owner: Vitisia Paynich, Executive Editor I certify that all information furnished on this form is true and complete. I understand that anyone who furnishes false or misleading information on this form or who omits material or information requested on the form may be subject to criminal sanctions (including fines and imprisonment) and/or civil sanctions (including civil penalties).

Ice-America............................................................................................ 84 Kay Park Recreation............................................................................ 84 Landscape Structures Inc................................................................ 4, 5 Lincoln Aquatics....................................................................................76 Most Dependable Fountains.............................................................39 Musco Sports Lighting.........................................................................13 National Construction Rentals...................................................76, 85 NiceRink..................................................................................................86 Pet Waste Eliminator/Great American Business Products.......83 Pilot Rock/RJ Thomas Mfg. Co. ......................................................23 Playcraft Systems/PlayCore.............................................................. C4

advertiser index

American Swing Products................................................................. 80 Amilia............................................................................................... 76, 80 Aquatix by Landscape Structures...................................................... 7 BCI Burke Playgrounds..................................................................9, 80 Best Carnival Games............................................................................27 Bobcat Company...................................................................................17 Bright Ideas........................................................................................... 80 CivicPlus...................................................................................................81 Classic Recreation Systems............................................................... 33 DOGIPOT.................................................................................................81 Doty & Sons Concrete Products, Inc...............................................82 DuMor...................................................................................................... 19 Easi-Set Buildings ................................................................................82 Ex-Cell Kaiser.........................................................................................83 Fountain People/Water Odyssey..................................................... 37 Gared Sports...........................................................................................81 Geographic Technology Group..........................................................21 Goldenteak/The Wood Carver, Inc. ................................................83 Green Flush Technologies..................................................................35 Greenfields Outdoor Fitness............................................................2, 3 Gyms for Dogs/Livin’ the Dog Life................................................ 84

d. Free or (1) Free or Nominal Rate Outside-County Copies Nominal included on PS Form 3541 Rate (2) Free or Nominal Rate In-County Copies Included Distribu- on PS Form 3541 tion (By Mail (3) Free or Nominal Rate In-County Copies mailed at other classes through the USPS Leg. First-Class Mail and Outside Included on PS Form 3541 the (4) Free or Nominal Rate Distribution Outside the Mail Mail) (Carriers or other means) e. Total Free or Nominal Rate Distribution (Sum of 15d (1), (2), (3), and (4)) f. Total Distribution (Sum of 15c and 15e) g. Copies not Distributed (See instructions to Publishers #4 (page #3)) h. Total (Sum of 15f and 15g) i. Percent Paid (15c divided by 15f times 100)

Poligon......................................................................................................31 Polly Products........................................................................................85 Recreation Resource Management.................................................43 Shade Systems..................................................................................C2, 1 Sourcewell.............................................................................................. C3 Spectrum Aquatics...............................................................................85 Synthetic Surfaces.........................................................................85, 86 The Toro Company................................................................................15 Victor Stanley.........................................................................................25

(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 ©2020 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

PHOTO COURTESY OF WILDLANDS ENGINEERING INC..

Simple and Invaluable Public Engagement Nearly 10 years ago, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Storm Water Services reached out to Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation to ask if the department was interested in partnering on one of the largest urban stream restoration projects in the state of North Carolina. Reedy Creek was heavily impacted by past farming practices and stormwater runoff from nearby development and no longer supported healthy communities of native fishes and aquatic insects. The goal was to preserve, enhance and restore more than 40,000 feet (7.5 miles) of the stream and to use a science-based approach to document the recovery of the creek.

The project would take place in the 1,000-acre Reedy Creek Park and Nature Preserve (tinyurl.com/vqpuhef), one of 27 nature preserve properties included in the Mecklenburg County park system. The park and nature preserve prioritizes the conservation and protection of natural resources, rare species and unusual habitats while promoting passive recreation opportunities. Despite the demonstrated need to restore the stream, there were concerns about performing this massive construction project within the nature preserve. It would result in the removal of many large trees, displacement of woodland bird species, impact on amphibians and reptiles, and the closure of the heavily used nature trail system for almost two years.

To proactively address these concerns, the project team directed considerable resources toward public outreach and education to help the general public, park staff, elected officials and others understand why the project was needed, what to expect during construction and what the stream would look like once it was restored. Initial meetings with a citizen advisory board to the Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation Commission, known as the Stewardship Advisory Council, focused on building support for the project. Next, the Park and Recreation Commission heard presentations from city staff, park staff and the consulting team and approved the project. The focus then shifted to educating the general public about the project. A newspaper article was published, the city attended the park’s Hummingbird Festival, the team mailed a postcard to residents, and signage explaining the project goals and duration were posted at trail heads more than a year in advance of construction. Another round of outreach to all audiences occurred before construction started, and Storm Water Services even did an interview with local news. Wildlands Engineering Inc., the design consultant, created an interactive project website (reedycreekrestoration.com) to provide maps, pictures, updates and answers to frequently asked questions, as well as a link to the Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation website (mecknc.gov/ ParkandRec). As a result, the project was completed with almost no negative press or public concern. In fact, many park patrons are amazed by how great the stream looks and how quickly the vegetation has started to recover.

As part of post-construction monitoring, the nature center at Reedy Creek installed phone frame stations so park visitors can help document the recovery of the restored stream via a social media-based citizen science project. Engaging the public in a way that allows them to share their observations of new grasses, growing trees, and bird and wildlife sightings creates a connection to Reedy Creek and nature. We can’t think of a better way to connect our community to our natural resources and local parks.

– Erin Shanaberger, PWS, Watershed Planning and Project Implementation Supervisor for the city of Charlotte

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PARKS & RECREATION OCTOBER 2020 ◆ 2020 NRPA ANNUAL CONFERENCE ISSUE ◆ RACE FORWARD PRESIDENT GLENN HARRIS ◆ THE GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE CONNECTION