CHRP | URPA

CHRP Project (Community Health in Recreation & Parks)

Telling the Story Community Health in Recreation & Parks

Parks and recreation services are essential for promoting health and wellness in our communities. This is backed by research evidence, which shows that physical activity, youth sports, park access, and outdoor recreation are linked to improved individual and community health outcomes. Research even suggests that these benefits can reduce healthcare costs and contribute to the economic health of communities. Yet we often struggle to get the resources we need to do great programming and maintain our facilities at a high level. How can we make sure that decision-makers in our community see the true value of the work we do?

A collaborative research project between the University of Utah and the Utah Recreation and Parks Association sought to answer this question. This project, titled Community Health in Recreation and Parks, found that in Utah, parks and recreation professionals understand the value of the services they provide. This work showed that when given the opportunity, many of us discuss how parks and recreation builds social connections, improves resilience, creates opportunities for people to pursue health and wellness, and improves quality of life in our communities.

However, findings also showed that parks and recreation professionals often feel unequipped to communicate these benefits to decision-makers in our community, including elected officials and local administration. Part of the challenge is that many parks and recreation professionals do not have access to research evidence on the benefits of parks and recreation. Additionally, as public servants, we often face pressure to report on the tangible aspects of our work, such as the number of participants we serve and the amount of money generated from our programs. This often leaves us without the time and space we need to communicate how impactful our programs are for individual and community wellness.

Here's the good news! To help address these challenges, the research team created a suite of resources to help professionals in our field communicate about the health and wellness benefits of the work we do. These resources and their potential uses are outlined below. We encourage you to use these resources, and to share them with others who may find them useful. We hope that these tools will promote ongoing investment in parks and recreation by helping you tell the story of these essential services.

Resource	Purpose	Potential Uses	Files
Fact sheets on Health Benefits of Parks and Recreation	To summarize existing research evidence on connections between parks and recreation services and health outcomes.	Share with participants who enroll in related programs or events. Offer paper copies at events and/or front desk of facilities. Hand out at meetings with elected officials or local administrators.	Physical Activity Outdoor Recreation Social Return on Investment Senior Social Connection Youth Sport Community Benefit Youth Sport Individual Benefit
Wellness Wheel Poster	To provide a framework for understanding how parks and recreation services can support the 8 dimensions of wellness: physical, social, emotional, intellectual, environmental, financial, spiritual, occupational.	Post in your office for a quick reminder of how parks and recreation can contribute to wellness. Post in public spaces to promote public awareness of the wellness benefits of parks and recreation.	Wellness Wheel Poster Poster Supplemental Information
Wellness Wheel Worksheet	To help parks and recreation professionals identify how the activities, programs, and spaces that their agency provides contribute to the 8 dimensions of wellness.	Fill out with your team to identify your agency's strengths and areas for improvement. Share with potential participants to help them identify which programs will meet their wellness goals. Consider how the Wellness Wheel matches up with the mission and vision of your agency, city, or county. Share with local officials to illustrate how your agency is accomplishing its goals or where there is need for greater investment.	Wellness Wheel Worksheet
Customizable Slide Decks on the Health Benefits of Parks and Recreation	To make it easier for parks and recreation professionals to communicate about the health benefits of parks and recreation. These slide decks summarize existing research evidence, provide estimates of the economic benefits of investing in parks and recreation, and offer customizable slides where practitioners can summarize how their agency is promoting health and wellness in their community.	Use any/all slides in meeting(s) with public officials to illustrate the value of parks and recreation. Customize the slides to apply to your local community. For example, insert statistics on health challenges in your community and highlight the ways that parks and recreation services can help address these issues. Add in videos, pictures, and quotes from local recreation users to show your agency's impacts.	Colorful Slide Deck Simple Slide Deck
Guide: Identifying Local Officials' Priorities for Parks and Recreation	To help parks and recreation professionals learn about how elected officials and local administration are thinking about parks and recreation.	Survey officials about their priorities at the start of a meeting or at a local event. Use this as a jumping off point for conversation about what parks and recreation is doing for the community. When presenting to local leaders, focus on the aspects of P&R that they care most about. Go beyond participant numbers to speak to their interests and values.	Guide: Identifying Local Officials' Priorities for Parks and Recreation.