Social Engagement within Park and Recreation: An Interview with National Recreation and Park Association
Authors:
Colleen Pittard (she/her), Program Manager, Tiff Cunin (they/them), MPH, Senior Program Manager, Allison Colman (she/her), Director of Health
Park and recreation agencies are key leaders and partners providing social engagement opportunities for older adults in communities across the country. With Park and Recreation month approaching in July, engAGED: The National Resource Center for Engaging Older Adults conducted an interview with the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA)—a member of the engAGED Project Advisory Committee—to highlight how park and recreation agencies are promoting social engagement opportunities to older adults.
engAGED: Can you share a little bit about the work of the National Recreation and Park Association and the Healthy Aging in Parks Initiative, including how the initiative is addressing social isolation among older adults?
NRPA: Park and recreation agencies are a leading provider of services and recreation opportunities for older adults in nearly every town, city and county across the United States, with 9 in 10 park and recreation agencies providing opportunities for older adults. Whether working closely with partners or acting on their own, park and recreation professionals provide older adults with a wealth of resources that improve mental and physical health, provide social activities with others, arrange for opportunities to serve others in their community and, most importantly, allow them to age in place.
The Healthy Aging in Parks Initiative is about preserving the health, independence and social connections of older adults. For decades, local park and recreation agencies have been offering programs and services to address the diverse health and wellness needs of the growing older adult population. They provide optimal settings for individuals to engage in a wide range of physical activity programs.
Additionally, these programs provide increased opportunities to establish strong and healthy social connections among participants! Participants across a wide range of Arthritis Appropriate Evidence Based Interventions (AAEBIs) hosted by parks and recreation agencies have expressed how these programs have improved their strength and stamina, but also how the interactions have given them a better outlook on life and that a bonus of the programs are that they are very social.
engAGED: Can you describe how park and recreation agencies help promote the socialization and engagement of older adults?
NRPA: Park and recreation agencies meet older adults where they are and provide diverse opportunities for engagement whether it be through in-person programming or the remote delivery of programs through platforms like Zoom. According to NRPA’s Healthy Aging in Parks Survey Report, 91 percent of park and recreation agencies offer exercise programs, 70 percent offer field trips and tours, 67 percent offer arts and cultural activities, 58 percent provide opportunities to volunteer and 58 percent host special events specifically for older adults. These activities provide a space for older adults to come together, connect with one another, build a sense of purpose and stay engaged within the community. With the increase in virtual programming due to the COVID-19 pandemic, some participants have even expressed that learning to use platforms like Zoom to participate in programs hosted by their local park and recreation agencies has taught them new ways to connect with family and friends that they have not seen in a quite some time!
engAGED: Can you share a few examples of how Aging Network organizations work with park and recreation agencies to promote social engagement and address social isolation?
NRPA: Since 2013, NRPA, with support from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has been providing resources and support to local park and recreation agencies to deliver four evidence-based chronic disease prevention and management programs: Active Living Every Day (ALED), Fit & Strong! (F&S!), EnhanceFitness (EF) and Walk With Ease (WWE). See three of these programs in action in NRPA’s video, Healthy Aging in Parks: Evidence-Based Programs Benefit Older Adults.
As part of NRPA’s Healthy Aging in Parks Initiative, these evidence-based programs support the physical, mental and social well-being of older adults, particularly those living with chronic conditions like arthritis, diabetes and heart disease. Attending these programs, especially during the pandemic, helped older adults connect socialize with friends and other community members.
Many local park and recreation agencies collaborate with local Aging Network organizations, such as Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs), in various ways. For example, AAAs cross-promote park and recreation programs and services like the Arthritis Appropriate Evidence Based Interventions (AAEBIs) to reach a wider audience that further supports the broad dissemination and implementation of these programs in local communities. AAAs may also help alleviate the challenge that many park and recreation agencies often face of not having enough safe and appropriate spaces by offering programs like the AAEBIs at their facilities. This in turn helps to expand and sustain programs such as the AAEBIs in communities across the country.
engAGED: How can community-based organizations connect with their local park and recreation agencies to partner on social engagement activities?
NRPA: Local park and recreation agencies connect with community-based organizations through formal and informal partnerships. Some of these partnerships have been with local public libraries, local AAAs, local health systems and health departments, faith-based organizations, local housing authority, local Meals on Wheels chapters and others. These partnerships are crucial to leveraging each of the partners’ networks, resources and relationships that helps the park and recreation agencies to increase awareness, expand referrals and participation in older adult programs. Some examples of these local partnerships during COVID-19 are:
In Tualatin, OR, staff at the Juanita Pohl Center enlisted volunteers to conduct weekly wellness check-in calls using a call script that was developed collaboratively by the park and recreation department and the Washington County Disability, Aging and Veterans Services. The phone calls included a mood assessment and sharing of phone numbers and other local resources for support services. In addition, staff and volunteers at the center worked with Meals on Wheels to make meal deliveries once a week that contained a week’s worth of meals. They also have been collaborating with the Washington County Disability, Aging and Veterans Services to offer webinars and other online programs for center participants.
The Edina Senior Center in Edina, MN collaborated with the local library and created a program called “Dear Edina”. Dear Edina is an intergenerational pen pal program that curates socialization among older adults and school-aged children. It was very successful with more than 220 people participating initially.
engAGED: How are park and recreation agencies supporting older adults throughout the COVID-19 pandemic? What innovations have you seen in supporting and promoting socialization and engagement of older adults throughout the pandemic?
NRPA: Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, park and recreation professionals continued to provide essential programs and services to older adults to support their physical and mental health and well-being. Most notably, agencies continued to provide critical social resources to older adults, including meal distribution in the form of grab-and-go, drive-thru models or mobile meal programs. They also provided opportunities for older adults, especially adults with chronic conditions, to stay physically active by delivering virtual exercise programs. To support social engagement, local park and recreation agencies also created innovative opportunities to support social connection via virtual enrichment programs, conducting wellness checks on older adults, and even arranging safe, physically distant meetups and gatherings.
Parks, trails and green spaces also largely stayed open, providing opportunities for people to move their bodies and spend time in nature in a safe, close-to-home environment, with 79 percent of older adults indicating that these spaces were essential for their physical and mental health during the early stages of the pandemic. NRPA recently released a report summarizing how park and recreation agencies responded to the COVID-19 pandemic.
engAGED: How will older adult programming and services in park and recreation look different in the future? How are park and recreation agencies working to advance health equity within older adult programs?
NRPA: COVID-19 has creating lasting impacts within local park and recreation agencies. Park and recreation professionals indicate that the future delivery of recreational and health and wellness programming will look different, including:
66 percent of agencies indicating they will continue to deliver recreation programming virtually (e.g., YouTube, Zoom, public access television) post-pandemic.
47 percent of agencies have strengthened relationships with local public health departments and other partners to improve coordination and offer new programs and services at park and recreation sites.
36 percent of agencies plan to provide expanded programming focused on the mental health and well-being of the public (yoga, meditation, tai chi, arts, journaling, etc.).
The COVID-19 pandemic has also impacted the strategic priorities of many park and recreation agencies as they relate to advancing health equity and social justice. The pandemic has illuminated the stark differences in who has access to and benefits from quality parks, green space and recreation programming, while others face additional barriers. Forty-one percent of agencies indicate they have a deeper understanding of the health and social inequities that exist across their community and 62 percent of agencies believe they have a greater role to play in embedding an equity lens into their programs, services and park improvement efforts to better serve and meet community needs. Changes that we are seeing across the field include more intentional efforts to acknowledge unfair practices and policies that have created inequities within parks and recreation, enacting new practices to ensure community voices are at the table and have decision-making authority, prioritizing investments and services in communities that have experienced the most disinvestment, and providing training around diversity, equity and inclusion to park and recreation staff. To support park and recreation professionals on their individual and institutional journeys to center healthy equity, NRPA released the Elevating Health Equity Through Parks and Recreation: A Framework for Action in the spring of 2021. The framework, which is applicable to all community-based organizations, includes a self-assessment tool, agency assessment tool and action planning tool to advance health equity.
To learn more about the work of NRPA and how you can celebrate Park and Recreation Month 2021, visit www.nrpa.org/events/july.