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Ensuring a community’s needs are met, whether in resources, facilities or programming, is a thoughtful process, but not one without challenges. Many park and recreation agencies need data that strengthen the case for greater funding, additional staffing, expanded programming, planning purposes, reporting and more. Answering those big questions of “How many acres of parkland does my community need?” or “Is my agency understaffed?” is more difficult without a starting point. Luckily, a starting point exists.
NRPA Park Metrics is the most comprehensive source of park and recreation agency benchmarks in the United States. With more than a decade’s worth of agency-contributed data, NRPA Park Metrics provides you and your agency with the information necessary to effectively engage your local stakeholders and elected officials, and plan for the future. At its most basic level, NRPA Park Metrics is a survey and reporting tool.
The Survey
Park and recreation agencies throughout the country, serving populations large and small, complete the Agency Performance Survey within the NRPA Park Metrics platform annually. This survey focuses on nine key areas related to parks and recreation: jurisdiction information, capital budget, operating budget, personnel, agency responsibilities, workload, facilities, activities and policies. The survey can be completed by a single individual or multiple people through your NRPA Park Metrics account. Additionally, an Excel version of the survey is available so you may preview questions prior to completing them or share that file with different departments to complete before uploading the information to your NRPA Park Metrics account. Agency contributions to NRPA Park Metrics not only benefit you, but also the field at large.
The Reporting Tool
Did you know that there is typically one park for every 2,287 residents? And did you know that the typical park and recreation agency provides 10.8 acres of land per 1,000 residents, but that number changes to 13 acres per 1,000 residents in jurisdictions of less than 20,000 residents? Furthermore, were you aware that an agency serving a population of more than 250,000 residents typically has a staff of 264 full-time-equivalent employees? These are just a few of the many benchmarks that can be obtained through NRPA Park Metrics. The data within the platform is used to produce the annual NRPA Agency Performance Review; however, this report only shows a fraction of the data available to users.
In addition to the aggregate data presented in the NRPA Agency Performance Review, reporting tools within Park Metrics allow users to filter data to gather results from agencies most similar to their own. Access to peer data allows an agency to engage local stakeholders and elected officials more effectively when faced with challenges or pushback. Not only will you have access to aggregate peer data, but also the side-by-side reporting feature within the platform will give you the names of those peer agencies based on the filters you choose. Connecting with your peer agencies helps provide additional resources for networking, problem-
solving and targeting strategies.
The Ask
Annual participation in NRPA Park Metrics is a habit for many park and recreation professionals and their agencies. For those who have not done so already, it is time to complete the Agency Performance Survey within the NRPA Park Metrics and let your voice be heard! Visit the NRPA Park Metrics website, select “Access NRPA Park Metrics” and log in or create your free account to begin inputting or updating your agency information today.
The deadline to submit the Agency Performance Survey within NRPA Park Metrics is January 26. This will ensure your agency’s data is included in the annual NRPA Agency Performance Review released in early May.
As a special thank you, agencies that provide their Park Metrics data by January 26 will receive a customized Agency Performance Report, highlighting your agency’s data against the national findings.
Melissa May is Senior Research Manager at NRPA.