NRPA is committed to advancing youth mentoring in parks and recreation to support positive youth development and ensure young people have the support and resources they need to thrive. NRPA’s mentorship work grew out of a response to the opioid epidemic and recognizing the devastating impact substance use disorder has on local park and recreation agencies and their communities. Local park and recreation agencies play a vital — and often overlooked — role in supporting young people’s wellness through out-of-school time and in-school programs.
Mentoring in Parks and Rec: Overarching Goals
NRPA aims to support mentoring in parks and recreation through the following strategies:
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Provide funding, training and technical assistance to local park and recreation agencies and community partners to implement evidence-based, youth mentoring programs. The programs have a specific focus on preventing, reducing and addressing juvenile delinquency and victimization, increasing positive behaviors and outcomes in youth, supporting youth impacted by substance misuse and adverse child experiences (ACEs), and supporting youth.
- Collaborate with partners to develop turn-key resources and tools, such as NRPA’s Youth Mentoring Framework, to help professionals implement high-quality mentoring programs that support family engagement, career development, community service and leverage the role of parks and recreation as Community Wellness Hubs.
- Provide field-wide training and professional development opportunities to build the capacity of park and recreation professionals to develop youth mentoring programs and build core leadership competencies among park and recreation professionals operating mentoring programs.
Impacts
Beginning in 2018, NRPA partnered with local communities to implement mentoring programs in parks and recreation focused on supporting youth impacted by substance misuse in rural Appalachia (an area highly impacted by the opioid epidemic). This work expanded in 2020 to include communities in New England and again in 2022 and 2024 to agencies around the country that are implementing evidence-based mentoring into out-of-school time programs through one-on-one and group mentoring models.
Since 2018, NRPA has funded 75 communities in 33 states and the District of Columbia. Of those agencies:
These programs vary in size, serving small rural towns to large urban communities, and take place in a range of formats from youth sports, afterschool programs, in-school clubs and more.
NRPA is on track to reach more than 17,000 mentees and recruit and train more than 3,200 mentors by 2027.
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This content is supported by Grant #15PJDP-24-GG-03819-MENT awarded by the Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department of Justice.
