Features
Gathering Place: A Park for Everyone
One hundred years after the Greenwood District Massacre, Tulsa, Oklahoma, is employing diversity equity, inclusion and accessibility as key park design principles.
Patch Happy
Portland Parks and Recreation launches an initiative to transform underperforming landscapes into ecologically healthy and beautiful natural spaces.
Ensuring ‘An Equal Future’ for All
Introducing a new TEDxCollegePark virtual experience for park and recreation professionals. Learn why you shouldn’t miss this FREE event.
Additional Articles
Park Design and Planning Should Fully Engage Our Communities
As we look to make the most of our limited resources in the coming years, let us make sure that we are staying true to universal design and ethical planning principles.
Inspired Park Design
Park and recreation professionals recognize the importance of designing open spaces that are accessible, inclusive and inviting to all.
Closing Park Roads to Cars — An Idea Goes Viral
Find out how the People’s Alliance for Rock Creek (PARC) and other park advocates made the case for keeping a major road in Washington, D.C.'s Rock Creek Park closed to cars on weekdays.
Remembering Park and Recreation Advocate Eric O’Brien
Friends and colleagues pay tribute to one of NRPA's most energetic and dedicated former advocate board members and board chairs, who passed away on January 7.
James ‘Jim’ Peterson Passes Away December 2020
On December 30, 2020, the park and recreation field lost a pioneer, who was instrumental in shaping the profession through his joint appointment at Indiana University and Purdue University.
Park District General Manager Robert Doyle Retires After 47-Year Career
East Bay Regional Park District’s outgoing general manager leaves many legacies that will benefit the lives of community members.
Member Benefit: Leading in Recovery
Recovery is top of mind in 2021. How can park and recreation professionals deliver programs safely while ensuring financial sustainability?
Parks and Recreation Is an Engine of Economic Activity
NRPA's research finds that operations and capital spending at local park and recreation agencies generated more than $166 billion in U.S. economic activity and supported 1.1 million jobs in 2017.
Parks and Recreation Provides Important Employment Opportunities
Park and recreation departments are leading providers of first-time employment opportunities for youth and young adults.
Assets the Private Sector Can Bring to Park Departments
While the private sector can contribute to park departments by investing funds for operation, maintenance and/or capital development, there are four additional aspects of private-sector involvement that may be even more attractive.
Parks, Funding and the Communities That Make Them Possible
Community and elected official support help make bonds, grants and taxes possible to establish funding that supports the completion of park and recreation projects.
Inclusive Health in Parks and Recreation
The movement toward inclusive health can start small and grow from simple conversations with people with intellectual disabilities (ID) in your community.
The Path Forward: Equity at the Center of City Park Investment
Parks will play an essential role in the economic recovery of our nation and in addressing inequities in our cities.
Gauging the Value of the SITES Rating System
In its second decade, SITES promises to use its growing influence as a municipal governance tool with the goal of codifying NRPA’s Three Pillars into local policy.
Day Camp Suspension for Disabled Participant’s Threats
The federal district court discussed threats that prompted exclusion of an individual with intellectual disabilities from continued participation from a public recreation program in New Hampshire.
Creating Inclusive Skate Parks
Municipal skate park operators can find qualified skateboarding instructors the same way they do for swimming, baseball and other sports.