Examining the Agency-Foundation Relationship in Local Park and Recreation Services

Local park and recreation agencies supply a variety of community-based services, often at little or no direct cost to users. To supplement tax-based allocations, many agencies rely on partnerships with park foundations, nonprofit organizations that directly support park and recreation service delivery. Despite their prevalence and importance, there is a lack of empirical evidence about the agency-foundation (AF) relationship; this project begins to address this need, and seeks to inform the efforts of professionals navigating these partnerships. Results from a survey of National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) member agencies (n = 235) illustrated that these partnerships are generally viewed as close, effective, and strong, and of particular value relevant to “big picture” agency activities such as fundraising and community engagement. A comparison of communities indicates that the AF relationship is more common in larger communities, and among larger and more complex agencies. Practical implications for practitioners and potential directions for future research are discussed.

Benefits and Motivations for Virtual Community Participation: A Netnography of the Hogwarts Running Club

Keeping up with technology today can be challenging. As park and recreation agencies increasingly find the need to adapt to and incorporate new technologies to stay relevant, the challenge to maintain membership and attract the ever-growing digital generation cannot be underestimated. Technology has long been considered a tool for agency administration, program registration, and implementation, but new forms of technological interaction should be considered by professionals as a way to reach existing and potential participants as well as a way to build community. The rapid development and growth of technology has spurred the development and popularity of virtual communities. Although these communities have been around for over 30 years, they have not yet been adopted into the professional “tool kit” for program delivery or in reaching out to foster stronger community connections and involvements. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore perceptions of benefits and motivation among participants of a leisure-based virtual community. This study utilized the qualitative research technique netnography to explore the perceived benefits and motivations of members of the virtual community The Hogwarts Running Club (HRC). The community has the mission of changing the world through physical fitness and charitable giving and has attracted a large, active, and loyal membership. The HRC was an ideal study setting due to its popularity and the leisure-based nature of the community. The HRC virtual interactions included in the dataset took place via a Facebook group where the focus of discussion was on Harry Potter and running. Data analysis revealed three primary categories of perceived benefits and motivations among the Facebook posts collected over a six-month timeframe: improved physical health, improved mental health, and social and emotional support. Participants indicated that their participation in HRC community events and the support and encouragement they received led to these perceived benefits. As many park and recreation agencies have mandates and commitments to improve quality of life for their constituents, facilitating a leisure-based virtual community might be one avenue of doing so. As such, implications derived from the findings for theory and practice are discussed along with suggestions for future research and practice.

Collaborating With Parks and Recreation Departments to Address Youth Health

Adolescence is an important time for addressing health, including mental health, obesity, substance use, and food insecurity. As the myriad health and wellness needs of community members expands, it becomes increasingly difficult for one profession alone to address these needs. The park and recreation field was founded to address the health and wellness needs of people, and much of their programming is focused on youth. Thus, municipal park and recreation departments are becoming increasingly involved in collaborative partnerships with other health-serving agencies within their community. This study explored park and recreation directors’ experiences in collaborating with health agencies to better address health and wellness factors that affect the youth in their communities. This phenomenological qualitative study employed in-depth interviews with park and recreation directors and used thematic analysis. Nine interviews were conducted from four of the six New England states. The most common health concern seen by the directors was mental health, primarily behavioral health challenges. Parks and recreation collaboration with public health organizations ranged from none to close collaborations; directors regularly spoke about wanting to strengthen their collaborations. Public health and park and recreation staff have similar challenges with staffing and resources; additionally, they have complimentary skills with regard to planning and implementing health-related programs. For that reason, creating purposeful collaborative partnerships between public health agencies and park and recreation departments, focused on measurable outcomes, may increase benefits to the health of youth in a community.

Social Context of Performance Appraisals in Public Parks and Recreation: A Statewide Study

Well-designed performance appraisals provide a formal evaluation system to measure employees’ contributions to the agency while motivating staff and enhancing productivity levels. Despite their prominence and popularity, performance appraisal systems are often a contentious activity within public park and recreation agencies. Appraisal literature has indicated that many of these frustrations stem from issues such as (1) criteria that is not job related, (2) unclear or confusing rating levels, and/or (3) poorly designed processes and inconsistent implementation techniques. Recent research has also suggested many of these issues might be linked to the social dimensions surrounding the appraisal system. The purpose of this study was to build upon the previous appraisal research in public parks and recreation by exploring the role of two process proximal social context factors (employee participation and supervisor trust) on the utility of the appraisal system. More specifically, the cumulative effects of employee participation at various stages (job analysis, instrument development, appraisal interview, and training related to the appraisal system) and employees’ perceptions of their supervisor on employees’ reactions to their agency’s appraisal system were examined. Analyses indicated supervisor trust and employee participation significantly contributed to public park and recreation professionals’ satisfaction with their appraisal system, satisfaction with their appraisal interview, and their procedural and distributive justice perceptions with their appraisal system. Study findings and implications for management are discussed.

Understanding the Agency-Foundation Relationship: The Role of Nonprofit Foundations in Delivering Local Park and Recreation Services

Inadequate funding is a common and longstanding concern for local public park and recreation agencies. Traditionally, these services are funded predominantly through tax-based allocations, supplemented by other streams such as earned revenue, dedicated levies, and sponsorship agreements. Cost-cutting measures such as outsourcing, overall staffing reductions, and an increasing reliance on a parttime workforce have also become increasingly common in the context of local park and recreation service delivery. Partnership with nonprofit organizations represents another potential strategy to adequately fund local park and recreation services.Partnerships between local park and recreation agencies and nonprofit park and recreation foundations have a long history, and help support local park and recreation agencies in a variety of capacities. Their importance may also be growing as a function of the decline in tax-based support and earned revenue due to both the Great Recession and the global COVID-19 pandemic. Such partnerships are not unique to local parks and recreation however, and are common—and widely studied—at the national and transnational level. Despite their importance to local park and recreation service delivery, and the established body of knowledge examining these partnerships at the national and transnational level, the local agency-foundation relationship remains understudied. In this manuscript we begin to address this gap by providing a clearer picture of the agency-foundation relationship, and identifying strategies for how local park and recreation agencies can most effectively leverage these partnerships. To do so, we employ a qualitative research method, interviewing leaders from both local public park and recreation agencies and nonprofit park foundations. Results illustrate a variety of motivations for initiating an agency-foundation relationship (funding/capacity, deteriorating conditions, and equity), as well as a number of distinct benefits of such a partnership (increased operational capacity, advocacy and outreach, expertise, and non-governmental status). Respondents also identified various characteristics of a successful agency-foundation relationship (effective communication, clear roles and responsibilities, strong connections, and flexibility/responsiveness), and challenges to success (competition for scarce resources, and equity). Based on these results, we propose several strategies to help local park and recreation agencies maximize these partnerships (communicate frequently and with purpose, build relationships, formalize ties, and strive for equitable outcomes).

Participant-Driven Videography in Park and Protected Area Research

Research on visitor experiences in protected areas is evolving as advancements in new technologies and social trends emerge. We assert that park and recreation research can be further enhanced through the application and coupling of videography and spatial-temporal metadata. This systematic review explores the use of participant-driven videography across park and recreation research and adjacent disciplines (i.e., tourism, natural resource management) to understand the existing use of participant-driven data coupled with spatial-temporal information. Evidence gleaned from this systematic review reveals that participant-driven videography is a powerful tool for park research, yet its application is limited by authorship, scope and context. This research note provides: 1) insight into how videographic techniques are currently being used to gain unique visitor data; 2) insight into the collection, management, and analysis of unstructured video data; and 3) areas of future park and recreation research that may be informed by this unique approach.

From carrying capacity to overtourism: a perspective article

Purpose This paper aims to place current burgeoning interest in overtourism into historical context. Design/methodology/approach This paper draws upon the author’s experiences of working for approximately four decades on tourism and recreation using such concepts as impacts and carrying capacity. Findings This paper shows that overtourism is not a new concept. Rather it has a substantial history, although early origins within park and recreation settings in North America have been superseded by an emphasis on the urban areas of historic towns, particularly in Europe. Originality/value The paper provides a corrective to the common assumption that overtourism is a new phenomenon and, in doing so, points out the deficiencies of concepts and approaches, such as carrying capacity, that are being revived but have been used previously, criticized and found wanting.