City Parks and Recreation Departments Lead Community Wellness Efforts

At a recent National Recreation and Park Association conference in Baltimore, local leaders from La Mesa, Calif., Jackson, Tenn., and Boise, Idaho, shared a sample of these innovative approaches to child wellness with some of the nearly 9,000 parks and recreation officials in attendance. 

La Mesa
Yvonne Garrett, director of community services for the City of La Mesa, discussed how her department (which oversees parks and recreation programs) was uniquely positioned to build bridges between other agencies and community groups and coordinate childhood obesity prevention efforts.

With technical assistance provided by NLC’s Institute for Youth, Education, and Families, La Mesa officials have worked with the school district to expand school wellness policies to the larger community. For instance, the La Mesa City Council adopted a local wellness policy in 2006 to make city parks smoke-free and to eliminate the sale of junk food in vending machines at community centers.

A city-school district team participating in the technical assistance project also worked with youth in analyzing the community’s physical environment to determine whether residents could walk to grocery stores, schools and other locations. This data collection process revealed that a lack of sidewalks was a barrier for youth walking to the neighborhood high school. Based on these findings, the youth successfully advocated for new sidewalks and the city obtained a $550,000 Safe Routes to School grant to build them. The city also received a second federal grant to make it easier to walk to all of La Mesa’s elementary and middle schools over the next four years.  In addition, the project team worked to determine the availability of fresh fruit and vegetables in local grocery stores and review the type of advertising directed toward the community’s youth.  

Jackson
Tony Black, recreation and parks director in Jackson, described the partnership between Jackson Mayor Jerry Gist and school district leaders to increase the number of opportunities for physical activity by improving the built environment.

The city and school district recently launched the “Jumpstart Jackson” initiative to raise awareness about childhood obesity. The mayor and superintendent lead regular community walks to draw attention to the issue. Jumpstart Jackson has also served as a collaborative planning mechanism for the development of a comprehensive citywide wellness policy.

Boise
The completion of a three-year strategic planning process to improve quality of life in Boise includes a significant focus on broadening afterschool opportunities. These programs not only offer recreational activity but also provide an opportunity to teach children lessons about health and nutrition — lessons that are less frequently taught during the regular school day. 

Recreation Superintendent Doug Holloway shared local successes, such as the creation of a new Mayor’s Council on Children and Youth. The council has convened leaders from the mayor’s office, school districts, local businesses, nonprofit youth development organizations and key city agencies to focus on expanding afterschool programs in neighborhoods with limited programming, low-income families and high crime statistics.

Using Geographic Information System technology, the city created a map of local afterschool options and developed a user-friendly website, After3Boise.com, that enables parents to quickly search for programs by type and location. This data also helped generate support for new investments in mobile recreation vans to bring recreation department staff and resources to three communities during the afterschool hours. Since February, the program has had more than 28,000 visits by youth participants.

With a focus on neighborhood-based services, the city has also opened two branch libraries and broken ground for a third. Since the new libraries opened, 15,000 new library cards have been issued, a 65 percent increase over last year. Additionally, a partnership between the city and school district led to the approval of three new school-based community centers (two opened in August and the third will open next August).

With support from Mayor David Bieter, Boise’s Parks and Recreation Department has played a key role in strategically addressing community-wide needs. In addition, “parks and recreation has a positive impact on the community and the economy,” according to Holloway.

Boise’s Convention and Tourism Bureau now highlights information about new city services and the After3 website for prospective businesses and employees considering a move to Boise to demonstrate the quality of life for local families.

Details: For more information on NLC’s local wellness initiatives, visit www.nlc.org/iyef or contact Leon Andrews at (202) 626-3039 or andrews@nlc.org. For information on afterschool programs, contact Bela Shah at (202) 626-3057 or shah@nlc.org.