August 2019 - Parks & Recreation - 38

SOCIAL EQUITY

Community leader, Derwin Hannah,
welcoms residents to movie night at
Catherine Street Park.

PBC Movie Night at Catherine
Street Park
On Wednesday, June 26, 2019, NRPA and Baltimore
City Recreation & Parks (BCRP) hosted a movie night at
Catherine Street Park. Special thanks to Epic Outdoor
Cinema (www.epicoutdoorcinema.com), which donated the screen for the PBC project!
The festivities began long before the sun went
down. BCRP brought footballs and frisbees, as well
as corn hole and a wood tower stacking lawn game.
Close to 60 people came out on a hot, humid evening,
and the children played excitedly as they waited
for sunset when the movie began and popcorn was
served. The excitement continues to build as residents
keep watch on the renovation and look forward to more
movie nights at Catherine Street Park.

Rather than play outside, many
of today's children may prefer to
spend time indoors on electronic
devices. In moderation, sedentary
activities are not inherently harmful, but research shows more and
more people, especially children,
are spending too much free time
on devices. In a recent article for
Sanford Health (https://news.
sanfordhealth.org/childrens/
play-outside), writer Danae Lund
Ph.D., LP states: " On average,
American children spend four to
seven minutes a day in unstructured outdoor play, compared to
36

Parks & Recreation

seven or more hours in front of
a screen. Outdoor play should
not become a thing of the past. "
The health and wellness benefits
of spending time outside are not
limited to youth. The authors of
an April 2018 article, titled " Developing a Park Prescription Program
for Your Community, " (https://
tinyurl.com/y5yz2e5c) in Parks &
Recreation magazine, state: " Park
Prescription or 'Park Rx' programs
are gaining in popularity and helping to motivate people to be active
in our parks. These programs encourage physicians to 'prescribe'
physical activity in park settings to
their patients. By creating awareness
of nearby parks and their health
benefits, they can also help increase
participation in programs in, as well
as stewardship of, parks. "
Generations have long known
that spending time outdoors is
" good for you, " but no one had
quantified just how much time was
necessary for adults to gain health
benefits. That was until a largescale study, funded by the National
Institute for Health Research and
published in the June 2018 issue of
Scientific Reports (www.nature.com/
articles/s41598-019-44097-3),
quantified just how much time
spent in nature promotes health
and well-being: at least two hours
per week.

Bringing Play into
Communities
PBC, a national initiative,
demonstrates the transformative
value of parks on the health and
vitality of communities across
America. The vision to build
and revitalize parks as thriving
gathering places for youth, families and adults is one shared by

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NRPA, its industry and nonprofit partners and the thousands of
park and recreation professionals
who develop and maintain these
treasured public places.
Donors are excited to participate
in the 2019 PBC project:
" Outdoor play spaces provide
places for families and communities to gather, move, get much-needed Vitamin D and take advantage
of more space to play! Providing
this type of environment through
Parks Build Community gives us
the opportunity to bring play and
development into a community
and create a place for everyone to
thrive, " says Brian Johnson, chief
marketing officer for BCI Burke.
" As an advocate for rebuilding
communities and rejuvenating
play for people of all ages, our ongoing mission is to provide sports
equipment solutions to renovate
green spaces and facilities, such
as Catherine Street Park in Baltimore, " says Andrew Peterson, recreation and field sports manager
at GARED. " GARED is pleased
to partner with the NRPA on this
project, which shares our passion
for play and the importance of
sports and recreation in communities across the country. "
NRPA and the PBC donors
look forward to the grand reopening of Catherine Street Park
this September, during the 2019
NRPA Annual Conference. To
learn more about PBC projects or
to become a donor, please contact
Gina Mullins-Cohen, NRPA's
vice president of marketing, communications and publishing at
gcohen@nrpa.com.
Suzanne Nathan is NRPA's Media
Specialist (snathan@nrpa.org).

August 2019 - Parks & Recreation

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