contentsaugust 2020 The town of Bel Air, Maryland, created a playground modeled after the Chesapeake Bay to connect families to a vital natural resource through interactive play. FEATURES 34 Restoring Nature's Playground Gordon Feller Through the Building Better Communities grant program, two grantees were able to transform parks to create unique educational play experiences for their communities to connect with the natural world while learning how to be better stewards of our natural resources. The COVID-19 crisis will likely by defined by our response to it. How can we adapt, come together and innovate to create a new and brighter future? Learn how public agencies and private companies can collaborate with one another to ensure that our parks succeed. 38 How Parks and Recreation Will Change Forever Richard J. Dolesh The pandemic is showing how the mission of parks and recreation is evolving to include serving as a provider of social and health services in the effort to rebuild and reconnect communities. So, what has changed, and why and what will inevitably change in the future? 2 44 Leveraging Public-Private Partnerships Patti G. Sterling and Akosua Cook, AICP Parks & Recreation | AU G U S T 2 02 0 | PA R K S A N D R E C R E AT I O N .O R G PHOTO COURTESY OF PATTI G. STERLING volume 55 | number 8 | parksandrecreation.org d ti