November 2012 - Parks & Recreation - 8

EDITOR'S LETTER

BY PHIL HAY WARD

Fundamental Progress

I

Barbara Tulipane, CAE

N ITS PUBLIC-FACING MESSAGING, NRPA identiﬁes three key pillars of the parks and
recreation ﬁeld: conservation, including connecting children to nature; social equity,
including access to nearby parks for all Americans; and public health. Parks and green
spaces make a community, parks provide opportunity for all Americans, parks are the biggest protector of open space for everyone, and parks are the prevention and cure for health
problems. In short, " Parks are the Answer " is how NRPA totals the collective beneﬁts of parks.
Our cover story this month focuses on one often under-appreciated pillar of the parks
ﬁeld: public health. I say under-appreciated because many Americans
don't understand the full extent of the role parks play in improving
public health. Yet, parks are now an integral part of a full-court press
by government at all levels, corporate America, and philanthropic
foundations to improve the health of all Americans. To spotlight this
activity, we set out to identify the major trends in how parks and recreation are improving public health in preventative and curative ways:
■ Park prescriptions
■ Community walking programs
■ Tobacco-free parks
■ Health impact assessments
■ Recreation deserts
We chose these ﬁve trends for their applicability in municipalities of
all sizes. In one example, funding was scarce but the motivation and
resourcefulness were abundant. In the section on tobacco-free parks,
Minnesota nonproﬁt Tobacco-Free Youth Recreation (TFYR) demonstrated that community peer pressure can accomplish what legislation often cannot. Rather than enact laws with little chance of being
enforced, TFYR members and park employees cooperate in raising
public awareness on widely approved tobacco-related issues.
At the same time, these ﬁve sections demonstrate the value of partnerships. In short,
few organizations these days can go at it alone in tackling society's most intractable problems. As author Maureen Hannan points out, it's one thing for a doctor on his or her own
to prescribe " a walk in the park " to counter the debilitating effects of inactivity. But when
that prescription is backed up with the support and resources of a park system, it becomes
more doable. You'll see that same resourcefulness and simplicity in various forms in all
these articles.
Often, it's a matter of fundamentals, as Penn State Professor Andrew Mowen learned in
a pre- and post-study of a park restoration in Allentown, Pennsylvania. What won over Allentown residents in the project can certainly work everywhere: a large destination playground, paved access trail, cleanliness of facilities, and the installation of a rose garden
(easily substituted by, say, a community vegetable garden). That's the simplicity that contributes to healthy communities everywhere. But, as Allentown's former parks director,
Greg Weitzel, advises, " Park departments simply can't do it alone...You've got to have the
support of the entire community. "

PHILIP HAY WARD
Editor
6

Parks & Recreation

PRESIDENT AND CEO

| NOVEMBER 2012 | WWW.NRPA.ORG

VICE PRESIDENT,
OPERATIONS

Lauren Yost
EDITOR

Philip Hayward
phayward@nrpa.org
MANAGING EDITOR

Elizabeth Beard
ebeard@nrpa.org
ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Danielle Taylor
dtaylor@nrpa.org
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November 2012 - Parks & Recreation

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