October 2011 - Parks & Recreation - 98

Parks & reCreatIon at Work

Reaching Out
Outreach for Adaptive and Therapeutic Recreation Programs

daptive and therapeutic
recreation program managers say that one of their
greatest challenges in
creating or expanding
their program is outreach to potential
participants. Unlike in the movie Field of
Dreams where you can " build it and they
will come, " adaptive and therapeutic programs often need to be very savvy in doing outreach and recruiting participants.
Initially, the program needs to assess
its participants' needs. The most important
part of this assessment is to directly seek
feedback from program participants, versus making assumptions on their behalf.
The following assessment questions
could be used at the creation and at various intervals of the program to assess
community needs:
■■ ■What is the demographic breakdown of
people with disabilities in the community
you serve, by age group and by disability
type? Is there a specific group already established in the community (i.e., military
veterans, Special Olympics)?
■■ ■What would serve the recreational needs

what is the demographic
breakdown of people with
disabilities in the community
you serve, by age group
and by disability type?

of this group or subgroups? The best way
to find this information is by doing surveys or focus groups. Do they want more
time in the gym? More classes? Additional sports leagues? The ability to try
new sports? Is equipment the barrier? Is
participant lack of knowledge of various
sports/options a barrier?
■■ ■Who is already providing adaptive and
therapeutic recreation in this community? What are they doing well? Where are
the gaps in service? Gaps could be by
geographic area, sport, demographics,
and/or type of disability. Do any of these
programs need to expand?
■■ ■Whom could you partner with in the community, such as already established nonprofit groups or veterans groups? What
do they see as the needs in the community? How could you partner together?
■■ ■ What requests for information do you get
at your recreation centers and by website/
email? Start keeping a list of requests and,
if possible, names and contact information.
Where is there a need that is going unfulfilled? Ask those calling if you can reach out
to them in the future for further conversations

what would
serve the
recreational needs
of this group
or subgroups?

96 Parks & Recreation O C T O B E R

who is already
providing adaptive
and therapeutic
recreation in this
community?
what are they
doing well?

2 0 1 1 w w w . N R P A . O R G

if you are in the initial planning stages.
Once you have established a specific
need and specific solution to meet those
community needs, then you can begin
your outreach campaign. Start with the
internal communication channels within
your park and recreation agency:
■■ ■Add adaptive and therapeutic recreational
activities to your seasonal programming
guide produced by your park and recreation agency.
■■ ■ Add a description of your program to the
park and recreation agency website. Include
your specific contact information, not just
the general park and recreation number.
■■ ■ Ask your agency to add messages about
your adaptive/therapeutic recreation program to already established social media
communications. Give the person who
manages the accounts two or three well
written messages and images that could
be used in the future.
■■ ■Create your own Facebook/social media
accounts for your program. Show activities, pictures, and a calendar of activities,
and be welcoming to potential clients.
Think of your Facebook account as the

whom could you partner
with in the community,
such as already established
non-profit groups or
veterans groups?

What requests for
information do
you get at your
recreation centers and
by website/email?

vlaDgRin / istock

shelley r. o'Brien

October 2011 - Parks & Recreation

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