Learning from the recent 2020 social and financial crises
By Leon Younger, Tom O’Rourke, and Mickey Fern
The events in recent months reveal there needs to be real change in this country. The system best equipped to be the catalyst for this change is the parks and recreation profession. It is important that agencies position themselves to collaborate with organizations whose visions and mission intersect with ours. We have to understand that the solutions to some of the most complex and costly challenges exist in the spaces between disciplines, not in the disciplines themselves. We can’t do it all, but we certainly need to take our place at the table of change.
Of course, parks are essential. They were at the center of the Coronavirus pandemic, and the majority of gatherings to protest the racial divide in our country were held in parks. But simply talking about the industry’s importance or how to bring the country together will not get us to the finish line; we need step-by-step, actionable items that stand as a vision to the work that needs to be done.
As three individuals who have worked as parks and recreation directors and now are integrally involved with the industry as consultants and teachers, we have seen all of the trends and changes occurring in the profession over the last 40 years, and the long-term negative effects that bad business decisions can have on an agency. There is important work to be done as a profession. Many will not be able to do this work if agencies are decimated by cuts, layoffs, and furloughs. Properly established business policies and procedures will be the foundation of the future.
The revenue sources that have funded parks have diminished by historic proportions. Even agencies that have had a strong enterprise system have been affected by the need to close their revenue-producing facilities, parks, and programs. Everyone has been affected.