Photo Credit: Oakland County Parks and Recreation
Since its inception in 1982, Oakland County Parks and Recreation’s (OCPR) Recreation Assistance Partnership Program (RAPP) in Michigan has provided recreation yearly to more than 1-million county residents who might not otherwise have had access.
RAPP is part of the parks system’s evolving Strategic Master Plan and a commitment to serve all areas and citizens throughout the county’s 62 cities, villages, and townships. Bordering to the north of Wayne County and city of Detroit, the southern end of Oakland County is heavily urban with limited green space and several lower-income communities. Through RAPP, grants are awarded in the form of OCPR mobile, recreation-program activities, which include outreach programs, nature education, and bus transportation to cities, villages, and townships; community parks and recreation departments; schools; downtown development authorities; non-profit organizations; and underserved populations. In the current OCPR budget, $200,000 has been allocated toward the program.
“The grants do not give the community money, but rather recreational experiences in the form of staff time, equipment, and transportation,” OCPR Executive Officer Dan Stencil says.