Culture, community and opportunity: striking a chord with minorities: a look at how minority populations use urban parks, and why those spaces are in jeopardy.

When Ernest Atwell began his career in 919 with the National Recreation Association, few cities provided recreational programs for African Americans. A black American himself, Atwell helped to interpret recreation needs as they applied to minority communities. Thirty years later, he had accomplished more than any other in his time, creating recreation programs and community centers for more than 230 black communities.

Today, Atwell's photo graces the halls of NRPA's headquarters in Ashburn, Va., along with other hallowed pioneers in parks and recreation. I wonder: Would he be pleased at the dedication and creativity with which today's recreational programs and services are delivered? Or, does the slight cast of his eyes bespeak disappointment that 85 years later, we still face many of the same barriers in meeting the needs of minorities in America's urban centers? I imagine a little of both.

According to the Population Resource Center, African Americans are the largest racial minority group in the United States (12 percent), soon to be passed by Hispanics, whose numbers in the U.S. have grown five times faster than the rest of the population. Also worth noting are Asian populations in the U.S., which have increased by 179 percent since 1980.

Projections indicate that by 2050, Caucasians will comprise only 53 percent of the U.S. population compared to 87 percent in 1950 (Population Resource Center, 2004). Both the Population Resource Center and the U.S. Census Bureau indicate that African Americans and Hispanics still live largely within metropolitan areas, although population concentrations differ regionally. While still technically in the "minority," these populations constitute more of the urban American fabric than ever before.

This data comes as no surprise to anyone working in the public realm; politicians and advertisers alike seek to better understand the motivations and drivers of America's growing minority populations. Public recreation is no different, and park and recreation agencies in metropolitan areas across the U.S. are trying to strike the right chord in successfully meeting the needs of the diverse populations they serve. Opinions vary as to what exactly makes a particular program or public space a success with minority groups. However, three compelling themes: culture, community and opportunity, seem to prevail.

Culture

Joe Wynns is director of parks and recreation for Indianapolis, whose population is still predominantly white and black, though diversity is on the rise due to immigration. More than 60 percent of Indianapolis's foreign-born residents arrived in the U.S. in the last 10 years, and today the city's profile includes American-born blacks, as well as citizens from Mexico, Asia and Africa. The city is faced with connecting these citizens to its economic, political and educational mainstream.

Wynns sees parks and recreation as a principle solution provider and believes that tuning into minority culture is the key. Every year his agency co-sponsors the Mayor's Latino Forum--a nonprofit event promoting Hispanic cultural values, while connecting families with local businesses and raising awareness of city services, including Indy Parks' recreation and leisure programs.

The Latino Forum is a tremendous success, as are the myriad of other ethnic events, such as the Eastside Reunion, an African American celebration; and the annual Children's Folk Dance festival, a collaborative program with Indianapolis public schools that teaches fourth graders about different cultures from around the world through native dances. Also, the Indy Parks "Arts in the Parks" provides a summer-long series of live performances from bands representing Latin, Caribbean and African cultures. Together, these events serve more than 15,000 residents each year.

"It's about culture, not race," maintains Wynns. "We have to prepare our public parks and facilities, and our staff, with culture in mind."

"Recreation was founded on social needs. It doesn't always have to be active; in fact, it's often passive. Food and music and family are a part of their lives," he explains about serving Indianapolis's growing immigrant population. "We provide a venue to celebrate their culture."

Community

In 2002, A Blueprint for Improving the Quality of Parks, Recreation and Conservation Service for Minority Populations, issued by The Roundtable Associates (a national organization dedicated to helping meet the park and recreation needs of African Americans) identified sustainable land use practices as a critical factor in the ability to serve minority populations in urban centers. While land-use experts and their customers insist that public facilities, playfields, trails and parks create a sustainable "city center" the importance of including these amenities is often underestimated or overlooked. The Blueprint notes that in too many urban cities, the open space dedicated to park, recreation and conservation use in communities is steadily dwindling, noting how lack of recreational spaces lessens the link between minority groups and their communities.

A 2005 study conducted by The Diversity Research Laboratory of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and funded by an NRPA grant, examined two parks, Marquette Park and Piotrowski Park, in Chicago's Lawn and South Lawndale communities. While the ethnic and racial composition of each park differed, both parks showed high usage numbers by local residents, the majority of respondents visiting more than once a month, and roughly a quarter visiting almost daily.

While usage behaviors differed between African American and Hispanic populations (black residents tending to recreate with members of their peer group; Mexican residents and others of Latino descent recreating more with their families), these popular parks clearly provided venues for both minority populations to experience community as they define it.

Monika Stodolska, Ph.D and coauthor of the study explains that the Latino users of Piotrowski Park, in particular, reported playing with their children as their most popular activities, followed by walking, relaxing, socializing and watching organized sports. While the African American users of Marquette Park rated basketball as a popular activity, they too cited walking, relaxing and socializing as popular activities. As the African American respondents were more apt to visit the park with friends, or alone, playing with children was not as highly rated.

"Although the Latino participants spent a longer time using the park than the African American users of Marquette Park," says Dr. Stoldolska, "Both sets of respondents saw their park as an extension of their community."

Opportunity

Melvin Miller is director of Parks and Recreation for Birmingham, Alabama, which has one of the highest percentages of African American populations (74 percent) in the nation, next to Gary, Ind. and Detroit, Mich. For Miller, success means providing minority populations with an opportunity to experience things to which they might normally not have access. He believes that urban centers receive a "bad rap" and that not enough attention is paid to the achievements of parks and recreation in bringing new experiences to urban blacks.

Miller states that his park and recreation agency provides choices for Birmingham's youth. The Youth Fishing Rodeo is a successful, city-wide event that draws about 3,000 participants; many are children who come with their parents or grandparents to fish for bass and catfish in East Lake Park. The program, which is held in tandem with National Boating and Fishing Week, is endorsed by Birmingham's City Council elected officials, and draws corporate sponsors such as Alabama Power and area Captain D's restaurants, among others. Why such success?

"It gets right to the kids," Miller says. "You actually see kids move from one level to the next, see them take something and run with it ... and that's the glory." He explains how some children return year after year, some even claiming that fishing has become their hobby.

Equally interesting is the difference that learning to golf has made in the lives of kids in Birmingham. The park and recreation department partners with the PGA to provide the "First Tee" golf program, which instructs approximately 100 students after school, and includes character-building and mentoring, as well as golf. "After learning to play golf," he says, "they won't vandalize the course anymore. They respect it, they respect the game."

Miller has seen Birmingham Parks and Recreation serve the needs of its African Americans for more than 18 years, and recalls stories of when the city's parks were closed in the 1960s because there was no interest in blacks and whites playing together. Not apt to dwell on the negative scenarios he has witnessed throughout the decades, Miller does say that "no one ever thought that we could do what we are doing today--bringing people together through leisure opportunities."

Where active recreation is concerned, Indianapolis' park and recreation department considers another form of opportunity--use patterns--when gauging service needs. "Most of our urban users are drop-ins. They don't participate in structured programs in which they have to pre-register. We have to prepare for that if we're going to be successful," says Wynns.

In response, Indy Parks offers a number of unstructured programs that are easily accessible and available at low or no cost. Activities include "Open-Gym" where individuals or families can come into a recreation center and play volleyball, basketball, dodgeball and more.

The "Supervised Play" program is a free, drop-in summer day camp for youth needing a safe place to play, and is offered at several park and partner sites throughout the city. At the same time culture is never far from Wynns' mind, and successful outreach means targeted marketing efforts. "We don't necessarily market drop-in basketball in our German neighborhoods," he adds.

The rewards of delivering recreation programs and public park spaces to minority populations in urban centers are well-documented. As clear is the success that accompanies building services and facilities around minority culture, community access and opportunity. Atwell surely would have been proud of his contemporaries' work. However, what remains is a marked lack of public funding and deliberate city planning that is required to bring these places and spaces to bear.

The Urban Park and Recreation Recovery (UPARR) program was enacted by Congress in 1978 to provide direct federal assistance to urban localities for the rehabilitation of critically needed recreation facilities. The program also encouraged systematic local planning and commitment to continuing operation and maintenance of recreation programs, sites and facilities. In 25 years, UPARR delivered $270 million through 14,000 grants delivered in 43 states. Today, there is zero funding for UPARR.

The second greatest funding source for urban park and recreation programs, the stateside Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), provides matching grants to states and local governments for the acquisition and development of public recreation areas and facilities. Unfortunately, most urban Americans are unaware that the program has provided nearly $40 billion through the past five decades to protect open spaces and facilities that are often just down the street from them.

NRPA Acting Director of Public Policy Rich Dolesh explains that the President's plan to terminate the LWCF state assistance program, first proposed in the 2006 budget, will cause irreparable harm to the ability of local communities to create new parks and to develop recreation facilities.

"The matching federal grants of the LWCF State Assistance Program have been essential to cities in preserving open space and providing recreation facilities to urban populations," states Dolesh. "Without it, hundreds of communities will be forced to sustain these projects on their own."

While minority populations in urban areas are becoming more vocal about their needs and more engaged in local government, many still struggle with meeting other socio-economical needs before leisure. It is left to parks and recreation and its citizen supporters to make the case among society's leaders for equality of public services.

From the progressive movement of the early 1900s through the civil rights era of the 1960s, our nation has a history of calling for greater participation by government in improving the lives of its citizenry. When we have, private organizations such as churches, charity agencies and foundations have joined in and strengthened the call.

So what of Ernest Atwell's evaluation of our efforts from his place among recreation pioneers? He might be well satisfied. The concepts he initiated have taken root and flowered, and although much remains to be done, considerable progress has been made. But the mores of culture, community and opportunity are not solely the property of minority populations--they are shared by all. Nonetheless, it is in our nation's urban centers where need is often most acutely felt. What might be achieved if we could galvanize all urban citizens around these pillars--not merely as success quotients for providing park and recreation services, but rather as demands from our politicians and community leaders for quality of life.