The future of associations - @ Issue

Parks & Recreation, Dec, 2003 by Michael Blazey

The following passages are excerpts from incoming 2004 Society of Park and Recreation Educators (SPRE) President Michael Blazey's speech during SPRE awards session Oct. 21 at NRPA's annual congress held in St. Louis, Miss., Oct. 21-25. The complete text of Blazey's talk is available on the SPRE section of NRPA's Web site (www.nrpa.org).

We stand at an important crossroads in the shared destiny of NRPA and SPRE. A look back reveals that the branch's founders were a generation of college professors dedicated to preparing leaders for the profession. But they, like their professional colleagues, recognized the need for the profession to become grounded in basic and applied research. And so, a second generation of professors was launched as scholar/researchers--creating parallel but blended streams in the academy. Too often the teaching professor and the research professor have been seen at odds; however, now is the time to bring the two back together as communicators and generators of knowledge.

As we all know; NRPA is in the midst of reorganizing and redefining itself, and conditions have aligned themselves perfectly for SPRE to step forward with a clear sense of purpose within the new NRPA. This is a rare opportunity, and failure to seize it may be perilous.

People in and outside the profession are calling for information on the impacts and benefits of parks and recreation. Just 10 days ago, Edwin Gardner of Charleston, S.C., wrote the following to NRPA Executive Director John Thorner, stating the need succinctly:

   I have searched in vain on the NRPA
   Web site (and elsewhere on the Web) for
   information on the benefits aim economic
   value of parks and recreation. I'm
   finding no research, no compelling data
   --in fact--hardly a word about recreation
   being of any value at all to society.
   Interesting, because I would expect
   advocacy For parks and recreation to be
   central to the organization's mission.
   The one page on the site that was entitled
   "Benefits of Parks and Recreation"
   was all about a new logo for something
   called the Benefits Program. As I'm sure
   you'll agree, a logo has no power to persuade
   or inform, only to remind us of
   something we already know.

   This Web site resembles the kind of
   thing one sees when an organization has
   fallen into the rut of communicating
   mainly with itself, presenting information
   about events, awards, meetings,
   member services, etc., hut failing to
   deliver a compelling message to the public
   at large. My need in this area is not
   idle: I work in the area of developing
   public policy relating to recreation, and I
   am frankly astounded at the scarcity of
   effective information about benefits.

   No wonder state legislatures all over
   America have been steadily cutting parks
   department budgets for more than 10
   years. No wonder the Land and Water
   Conservation Fund gets raided with
   impunity. Recreation is turning into the
   "red-haired stepchild," and nobody seems
   to be doing anything about it. Meanwhile
   we have a national epidemic of
   childhood and adult obesity, shockingly
   high levels of inactivity, increasing social
   alienation and a host of other ills for
   which healthy recreation is a solution.

   If I were in your shoes, my number-one
   priority would be to get the best and
   brightest people I could find and charge
   them with assembling persuasive arguments
   as soon as possible--not slogans
   and platitudes, but research-based data
   and values expressed in real-dollar figures.
   Then I'd get that information up
   there on the NRPA Web site--front and
   center on the home page for every visitor
   to see at once. Just remember, an argument
   in favor of parks and recreation is
   also the best argument for your organization's
   continued existence.

Many of the best and brightest are assembled here with me tonight. This year, your board and I will set about establishing a pivotal role for SPRE in NRPA as a credible "go-to" source for information. But let's remember who SPRE is. It's the person to your right, the person to your left, you and me. We must all become part of an initiative that begins tonight and must be carried forward indefinitely. We can do so by starting with some relatively simple steps. Please think about the types of information you have been asked to provide to the profession, how that information is or can be generated, how it can be written to be most accessible to professionals and the general public, and the best methods of delivery. Then, communicate your thoughts to any of the board members or to me directly.

The leisure services profession emerged during the social progressiveness of the last century when recreational services were seen as alternatives to more base uses of leisure and as a vehicle for human development. We continue to teach our students the importance of positive alternatives and to strive to provide opportunities for personal growth and healthy lifestyles--precisely the types of information that we need to help disseminate to wider audiences. The founder's terms may have been rephrased and the mission remains, but times have changed.