Making A R.E.A.L. Difference - Get R.E.A.L. recreational leadership program in Austin, Texas

Parks & Recreation, March, 1999 by Peter A. Witt, Joni E. Baker

Although the Austin Parks and Recreation Department's Get R.E.A.L. (Recreation, Education, Activities Leader) program is still in its infancy, it has already positively affected the lives of a number of children and teens in this south-central Texas city of 350,000. Since February 1998, eight Roving Leaders (RLs) and their assistants have gone into the city's neighborhoods to work with kids who are particularly vulnerable to gangs, drugs, violence, and alcohol. Their goal is to "guide" kids into healthy lifestyles and help them make good choices for the future.

The Roving Leader program was created as part of Austin's Social Fabric Initiative, which began in 1996 with the Austin City Council's approval of funding to enhance youth programs and services. By electing a city council committed to advocacy and funding for youth programs, Austin's citizens sent a message that youth services was a priority. The initiative provides funds for a variety of programs that form a fabric, or net, designed to support youth who have fallen through cracks in other social structures. Two council members, Beverly Griffith and Gus Garcia, were particularly aware of the potential of the parks and recreation department, and provided important support for the initiative.

Jesus M. Olivares, director of the Austin Parks and Recreation Department, was also instrumental in convincing the city council of the need for new and expanded programs to serve the city's youth. Under Olivares' leadership, the department created Totally Cool, Totally Art (a visual-arts program offered at recreation centers); the Non-Traditional Program (a teen club designed to help keep youth in school and off drugs); Summer Teen Recreation Academy (a drop-in program operating at middle and high schools); and many others.

Although a considerable number of teens have been drawn to these programs, others have not. As one Roving Leader observed: "The rec centers don't have the resources to actually get out into the community as much as we are out there. It wasn't just like I said, `OK, this program is happening Wednesday night at Zaragosa, and go ahead and go.' I have to tell kids three weeks in a row and go talk to the parents.... In some cases, parents are unwilling to let them go because they think there is nothing but kids hanging out there, or maybe bad things are going on there, or they may have heard a couple of bad things. These kids and parents just don't take the time to find out what is going on at the rec center."

So the Roving Leader program was created to provide outreach to kids not currently served by the parks and recreation department. Described by the organizers as a "recreation center on wheels," the leaders roam their communities, carrying equipment and supplies for impromptu games, crafts, and athletic activities. The activities, however, serve primarily as a "hook" connecting the leaders with the children. RLs spend their time at housing projects, apartment complexes, parking lots, street corners, and sports centers seeking out youth and teens in need of positive, fun ways to spend their time.

The Roving Leader program idea is not a new one. In the mid-19th century, churchmen and charity staffers worked with young delinquents and gangs in the slum areas of America's emerging cities. In the 1930s, a Roving Leader-type program was initiated in Chicago; similar efforts sprang up in New York in 1948 and in many other cities in the `50s (Bannon, 1969). In the '70s, San Antonio launched a Roving Leader program in response to the question, How can we reach those youngsters who are hanging out on street corners and not coming to our recreation centers? Budget cuts forced the program to shut down in the 1980s, but in light of growing youth-crime concerns, it was reborn in 1992 (Crompton & Witt, 1997).

What makes Austin's program unique is how well it fits into the overall goals of the department, and its coordination with other programs the department offers. Each Roving Leader, with an assistant, has been assigned an area of the Austin community. Within this area, the RLs go where the kids are; they are not tied to a particular site. In some cases, kids are referred to the program by teachers, juvenile justice officials, or other sources within the community. While traditional park and recreation programs try to build high numbers of participants, the Roving Leader program, taking a youth-development approach, tries to focus on individual kids.

RLs target youngsters ranging in age from 10 to 18. Although diverse, the kids share many characteristics. Most are poor or lower-middle class. Many live in single-parent families headed by a mother or grandmother. In some cases, a father or mother is incarcerated, dead, or has never been part of the household. Many of the kids are exposed to gangs, drugs, and alcohol at home or in their neighborhoods and schools. Many have witnessed violence, some even waged against members of their own family. Many have had behavioral problems at school, and some have been suspended. A few have been arrested for offenses such as shoplifting or selling drugs.