Editorial

Public Participation: Home remedy for ailing districts

Adequate funding is a concern of park and recreation professionals. Public support is an integral part of a successful funding mechanism.

By Robert Toalson

Recently there has been much turmoil about the lack of funding for parks and recreation. Park and recreation departments across the country are suffering major cutbacks in their governmental funding. In some cases whole departments have been wiped out in governmental economy moves. This is very discouraging for park and recreation professionals who fear that their jobs could be going down the drain, and who also see the loss of facilities and programs they have worked so hard to build.

There is constant concern about the lack of funding, and park and recreation administrators are spending a lot of time in meetings, talking about what to do and how to raise more funds. This discussion is good, and we are finding some new ways to cut costs and raise additional revenues. But I believe we are missing the point. The problem is not lack of adequate funding. The problem is lack of public support, which results in inadequate funding.

Without strong public support at the local, regional, and national levels we can expect to continue to lose funding. During rough economic times everyone is looking for places to cut back and save money, and there are not many places where that can be done. One of the few places is the local tax structure, where the individual has a voice or vote. Therefore, the effort to cut back is going to be made locally and the individual will opt to make the cuts in those areas in which he or she is least affected. Many times the sad result is a cut in the parks and recreation budget.

Therefore, if we are going to counter this trend, we must build public support. The best way to do this is to get people involved. If they are participating in recreation programs, they become strong advocates for those programs and for the park and recreation department. Of course, not everyone participates in a recreation program, so we must get people involved in other ways. We must encourage programs such as "Adopt-A-Park," in which the neighborhoods help in maintaining and programming "their" parks; activities like donating trees as living memorials or as gifts to the community from service clubs, grade school classes, etc.; or volunteer possibilities such as assisting in programs, coaching kids' teams, sponsoring special olympians, helping to clean up parks, etc. The volunteer movement is growing by leaps and bounds in this country and we need to atune ourselves to it.

The best way to build support is to get people involved.

We must get the people involved. With people involved, any attack or threat of loss of funds to the park and recreation program is an attack or threat to these people. "Don't you dare cut my program," they will say. "Don't take funds away from my park"; "I planted that tree and I want enough funds available to keep my tree growing." As John Naisbitt says in Megatrends, "Some 20 million Americans are now organized around issues of local concern. Neighborhood groups are becoming powerful and demanding greater participation in decision making." We need to get these people at the local level involved in parks and recreation so that they make the effort for their parks and their programs.

In the long run building public support, not finding funding sources, is the effort that will pay off for us.

Reprinted from the Journal of Park and Recreation Administration, Volume II, No. 1, January 1984, published by the American Academy of Park and Recreation Administration.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Robert F. Toalson is general manager of the Champaign Park District, a position he has held since 1970. He is also president of the American Academy of Park and Recreation Professionals.

Illinois Parks and Recreation 8 July/August 1984