August 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 23

most important to us is that the offerings
and experience of any one
particular neighborhood
never be less than that of another.
Intentional Engagement
The days of sitting at the front desk
of the facility and waiting for the
community to come in and engage
are long gone. We had to go out into
our communities, knock on doors,
hold up signs and wave at passersby,
host community forums with food
and daycare services - whatever
it took to let as many people know
about our programs and services.
And, asking them what we could do
to include them proved vital to the
ongoing successes of the department.
Removing the Barriers
Specifically addressing fees, accessibility,
language,
should
Oakland
Parks, Recreation and Youth
Development provides nutritious, high-quality
meals for program participants.
* We have engaged more than 100
partners to increase program offerings
and value.
* Becoming an attractive investment,
we have leveraged more
than $2 million in donations.
transportation,
the location of current amenities,
the placement of new capital projects,
current usage, and, just as important,
who is not participating
and why, OPRYD began to change
operations and shift procedures. If
we couldn't remove some of these
disparities, we needed to find a way
to lift our communities over and/or
around them so they felt welcomed
to engage with us.
With this new mission and direction,
we completely revamped
our summer camp and after-school
offerings and created our signature
programs: Town Camp, Oakland's
summer youth program, and
Neighborhood Town Camp, an
out-of-school time youth engagement
program. Since its inception,
Town Camp boasts the following:
* Participation has more than doubled
with an average of 1,000 to
1,200 participants daily during
summer and 800 to 1,000 youth
daily afterschool.
* We have standardized meals and
curriculum to address disparities.
* We have dedicated time daily for
reading and math proficiency reinforcement.
*
We provide
the
nutritious,
onset
highquality
meals for all program
participants.
With
of coronavirus
(COVID-19) in March 2020,
OPRYD believed it realized its full
value to our communities, as we
saw record numbers of new park
users looking to find both physical
and mental reprise in our parks
and green spaces. Even through
chaos and uncertainty, our doors
remained open, and we prioritized
providing basic needs to our kids
and our communities. While some
of our children struggled to participate
in online learning, we created
Lift Zones, community Wi-Fi hubs,
to make sure everyone had access
to quality, high-speed and safe internet
connections. We also gifted
1,000 laptops to students in need,
courtesy of our partnership with
Comcast. We provided more than
2 million hot meals, up to 2,500
a day, throughout our community
centers thanks to our partnership
with World Central Kitchen.
And, Stephen and Ayesha Curry's
Eat.Learn.Play. Foundation
provided
a pair of brand-new Curry
sneakers to every child registered in
our programs. We tutored students
to assist with homework; provided
outdoor fitness, dance and Zumba
classes to make sure communities
had access to physical fitness and
wellness; and used our centers as
community resource hubs, making
sure families had food, diapers, toiletries
and other necessities.
Reinventing
ourselves,
focusing
our resources and efforts, and reimagining
what parks and recreation
could/should be, OPRYD remains
resilient, trusted, community
engaged and equity focused. To
learn more about our past five years,
take a look at a detailed report of
accomplishments and milestones at
tinyurl.com/2p94tvvk.
J. Nicholas Williams Sr. is former Director of Oakland
Parks, Recreation and Youth Development and current
Superintendent for Recreation and Community Services for
San Francisco City and County (jnwilliams@sfgov.org).
PARK S ANDRECRE AT ION . OR G | A UGUS T 2 0 22 | Parks & Recreation
23
http://www.tinyurl.com/2p94tvvk
August 2022 - Parks & Recreation

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