January 2024 - Parks & Recreation - 20

RESEARCH
NRPA Park Metrics: Provide
Data and Gain Insights
By Melissa May
E
nsuring a community's needs are met, whether in resources,
facilities or programming, is a thoughtful process, but not one
without challenges. Many park and recreation agencies need
data that strengthen the case for greater funding, additional
staffing, expanded programming, planning purposes, reporting and more.
Answering those big questions of " How many acres of parkland does my
community need? " or " Is my agency understaffed? " is more difficult without
a starting point. Luckily, a starting point exists.
NRPA Park Metrics is the most
comprehensive source of park and
recreation agency benchmarks in the
United States. With more than a decade's
worth of agency-contributed
data, NRPA Park Metrics provides
you and your agency with the information
necessary to effectively
engage your local stakeholders and
elected officials, and plan for the future.
At its most basic level, NRPA
Park Metrics is a survey and reporting
tool.
The Survey
Park and recreation agencies
throughout the country, serving populations
large and small, complete
the Agency Performance Survey
within the NRPA Park Metrics platform
annually. This survey focuses
on nine key areas related to parks
and recreation:
jurisdiction
mation,
capital budget,
inforoperating
budget,
personnel, agency responsibilities,
workload, facilities, activities
and policies. The survey can be
completed by a single individual or
multiple people through your NRPA
Park Metrics account. Additionally,
an Excel version of the survey is
available so you may preview ques20
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tions prior to completing them or
share that file with different departments
to complete before uploading
the information to your NRPA Park
Metrics account. Agency contributions
to NRPA Park Metrics not only
benefit you, but also the field at large.
The Reporting Tool
Did you know that there is typically
one park for every 2,287 residents?
And did you know that the typical
park and recreation agency provides
10.8 acres of land per 1,000 residents,
but that number changes to 13 acres
per 1,000 residents in jurisdictions
of less than 20,000 residents?
Furthermore, were you aware that
an agency serving a population
of more than 250,000 residents
typically has a staff of 264 full-timeequivalent
employees? These are
just a few of the many benchmarks
that can be obtained through NRPA
Park Metrics. The data within the
platform is used to produce the
annual NRPA Agency Performance
Review (nrpa.org/APR); however,
this report only shows a fraction of
the data available to users.
In addition to the aggregate data
presented in the NRPA Agency PerforJ
ANUAR Y 2 0 2 4 | PARK S ANDRECRE AT ION . OR G
mance Review, reporting tools within
Park Metrics allow users to filter data
to gather results from agencies most
similar to their own. Access to peer
data allows an agency to engage local
stakeholders and elected officials
more effectively when faced with
challenges or pushback. Not only
will you have access to aggregate
peer data, but also the side-by-side
reporting feature within the platform
will give you the names of those
peer agencies based on the filters you
choose. Connecting with your peer
agencies helps provide additional
resources for networking, problemsolving
and targeting strategies.
The Ask
Annual participation in NRPA Park
Metrics is a habit for many park and
recreation professionals and their
agencies. For those who have not
done so already, it is time to complete
the Agency Performance Survey
within the NRPA Park Metrics
and let your voice be heard! Visit the
NRPA Park Metrics website (nrpa.
org/ParkMetrics),
select
" Access
NRPA Park Metrics " and log in or
create your free account to begin
inputting or updating your agency
information today.
The deadline to submit the Agency
Performance Survey within NRPA
Park Metrics is January 26. This will
ensure your agency's data is included
in the annual NRPA Agency Performance
Review released in early May.
As a special thank you, agencies
that provide their Park Metrics data
by January 26 will receive a customized
Agency Performance Report, highlighting
your agency's data against
the national findings.
Melissa May is Senior Research Manager
at NRPA (mmay@nrpa.org).
http://www.nrpa.org/APR
January 2024 - Parks & Recreation

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of January 2024 - Parks & Recreation
