January 2025 – Parks & Recreation - 16

WE ARE PARKS AND RECREATION
Letting Go of the Box
Rethinking the programming paradigm
By Thomas White, MPA
as a limit, we should view it as an
opportunity for new adventures. "
In the summer of 2023, Penn and
"
T
hink outside the box. " This is the mantra of artists, philosophers
and defense attorneys. Leaders use the term to inspire
their teams. It is the epitome of innovation, ingenuity and
originality. Most of all, it is the key to success, a pathway to
greatness - and a crutch.
For decades, experts have told us
to think outside the box, engraining
the concept into parks and recreation's
programming paradigm. We
look at a football field and the boys
flag football game being played upon
it and see possibilities for innovation.
We think outside the box and create
a girls' flag football league. The
league is a great idea! We are pushing
diversity and inclusion, opening
opportunities in flag football to a
group that did not have them until
we thought outside the box.
Then we stop. We have achieved
our goal of out-of-the-box thinking.
We believe there is no need for us
to push further. We do not see the
next step because we reached what
self-help gurus tell us is the pinnacle
of innovation. We do not realize
that we have limited ourselves.
In most cases, typical recreation
programming is built upon a foundation
of what is possible. " The
box " is that foundation, or the
norms of the field. Those norms
have incrementally shifted throughout
the years, with each innovation
built " outside the box. " Yet, we
have failed to realize that the box,
an imagined concept, is our greatest
hinderance. It gives us a line to
cross; however, more often than not,
we turn that line into the finish line.
Eliminating Boundaries
What if we kept going? What if
we let go of the box completely?
A girls' flag football league, while
innovative for most communities,
would not be the finish line. We
could use the field to teach young
people about turf management.
Instead of creating another athletic
program, we could teach a trade
that will benefit our participants for
the rest of their lives.
Henry County (Georgia) Parks
and Recreation's Leisure and Public
Services Cluster Lead Jonathon
" JP " Penn has led his department's
charge toward letting go of the box.
At the 2024 NRPA Annual Conference
in Atlanta, Penn explained,
" Every breakthrough begins with
an idea that dares to challenge the
norm. Instead of seeing the horizon
16 Parks & Recreation |
J ANUAR Y 2 0 2 5 | PARK S ANDRECRE AT ION . OR G
his deputy administrator of park
services, Bryan Dixon, introduced
the first recreation program solely
operated by park maintenance
from conception to completion: the
Watering Can Mentoring Program
(tinyurl.com/3wtru64y). They redefined
what it means to be a park
maintenance professional, challenging
every norm of both maintenance
and programming by turning
Henry County's maintenance
professionals into educators who
passed their skills onto the next generation.
They shifted the paradigm.
" Part of letting go of the box
comes with an openness to ideas,
listening, " says
Dixon. " Everything
is on the table. Every idea is
possible. Everyone has input. An
administrative assistant who had
no frame of reference for programming
provided the inspiration for
the Watering Can. Maintenance
technicians who had never attended
a program, much less created
one, designed the curriculum,
pitched the idea, and implemented
the plan, creating the most celebrated
program we have ever had. "
They did not stop with the Watering
Can. They created Pokémon
Go walks, facilitated Beyblade battles,
and hosted a human trafficking
workshop. They are launching
a speech and debate program for
homeschool students and working
with local businesses to create a
mentorship program for young entrepreneurs.
When they abandoned
the box - the traditional programming
paradigm - Henry County
did not throw out everything it has
always done. Instead, these park
and recreation professionals did
http://tinyurl.com/3wtru64y
January 2025 – Parks & Recreation

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