June 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 37

Ramstein Outdoor Recreation leads a
trip to the Geierlay Suspension Bridge in
Mörsdorf, Germany.
through action, to providing service
members and their families everything
they need to thrive despite
the demands of the military lifestyle
and this involves maximizing
community partnerships. " Partnering
with local park and recreation
agencies may help both entities enhance
their programs and services
using existing resources. Collaborations
may lead both groups to
provide a wider range of programs
and services, embrace opportunities
to connect service members
and local community members,
cross-promote programs, conduct
research, and share resources.
Partnerships between MWR and
local park and recreation departments
exist in some communities,
but Sexauer sees immense potential
to expand and grow these relationships.
" Military programs
and the [park and recreation] departments
surrounding our installations
should be coming together
at regular intervals to minimize duplication
and promote one another's
efforts, " she says. " As we have
worked to develop our strategy to
receive the feedback we need to
map out the future, cursory feedback
efforts have indicated that we
must look outside our fence line
and lean on the communities surrounding
our military installations
to provide some of the services our
folks desire.... Equally important,
the collective we (military and
communities) need to invest the
resources and effort to conduct research.
The military is just a microcosm
of our society, and sharing
our initiatives and the outcomes of
those initiatives is vital to meeting
the needs of those we serve. "
Whether you work in an MWR
or a local park and recreation department,
consider reaching out
to fellow park and recreation professionals
in your area to establish
partnerships. " [T]he MWR community
experiences similar challenges
[as local park and recreation
departments] with end goals that
are very much alike - build strong
communities based on cohesion,
trust and support through the power
of recreation, " says Scott. What's
more, NRPA Connect (connect.
nrpa.org) offers a convenient tool
to find and connect with professionals
working in your area that
can help you kick off interagency
collaboration. Together, MWR and
local park and recreation agencies
can build strong, equitable and resilient
communities.
Thank you to John Prue, CPRP,
MWR program analyst, Navy Region
Mid-Atlantic, and Gilberto " Sal " Salinas,
business recreation, Air Force
Services Center, for their contributions
to this article.
To hear more about MWR, tune
in to the June bonus episode of Open
Space Radio at nrpa.org/June2023
BonusEpisode.
Alexandra Reynolds is Associate Editor of Parks & Recreation
magazine (areynolds@nrpa.org). Allison Colman is Director of
Health at NRPA (acolman@nrpa.org).
PARK S ANDRECRE AT ION . OR G | JUNE 2 0 2 3
| Parks & Recreation
37
PHOTO COURTESY OF RAMSTEIN OUTDOOR RECREATION
http://www.nrpa.org/June2023BonusEpisode http://www.connect.nrpa.org http://www.nrpa.org/June2023BonusEpisode http://www.connect.nrpa.org
June 2023 - Parks & Recreation

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