November 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 50

OPERATIONS
Creating a Recreation Center That Your
Community Genuinely Wants
By Nicole Crawford
R
ecreation centers provide the perfect setting for families and friends
to meet and have fun. They also provide individual benefits, like
promoting an active lifestyle and enhancing mental health.
However, for your recreation center to be successful, it is important
to create one that the local community will want to visit. What are
some of the best ways to ensure you are creating a space that provides the
benefits your community is looking for?
Talk to the Community
The first step is understanding your
community's needs. This will help
you identify gaps, which you can use
to create goals and strategies to fill
them. One of the best ways to know
what your community wants is simply
to talk to the people. Meet people
where they gather, such as places of
worship and schools, to sell your vision.
Another method is to conduct
surveys. Ask community members
to give their suggestions and input to
help you improve your vision. Additionally,
talk to local government,
business and community leaders to
draw support and help you sell your
vision.
Study the Demographic
In addition to speaking with your
community, it is important to take
a hard look at the demography of
the area and their preferences. Since
it can be difficult to talk to every
member of the community, this can
help you determine the features that
most people will likely want in the
recreation center. After this study,
you might decide to have:
* Picnic areas - If your community
has social clubs, sports groups
and families, a picnic area would
be ideal to offer a lovely place to
gather and dine together. This
would call for aesthetically pleasing
and comfortable benches and
picnic tables, park grills and trash
receptacles.
If your community has social clubs,
sports groups and families, a picnic area
would be ideal to offer a lovely place to
gather and dine together.
* Playgrounds, gym areas and
sports fields - If there is a need
to attract families and corporations,
playgrounds, gym areas
and sports fields can be great
for both family fun and teambuilding
activities.
* Dog areas - Are dog owners
common in your community?
They might want a recreation
50 Parks & Recreation | NOVEMBER 2 0 22 | PARK S ANDRECRE AT ION . OR G
center that they can visit with
their dogs. A dog area may feature
climbers,
hoops,
tunnels,
trash receptacles and more.
One of the best ways to improve
a business is to look at what the
competitors are doing. Likewise,
finding out what other recreation
centers in the community are offering
can shed some light on what
the community wants.
Keep Improving
If you are to consistently offer what
your community wants, your best
strategy is to keep track of the community's
changing needs. Focus on
collecting data on your programming
and event offerings, as well as
tracking activities and visitors' feedback
(tinyurl.com/52eh7fde).
With updated data, you can tell
which programs and activities are
popular so you can capitalize on
them. Additionally, feedback from
users can reveal weaknesses that
can be improved upon.
Recreation centers can bring
health and economic benefits to a
community. But, you will want to
make sure it is what the community
genuinely wants. Talking to the community,
looking at the demographics
and studying other centers can
provide insights on what the people
want. Additionally, striving to keep
improving and maintaining the center
is crucial in constantly delivering
what the community wants.
Nicole Crawford is a Freelance Writer
(crawfordnicole44@gmail.com).
http://www.tinyurl.com/52eh7fde
November 2022 - Parks & Recreation

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