Chapter 7 Social Functions of Community Recreation

Objectives Define community. Discuss the factors that contribute to community well-being. Identify and discuss each of the 10 functions of community recreation.

Introduction Community A significant clustering of people who have a common bond Residents of a city or neighborhood Employees of a company Societal benefits of organized recreation Organization into specific functions

Community Recreation Functions Function 1: Enriching the Quality of Life Quality of life What makes living in a community good with culture, leisure, and infrastructure. Provide fun, relaxation, pleasurable and constructive leisure opportunities. Explore social opportunities, cultural activities, parks, trails, streetscaping, lakes.

Community Recreation Functions (cont’d) Function 2: Contributing to Personal Development Contribute to physical, social, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual development and well-being. Explore personal values, positive peer relationships, discover talents, achieve personal benefits.

Community Recreation Functions (cont’d) Function 3: Making the Community a More Attractive Place to Live and Visit Improve the physical environment. Provide a network of parks and open spaces. Redesign and rehabilitate run-down urban areas like waterfronts, slums, water ports. Foster positive environmental attitudes and policies like the LEED Gold certification.

Community Recreation Functions (cont’d) Function 4: Providing Positive Opportunities for Youth Development Provide challenging programs that offer constructive alternatives. Programs should be goal oriented with a youth development purpose. Early recreation was to prevent boredom and desire for risk that caused juvenile delinquency.

Community Recreation Functions (cont’d) Function 4 (continued) Youth at risk is a term that had a tendency to be viewed as minority, inner-city, and low-income youth. Positive youth development is efforts made to create organizations and communities that enable youth to move along the pathway to adulthood The term at risk was a limiting term where positive youth development included all children not just at risk children. The term positive youth development has become a more accepted term among recreation professional for programs that provide the support and opportunities needed to develop beyond simple problem prevention.

Community Recreation Functions (cont’d) Function 5: Improving Intergroup and Intergenerational Relations Improve relations among racial, ethnic, and religious backgrounds. Improve relations between different generational groups. Share recreational and cultural experiences.

Community Recreation Functions (cont’d) Function 5 (continued) Chavez suggests that if agencies want to make all groups to feel welcome and participate in recreation activities they need to invite, include, and involve all groups. The Seeds of Peace camp involves teens from Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Palestine and others.

Community Recreation Functions (cont’d) Function 6: Strengthening Neighborhood and Community Ties Giving residents of various backgrounds a sense of belonging. Maintain social traditions and cultural ties. Social and human capital. Parks and recreation provide opportunities for the human and social capital to merge. Social capital is defined as connections among individuals – social networks and the norms of reciprocity and trustworthiness that arise from them. Human capital is when people give their time an talent to the workforce or the community

Community Recreation Functions (cont’d) Function 6 (continued) The New York Restoration Project (NYRP), founded by Bette Midler, strives to reclaim, restore, and redevelop parks, open spand and community gardens. Each year volunteers spend more than 20,000 hours working in day camps, at special events, planting flower gardens, and coaching youth sports.

Community Recreation Functions (cont’d) Function 7: Meeting the Needs of Special Populations Serve those with cognitive or physical disabilities. Provide therapeutic recreation services through treatment and/or community programming for people with disabilities. Inclusive recreation provides programs for those with and with out disabilities. Special Recreation Programs – Wounded Warriors Project Therapeutic Recreation for people with disabilities is provided in three different ways to help participants become self-sufficient, increase self-esteem, improve functional states, and learn social skills Special recreation programs focus on recreation programs for people with disabilities and are operated out of such agencies as Easter Seals, Special Olympics, and Disabled Sports U.S.A. The Americans with Disabilities Act was passed in 1990 and amended in 2008 mandated that people not be denied opportunities, segregated, or discriminated against because of their disabilities. The Wounded Warriors Project is for service men and women returning from Iraq or Afghanistan with disabilities obtained in the line of duty.

Community Recreation Functions (cont’d) Function 8: Maintaining Economic Health and Community Stability Act as a catalyst for business development. Source of community or regional income and employment. Keep neighborhoods a desirable place to live and do business. It is estimated that leisure is a $400-billion-dollar industry annually, the nation’s third largest retailer, and the second largest employer behind the health industry.

Community Recreation Functions (cont’d) Function 8 (continued) Economic impact is the measure of the amount of new dollars infused into the community by the agency, facility, or event. Direct economic impact is directly generated by the event. Indirect economic impact is the money spent that results from the activity. Direct economic impact – staff salaries, concessions, program fees, construction costs, and operating expenses. Indirect economic impact – the money spent by the staff, money spent on hotels, or in restaurants.

Community Recreation Functions (cont’d) Function 9: Enriching Community Cultural Life Promote fine and performing arts and special events. Support historic sites, folk heritage customs, and community arts. Art is for all income classes, not just the rich and benefits the entire community.

Community Recreation Functions (cont’d) Function 10: Promoting Health and Safety Health and safety programming Fitness classes, trails, Safety Town Provide leadership training and certification courses. Provide supervision or regulation of high-risk activity. Park usage statistics 70% of park visitors engage in moderate to vigorous activities while in the park. A national study found that people that live near parks were twice as likely to use the park than those who do not live near one.