Rejuvenating Neighborhoods and Communities Through Parks—A Guide To Success www.NRPA.org National Recreation and Park Association © 2011 All Rights Reserved 52 Section 6: Outcomes to Impact In recent years funding entities including many governments have sought assurances that their dollar investment is actually meeting the qualitative outcomes of the target client This is an essential shift away from sole reliance on quantitative performance measures The information and insights in this section are intended to: • Establish a role for outcomes of the revitalization process • Define outcomes assessment and provide an overview of implementation • Provide a framework for outcomes assessment using park and recreation examples • Identify outcomes assessment models used by related organizations The Role of Outcomes Assessment “Assessment” can be defined as evidence of the outcomes or results of a particular intervention, such as a park visit, program participation, or policy change in relationship to the desired result A long-standing debate among decision-makers and critics of public parks and recreation is the extent of the impact of park projects and activities on the greater community good Outcomes assessment and the discussion of impact have assumed greater importance as many partners, foundations, and donors are requiring agencies to demonstrate results—more specifically, to supply indicators supporting those results Despite the general perception that public parks and recreation are personally beneficial to individuals living in communities, less well understood or articulated is their impact on the greater social or community good A recent study by the California Park & Recreation Society found that nearly all Californians responding to the survey, both the general public and decision-makers alike, could readily cite the positive impact that parks and recreation had on them personally or on their family members A Critical Insight A critical insight from the extensive survey conducted by the California Park & Recreation Society was that the general public and even decision-makers had difficulty identifying the broader social or communitywide impact of publicly funded park and recreation projects and services. Addressing this difficulty should become a priority for this profession and its advocates. When an organization receives public funding—as is the case with park and recreation departments—or accepts funding or resources from nonpublic partners, that organization is expected to address and support the resolution of an important community need or issue Therefore, efforts related to observable and measurable outcomes remain a critical component of both this process and the future sustainability of revitalization projects The most widely used approach for demonstrating how short-term outcomes relate to longer term impact is outcomes assessment
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