2023 NRPA Agency Performance Review | 13 The “prime directive” for all park and recreation agencies is to serve the public. Delivering high-quality services to all community members is a key commitment of park and recreation professionals. That promise includes those professionals being leaders in providing services and programming for children, older adults and people with disabilities. Eighty-two percent of park and recreation agencies offer summer camp programs for their communities’ children. A majority also delivers programs for teens and after-school care as parts of their out-of-school time (OST) offerings. Fewer agencies include preschool, before-school care or all-day childcare as a part of their program offerings. In addition, most park and recreation agencies offer specific programming for other segments of their communities including older adults (77 percent), teens (65 percent) and people with disabilities (63 percent). Agencies in larger communities are most likely to offer these types of programming. For example, 78 percent of park and recreation agencies in jurisdictions serving 100,000 to 250,000 residents offer programming designed for people with disabilities. In comparison, 34 percent of agencies that serve populations of less than 20,000 residents offer such programs. More than half of park and recreation agencies provide science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)-specific programs to community members. FIGURE 7: TARGETED PROGRAMS FOR CHILDREN, OLDER ADULTS AND PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES (PERCENT OF AGENCIES BY JURISDICTION POPULATION) Percent of Agencies Less Than 20,000 20,000 to 49,999 50,000 to 99,999 100,000 to 250,000 More Than 250,000 Summer camp 82% 60% 86% 93% 86% 90% Specific senior programs 77 61 77 87 84 77 Specific teen programs 65 43 61 77 77 78 Programs for people with disabilities 63 34 55 80 78 81 Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) programs 58 42 49 68 64 71 After-school programs 53 45 47 53 57 69 Preschool 33 24 32 44 34 33 Before-school programs 19 16 19 21 17 18 Full daycare 7 5 6 11 4 12 FIGURE 6: PROGRAMMING OFFERED BY PARK AND RECREATION AGENCIES (PERCENT OF AGENCIES) 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Themed special events Social recreation events Team sports Fitness enhancement classes Health and wellness education Individual sports Safety training Racquet sports Aquatics Natural and cultural history activities Performing arts Cultural crafts Trips and tours Visual arts Martial arts Running/cycling races Golf Esports/Egaming 89% 88% 86% 81% 80% 77% 71% 71% 69% 63% 62% 62% 61% 61% 57% 52% 48% 23%
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