Why

Grove City Parks and Recreation was the fourth CAPRA accredited department in the state of Ohio (2006). Re-accreditation occurs every five years and the most recent re-accreditation process yielded a need to update the Recreation Program Plan to make it more comprehensive and functional for the department. Additionally, there was a desire to enhance the way the department created and evaluated programming along with utilizing key performance indicators.

HOW

Zec Eight Insights worked with the department to understand their point of view as they relate to public recreation programs and services. Community engagement ensued with stakeholder interviews and focus groups along with a community survey. Results indicated a preferred direction(s) for the department over the next five years. A custom data analysis was performed on reports produced via RecTrac to examine multi-year data trends in terms of program capacity, enrollments, day of the week participation, seasonality, and cancelation rates. This analysis was combined with both the internal and external stakeholder engagement process to produce the final Recreation Program Plan.

What

The final plan includes a multi-year implementation plan that focuses on a three-year timeframe while also providing more long-term strategies. In total, 17 strategies are articulated that span actions related to core program area service administration, strategies to develop/propose programs, enhanced evaluation metrics and processes, and decision-making attributes for current and future/potential collaborations and partnerships.

Reference
Kim Conrad, Director
Grove City Parks and Recreation Department
(614) 277-3051
kconrad@grovecityohio.gov
3226 Kingston Avenue
Grove City, OH 43123