This blog post is the first in an ongoing series to inform park and recreation professionals about the strategies in the National Physical Activity Plan’s Community Recreation, Fitness and Parks (CRFP) physical activity sector.

There are an estimated 108,000 outdoor public park and recreation facilities and 65,000 indoor facilities across the United States. Multiple studies have found positive relationships between programming, facility condition/quality, close-to-home access, activity variety, connectivity, and higher levels of physical activity among residents. Given the positive impact of physical activity resources and programs on health, improving and expanding them continues to be important.

However, everything costs money.  Compared to what we spend on health care, investments in parks and recreation are tiny. Among the largest 100 U.S. cities, the average 2023 investment in parks and recreation was $108 per capita (range $28-480 per capita). In contrast, the cost of health care in 2022 was over $13,493 per capita. Estimates of excess direct health care expenditure were $1,313 per capita for inactive adults adjusted for obesity and $576 per capita for insufficiently inactive adults.

Given the close relationship between physical activity and health care costs, it is likely that doubling or tripling the investment in parks and recreation could ultimately pay for itself, as it is likely to reduce health care costs for individuals, employers and communities.

The National Physical Activity Plan is a set of policies, programs and initiatives to help support physical activity in all segments of the United States population. One of the 10 physical activity sectors covers Community Recreation, Fitness and Parks (CRFP) with five distinct strategies. The overarching goal is to help everyone incorporate enjoyable and meaningful leisure-time physical activity into their daily lives and to provide better access to and education about available parks and recreation resources.

The strategies of the CRFP sector are:

1. Communities should develop new — and enhance existing — community recreation, fitness and park programs that provide and promote healthy physical activity opportunities for diverse users across the lifespan. 
2. Communities should improve availability of and access to safe, clean and affordable community recreation, fitness, and park facilities to support physical activity for all residents.
3. Community recreation and park organizations, the fitness industry and private businesses should recruit, train and retain a diverse group of leaders, staff and volunteers to promote, organize, lead and advocate for initiatives that encourage physical activity in their communities.
4.  Community recreation and park organizations, the fitness industry and private businesses should advocate for increased and sustainable funding and resources to create new — or enhance existing — physical activity facilities and services in areas of high need.
5. Community recreation and park organizations and the for- and not-for-profit fitness industry should improve monitoring and evaluation of participation in community-based physical activity programs to gauge their effectiveness in promoting increased levels of physical activity for all.

An important outcome of park and recreation investments is to show an impact on physical activity and health among local residents. Tracking park usage and programming attendance may be key measures to help stimulate greater funding and advocacy for parks. Partnering with health insurers, such as Blue Cross Blue Shield, Kaiser Permanente, and local health departments, can help illuminate the connections between health and parks and recreation. These and other strategies being adopted by the National Physical Activity Plan CRFP sector and shared with National Recreation and Parks Association membership can help to advance the goal of encouraging people in the U.S. to be more active and healthy at all stages of their lives.  

Deborah A Cohen, Steven F. Loy, Esmeralda Castro, Aaron Hipp, Tim Hughes and Andrew Kaczynski are the National Physical Activity Plan’s Community Sector Committee members who contributed to this blog post.