Each month throughout 2015, we’ve used this space to take a step back in time, examining the contents of past Parks & Recreation magazines and, often, comparing those articles to contemporary conversations related to our field. This writer has marveled at the often striking similarities — some issues have been examined, panned, praised and generally worried over for almost as long as NRPA has existed. This month, the similarities are beginning to blur together, and instead of inspiring wonder at our continued dedication to some of these subjects, they are beginning to beg the question, “Will we ever achieve any sort of resolution?”

Take the February 2006 issue, where author Cheryl Sadowski suggests three ways to engage minority populations in recreational opportunities. Her “Striking a Chord with Minorities” cites a trio of “compelling themes” that, if properly addressed, could help park and recreation agencies “successfully meet the needs of the diverse populations they serve.” Those themes are culture, community and opportunity. In a nutshell, Sadowski prescribes “tuning into minority culture,” sustainable land-use practices that place parkland and open space in urban neighborhoods, and increasing access to facilities and programs, to address each theme, respectively. 

Almost 10 years, hundreds of studies and dozens of magazine articles later, we’re still beating Sadowski’s drum. Not to mention the dozens of years before Sadowski put pen to paper, when park and recreation professionals sought to increase participation and awareness of their offerings among diverse communities. Appropriately, Sadowski begins her piece with an anecdote about Ernest Atwell, a black American man lauded across the park and recreation field as spearheading the first major push to create recreation programs for African-American communities. “Today, Atwell’s photo graces the halls of NRPA’s headquarters...I wonder: Would he be pleased at the dedication and creativity with which today’s recreational programs and services are delivered,” she asks, continuing, “or, does the slight cast of his eyes bespeak disappointment that 85 years later, we still face many of the same barriers in meeting the needs of minorities in America’s urban centers?” 

Sadowski’s answer — “I imagine a little of both” — is a neat hedge against having to explicitly call out her peers as having failed to solve the quandary. Indeed, almost 10 years after Sadowski provided us a general blueprint for engaging diverse communities, we’re still struggling to figure out exactly how it should be implemented. At this year’s Annual Conference, dozens of education and research sessions dealt chiefly with matters of social equity and still more addressed the subject as it related to whatever core concept was being discussed. It’s clear that, as we approach 2016, successfully engaging diverse, often urban, populations continues to be a source of angst for our industry as a whole.  

Progress certainly has been made since Atwell’s time, but the concept of radical inclusivity must extend beyond just parks and recreation if the issue of social equity is ever to be adequately resolved. “What might be achieved if we could galvanize all…citizens around [the concepts of culture, community and opportunity] — not merely as success quotients for providing park and recreation services, but rather as demands from our politicians and community leaders for quality of life.” What, indeed?

Samantha Bartram is the Executive Editor of Parks & Recreation magazine.