Within our field, it’s common knowledge that access to parks, recreational opportunities and open space is beneficial for our health, both physical and mental. As park and recreation professionals, we get it. But, do our elected leaders? Do the people who wield control over our funding truly understand how well-established is the link between parks and healthy habits?

In February, NRPA, Active Living Research and a host of park and recreation leaders convened a workshop to attempt to answer that very question. We wanted to know what research already existed that could help demonstrate the health benefits of parks, where any research gaps might exist and how we could best communicate this information to decision makers. We discovered that a robust body of research is already available to help us make our case — the challenge lies in how to disseminate that information. 

Communications Kit

To help you better communicate the benefits of parks to the overall health of your communities, we’ve developed a comprehensive communications kit replete with substantive data you can begin using immediately. It includes:

Parks and Health Fact Sheets

These easy-to-use HTML-formatted sheets are broken down into different issue areas with citations, so it’s easy to cut and paste from our website to your documents. Formatted PDFs you can print and distribute are also included.

Infographics Library

This page contains links to publicly available infographics that help tell the story of the positive impact of parks on community health and well-being in easy-to-scan visual content.  

Parks and Health PowerPoint Slides

These slides condense the information from the fact sheets. For each fact sheet topic, there is one master slide with several data points, followed by four to six slides with one fact and one image apiece. The slides are designed to supplement your presentation, as the content, layout and design can be modified based on your needs. 

Success Stories

Several examples drawn from NRPA’s online database highlight park and recreation agencies from around the country that are serving as public health leaders in their communities. 

Social Media Calendar

We’ve included ready-to-use social media posts to coincide with optimal times of the year to start conversations with your community about how they use parks to get and stay healthy. 

Testimonials

Researchers and elected officials discuss the health benefits of parks and how those benefits translate into tangible, positive impacts within our communities. 

Explore a comprehensive overview of all the Making the Case documents and links to all the above-mentioned materials. For more information about these resources, contact NRPA Director of Strategic Health Initiatives Zarnaaz Bashir.