Increasing Participation Involves Other Needs

by David B. Hording, Assistant Director of Recreation Muncie Community Schools
and
Dr. George Wood, Assistant Professor of Community Education and Consultant to the Institute for Community Education Development Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana

During 1975-76, six city recreation departments in Indiana participated in a special project to identify the program needs of out-of-school young adults between the ages of 16-25, to ascertain why this group was not participating in recreation programs, and to develop techniques for increasing participation. The project was conducted through a Title One grant to the Institute for Community Education Development at Ball State University and included the parks and recreation departments in Bloomington, Columbus, Crawfordsville, Evansville, Indianapolis and Muncie.

An early phase of the project included a survey of the recreation-related needs, attitutes, and problems of the target population. Much of the data collected was very revealing.

The overriding conclusion that seemed apparent was that the conditions which significantly influenced participation in recreation were not limited to the availability of programs or recreation areas or equipment. Instead, the non-participation of this population group related to conditions of employment, education, home life, and self-image in general, as well as available recreation opportunities.

Unemployment was extremely high among the group. The individuals surveyed often seemed to feel that if they could not hold a job they had no reason to take part in traditional recreational programs. The environment in which the client population is interacting is very often economically, emotionally, and financially depressed, and the client population is responding accordingly. Negative environmental stimuli such as high unemployment rates and a lack of education have ultimately led to apathy and non-participation.

Non-participators seem very often to have failed to graduate from high school. A pattern of built-in educational frustration ultimately leads to non-participation. Therefore, it may be important for recreation somehow to influence the potential for educational success among these clients. The target population has not been successful with the educational or employment opportunities that have been available to them. Consequently, they have had a series of unsuccessful attempts at education and employment and the constant negative reinforcement has led to poor self-image concepts, apathy, and non-participation.

The problem situations which need to be addressed immediately are in the areas of employment, education, leisure education, child care services, and counseling.

Much has been said about incorporating this age group into recreational problems by upgrading public relations and directing and developing programs specifically at this age group. However, encouraging participation in recreation programs and eliminating non-participation necessitates a great deal more than upgrading public relations.

There appears to be a great task before us, not only as recreation professionals, but as concerned individuals in a complex society. If participation by young adults is affected by high rates of unemployment, poor educational background, family environments that are not conducive to recreation, and poor self-image concepts, then recreation must become more involved in dealing with these matters.

It seems clear that recreation professionals cannot hope realistically to address these clients problems by themselves. It is unrealistic to assume that recreation professionals or any other single professional group have all of the skills and time necessary to provide the services needed for this client population. Therefore, better cooperation between agencies must be incorporated into the municipal leisure service system if recreational programming for this age group is going to be successful.

Patterns for Direction

In order for this target group to become involved in recreation programs in the future, other patterns for direction should be seriously considered.

It is quite possible that the kind of work people will do in increasing numbers will resemble the boredom of the assembly line worker who puts screws on the end of bolts eight hours a day. This means that the qualitative values originally associated with work will no longer be available to the increasing masses. With the ever increasing number of people gaining less satisfaction from work, the importance of leisure assumes a significant place in people's lives.

It will be unfortunate if attempts to educate for leisure continues to concentrate only on basic skills in sports and social games. This superficial approach to leisure education must be reinforced with broader opportunities for the development of satisfying leisure time activity. We must re-examine the importance of recreation in society and an individuals life.

At least a change in public education seems clearly needed. City and community schools should be developing curriculums for leisure education at an early age. The

Illinois Parks and Recreation 28 March/April, 1977

significance of leisure education in city and community schools is such that it will prepare the individuals at an early age for a society that has ever increasing leisure time.

In addition to leisure education, there are some other, more immediate, directions that recreators should be taking, including:

1. more on-going cooperation with public schools

2. pre-employment efforts

3. counseling services

4. child care services and other participation facilitators.

The cooperation of recreators and public school people may operate on three different levels: the cooperative use of facilities, cooperative management of resources, and a mutual communication about client needs which leads to the systematic application of resources to needs. It is the third level with which this article is primarily concerned.

There is a growing tradition of school involvement in providing recreational opportunities for the clientele they serve. The schools have many of the physical facilities required for recreational programs, such as playgrounds, gymnasiums, athletic fields, and arts and crafts rooms. Schools are also distributed according to the plan that is consistent with the need for recreation centers. Every neighborhood has an elementary center, just as every neighborhood should have its recreation centers. The schools also have a potential manpower source available to them for recreational service.

In many communities, public school teachers and administrators are becoming a tremendous leadership force for leisure as school programs are integrated with the recreational life of communities. In fact, the general philosophy of public education is becoming indistinguishable from that of public recreation in many ways. What is needed now is a willingness by both school people and recreation to share the information and responsibility necessary to meet the complex need to bring the resources of both school and community recreation to bear simultaneously upon the client situation. Even where the school district actually is running the community recreation program, such problem solving interaction of the academic and recreational staffs is apparently rare.

The basic idea involved in pre-employment efforts is to provide the individuals with enough knowledge about future job situations in order that they can cope with their new work environments. Individuals need to be informed about the basic characteristics of employment that they will have to deal with once employment is secured. Such programs are designed to help develop an attitude within the participants which will enhance their employability or lead them toward academic or vocational training. A non-traditional approach should be employed since the nature of this clientele has not historically found tradition beneficial. Some basic employment training in a recreational setting has much to recommend it.

Since this target group experiences problems because of their high unemployment and poor self-image concepts, it might be advisable to offer counseling services to them, job counseling and personal counseling. This could be done by hiring a counselor for a recreation center or coordinating efforts with other city agencies on a part-time basis, particularly where the counseling can be brought to the recreational facilities.

Many of the respondents surveyed indicated that domestic responsibility in the area of child rearing kept them from participating. Child care service provided at a specific site or sites would tend to alleviate this problem. It should be kept in mind that only token fees (if any) should be charged since the individuals concerned are generally not able to support more than a token fee.

The foregoing are only a few of the many possible recommendations for direction, but all of them grow out of one major assumption which recreators must buy (if they have not already). This assumption is that recreators are concerned with making recreation a relevent and productive experience for all community people, rather than just with providing the equipment for people who motivate themselves to use a playing field or gymnasium or park area.

Illinois Parks and Recreation 29 March/April, 1977