The authors provide us with a multitude of examples of major changes, such as the transfer of management of a financially troubled YMCA to the local park and recreation department. (See the article on page 8, by Jack Fogel, director of parks and recreation for the Rock Island Parks and Recreation Department.) This transfer was accomplished only because civic leaders representing a broad spectrum of private and public concerns worked together to come up with new ideas and forge common goals. The result is a new $1.9 million full-service recreation facility. A misguided resistance to change clearly could have prevented such a positive outcome.

IAPD Executive Director Ted Flickinger shows another aspect of this theme, offering advice on page 6 about the need for a chief executive to communicate in advance about impending changes in a park and recreation agency.

IPRA's Keith Frankland and Terry G. Schwartz have submitted part two of their article describing the future of professional opportunities for students of leisure studies. They describe enormous past, present and future changes in the field: "The key to being able to react positively to these changes." they advise, "will be the willingness to adapt and adjust." That's a point we must keep in mind whenever we find ourselves resisting the very idea of change. For change is an inevitable, constant part of our lives, the only question is whether we'll be out front, leading and managing it. or run over by it.

Perhaps the most easily managed and positive changes are those we initiate ourselves. Several articles in this issue offer ideas—such as restoring older parks (see Jane and Dean Sheaffer's article on page 27), and offering programs and services for the homeless (see Sandra Wolf Klitzing's article on page 31)—that present challenging opportunities for us all.

Here's hoping this issue helps you to make change your own.

On The Cover

Terry Farmer captured
this cover photograph of
the sun setting over Lake
Michigan. Photo courtesy
of the Illinois Department
of Conservation