In the winter months, it can be tough for parents to find activities for their children to do indoors. Fortunately for all, January is National Hobby Month. This month also gives families an occasion to look into new, constructive outlets for the children’s time. It is imperative that local governments do what they reasonably can to foster positive growth for all children who live inside their boundaries.

For this, I have gathered some of the most impressive parks and recreation-related resources from the Knowledge Network for you to consider as methods of improving services in your city or county.

• The Parks and Recreation Department in Austin, Texas, recently built up damaged riparian forests in the city. Read all about the successes in “Grow Zones: Streamside Restoration in Austin, Texas.”
• A recent member-prompted discussion offers insights into crowd-sourcing the funding of parks and recreations projects.
• Read through a case study featuring Stuart, Florida, “From Ugly to Awesome! Redevelopment of Memorial Park” to learn about implementing the cutting edge in parks and recreation services.
• A brief PM article from 2013 highlights key summer-related parks and recreations innovations.

If you have any recommendations for resources that your local government peers should review, feel free to share them in the comments section below. If you wish to continue learning about innovations in parks and recreation, surf over to the Knowledge Network’s Parks and Recreation, Parks and Recreation Management, and Recreations Centers topic pages, the Healthy Communities group, or start a group of your own.

Aloha,

James Davidson

ICMA's Knowledge Network Intern

jdavidson@icma.org