Garland Parks and Recreation
Public information, community relations, marketing, and community engagement are complementary functions within the agency. The functions overlap because they all deal with an organization’s relationships and employ similar communication tools. While they have the same ultimate purpose of helping assure an organization’s success, the purpose of each differs and each approaches the task from a different perspective. To operate effectively, a park and recreation agency must have the support of its community. An agency can obtain such support by informing the public and news media of events that affect the lives of citizens in the community. By providing the news media and the community with information on agency administration and operations, a relationship of mutual trust, cooperation, and respect can be maintained. A well-organized community relations effort can act as an effective means of eliciting public support and can serve to identify problems in the making. Effective market research, planning, product and program development, strategies, and objectives for delivering demand-driven, high- quality programs and services contribute to successful park and recreation operations. Marketing is a process for accomplishing agency mission and objectives by developing, pricing, making accessible, and providing accurate and timely information about recreational opportunities that satisfy the wants/desires of target markets. All park and recreation agencies perform certain marketing functions; the scope of their work, however, depends on their size and mandate.
There shall be a designated position (individual) or team responsible for the agency's Marketing, Communications, and Community Engagement functions. This person/team shall provide strategies and technical expertise in relation to marketing, communications, crisis communications, and community engagement activities conducted to achieve predetermined agency strategy related to this area of responsibility.
Required Evidence of Compliance
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Provide the job description and relevant education/experience for the position(s) involved in marketing, communications, and community engagement activities on behalf of the agency (municipal/agency staff and/or consultants).
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Provide a narrative description of marketing and communications strategy utilized by the agency. Describe how different communities are represented thoughtfully and intentionally in all aspects of marketing.
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Communications and community engagement activities shall reach a wide array of community members representative of community demographics; Changes to strategy shall be informed by evaluation of efforts.; Development of relationships with the media, where possible, may be utilized to advance the agency's brand, image, and service reach.
Required Evidence of Compliance
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Provide evidence of data collection, analysis, and decision-making related to marketing and communications functions that result in improvements in external communications and community engagement efforts that reach an audience representative of the community.
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If applicable, provide a narrative describing the relationship with the media and in what ways the relationship impacts brand, image, and service reach.
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Agencies shall establish effective internal communications strategies and tactics to ensure key information reaches employees at all levels within the organization.
Required Evidence of Compliance
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Provide a communication matrix illustrating how internal communications are managed by the agency.
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Provide the most recent evaluation of internal communications efforts.
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Provide evidence of changes made to communications strategies in response to evaluation data.
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Promoting the essentiality of leisure participation, demonstrating the importance of all parks and recreation services and functions as well as promoting their positive impacts are central to marketing recreation programs and services. In addition to marketing recreation programs and services, the agency must continually educate about the many community-wide benefits of parks, recreation activities and leisure time. These include economic development, increased property values, and physical and mental well-being. Such educational activities provide community members with the rational basis for park and recreation programs and services to be included as governmental expenditures.
The agency shall have an ongoing and systematic process to educate the general population and elected officials about the benefits, values, outcomes, and positive impacts of leisure and recreation services provided. Educating the public about leisure and recreation shall be ongoing, systematic and should be done in cooperation with community agencies and organizations, e.g., schools, public health departments other leisure agencies, businesses, and commercial recreation establishments. Communication shall begin and continue to establish the essentiality of agency services and be periodically evaluated for effectiveness.
Required Evidence of Compliance
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Provide examples of the methods utilized by the agency to educate and inform the community and/or elected officials on the benefits, values, outcomes, and impacts of leisure and recreation services to a wide array of participants and non-participants. Examples may include but are not limited to, e.g., social media posts showing evidence-based benefits individuals are deriving from participation in leisure activities; providing of benefits-based information in the program catalog, brochures, or website; community presentations regarding leisure participation benefits in holistic health (mental, social, emotional) and well- being services and/or referrals at community locations; and/or conducting benefits- based program research studies with neighboring universities, community colleges or high schools.
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Provide the last review (qualitative and/or quantitative) of effectiveness of these advocacy efforts.
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Community engagement techniques are used by agencies to invite the community to influence agency strategic direction, facility and amenity improvements, and programming. Engaging the community regularly builds relationships, trust, and helps ensure the agency is attuned to and addressing the needs of the community. Agencies shall have implemented thoughtful strategies to engage and involve the community on a regular basis.
Effective strategies include fielding citizen concerns and questions through accessible, timely, and responsive channels; maintaining organized communication efforts with neighborhoods through dedicated staff, advisory groups or liaison roles; and developing programs, services or projects as a direct result of community input-particularly input initiated or driven by neighborhood residents or local stakeholder groups.
Required Evidence of Compliance
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Provide a narrative describing community engagement strategies employed by the agency to regularly connect with members of the community in an effort to better understand their needs for park and recreation services.
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Describe how engagement is adjusted based on the specific community the agency is trying to reach. Best practices go beyond traditional surveying and community input sessions and may include regularly meeting special interest focus groups, advisory councils, hosting unique feedback events, implementing co-designed projects.
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Provide agency strategies and/or protocols developed for managing internal and external communications during a crisis situation. Provide evidence that appropriate staff have been trained on these strategies and/or protocols. If any elements are not permitted to be shared for security reasons, please indicate this in the self-assessment.
Required Evidence of Compliance
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Provide agency strategies and/or protocols developed for managing internal and external communications during a crisis situation.
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Provide evidence that appropriate staff have been trained on these strategies and/or protocols.
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Provide three communication templates (e.g., press releases, staff talking points, public alerts, social media posts) and a timeline outlining how and when communication is delivered during various phases of a crisis (e.g., initial response, ongoing updates, resolution, and post-crisis follow-up).
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