A Choice Career: Parks and Recreation

The availability of this new national resource is both critical and timely. The challenges of a diminishing workforce in the parks and recreation profession are widely known and documented. Trends in society, competitive pressures from non-industry employers, changes in higher education, the rise of alternate preparatory programs, popular misperceptions, and other constraining issues have conflated to produce an unmet demand for a sufficient and competent workforce. And among a shrinking pool of high school graduates is a widespread lack of awareness among youth, parents, and guidance counselors of recreation and parks as a viable career choice.

 “Our approach is to appeal to young people to showcase a variety of introductory avenues into the profession,” explained Tim Herd, PRPS CEO and Vice Chair of the AAPRA Career Development Task Force, who served as the Executive Producer of the video. “We wanted to show a diversity of people and roles and how such purpose-driven positions impact our communities, our health, our cities, our youth, and so much more.”