LWCF Summit

The importance of inclusion!

You can judge the quality of any society by examining three

factors…

The condition of their

Children and elderly…

…The condition of their Environment…

…How they use their free time!

What are we doing to combat the perception

that…

…recreation is activity that occurs in

leftover time, in leftover space, with leftover

money?

E X P E R I E N C E Y O U R A M E R I C A

CommitmentsWe will use parks and recreation services to inspire Americans to:

• Civility• Physical and psychological health• Conservation and environmental stewardship• Expand their recreation, educational,

avocational and career options • Lifelong learning, creativity, discovery, awe,

and curiosity• Civic engagement and community service,

and to• Live powerfully in demographically, culturally

and ethnically diverse communities

04/21/23 Mickey Fearn -- "SYNAPSE" 5

ROLES OF GOVERNMENT

• Protect the lives, property, and rights of citizens

• Protect, & insure the wise use of, the environment -- balancing environment as economics, art, habitat, science, spirit, etc.

• Minimize suffering--provide a safety net• Enrich the lives of citizens through education,

arts, and recreation--provide experiences that encourage lifelong creativity, fitness and learning

• Promote citizenship, create and sustain community spirit, pride, & civility

• Ensure the economic vitality of the jurisdiction

The evidence is clear…• Common Core Values• Committed people

and principles• An enormous asset• Bi-partisan• High Polling

numbers among all demographics

• Local and national impacts

• Willingness to tax themselves

• Voluntarism and Stewardship

• Patriotic• Transcendent• Health• Transformative• Educational• Youth Development• Spiritual• Moral• Economic• Environmental

•

Aspects of our culture that seem to getting the way

• Invisible work• Professional Humility: Inability to

claim credit• Inarticulate about the real value of

what we do• We’re so use to taking hits and

moving on• We do everything to maintain service

levels despite taking huge hits

The challenge-The process- The plan

• Content: The challenges and the vision

• The process: What do we do?• The dynamics: How do we

increase and maintain the energy required to achieve our objectives?

• Strategy: How do we proceed?

What are the challenges• The reauthorization of the Land and

Water Conservation fund• The continuation of traditional LWCF

activities• The unification an diversification of the

parks, recreation and conservation movement

• Expand and diversifying our stakeholder base

• Addressing environmental justice and other urban issues

• Rehabilitation, revitalizing, repurposing parks and recreation lands and facilities

The ends

• As a result of the unification and diversification of the conservation movement there are thousands of people, young and adult, in wild, rural and urban settings working actively to create and sustain spaces and communities in which they can fulfill their promise and are safe, healthy, and unafraid.

The ends

• We will repair the disruptions that have caused urban communities of color, young people, and others from considering environmental and conservation activities as recreation interest, civic interest or career alternatives.

The ends

• We will all pledge to have all generations from this point forward stay connected with nature from birth.

The question: Can we… Increase natural amenities in urban areas Improve access to existing natural spaces Provide opportunities for physical fitness Improve or enhance existing amenities

through community restoration, repurposing resources and facilities, revitalization (Red Fields to Green Fields)

Provide healthy spaces close to all residents that provide opportunities for community gathering, respite, reflection, regeneration, and spontaneous improvisational play?

•  

While concurrently… Using conservation as the centerpiece of

community building/civic engagement Creating the next generation of

environmental stewards Addressing environmental justice chronic

health issues-- Addressing mortality and morbidity

Breaking restrictive cycles of racism and poverty

Providing opportunities for community engagement and stewardship

Improving community economics Providing employment opportunities Expanding recreation and career

opportunities Providing opportunities for STEM education

We will be challenged to perform “familiar” roles in “new” conditions and to perform new roles in new, more complex, and challenging situations.

 

Aware Users

Non-AwareUsers

Aware nonUsers

Non-awareNon-users

The importance of inclusion and diversity

• When groups are exposed to a more diverse and inclusive range of perspectives, when their values are forced to confront different viewpoints, they are likely to avoid falling prey to selfishness and extremism.

• Inclusion and diversity are critical to building our cultural, emotional, and creative intelligence and to creating relevant effective solutions to complex challenges

• New possibilities, productivity, creativity and innovation emerge when the vision, mission, resources and expertise of diverse individuals and different organizations intersect.

• Inclusion and diversity do not just expand the common ground of consensus. They increase the larger group’s ability to solve problems.

• We are smarter as a coalition—more innovative and flexible in our thinking when diverse perspectives collaborate. (Johnson)

Groups we have to engage

• Adversaries: in and out of the “tent”

• Cynics• The indifferent• The unaware: The millions of

citizen to whom we are invisible• Passive supporters• Active engaged supporters

The Stakeholders• Those who have not found their place or voice in the

parks, environmental and conservation movement• Young people and people who represent American

demographics• Leaders and representatives of communities of color• The environmental justice community• Learning institutions (K-12 and Higher Education)• Advocates from other professions• Grassroots community organizations• Local parks and recreation and community building

public agencies • Foundations• Community leaders, elected officials and their

representatives• Local conservation and stewardship• Professional service organization • Traditional stakeholders

Individualism“The rugged individualist”

Relationships

Groups

Teams

CommunityHow we live together?

Collective Action

IndividualResponsibility

“The barn raising”

What is a community?Community members:

Rise above their self-interest for the collective goodAre mindful of the collective impact of their individual acts...Are constantly mindful of how their actions, good or bad, impact others... Extend their love, respect, trust, credibility, generosity, and philanthropy to those outside of their affinity groups...Behaviors are aligned with common values...Are focused on why they chose to come togetherCan realize their potential...

The Challenge• How do you sustain the energy,

commitment, dedication, enthusiasm, and spirit of a diverse team through the routine and episodic events that often breakdown critical relationships and distract them from their vision and mission and cause them to fail?

For every act of creativity…

There is an act of destruction!

HUMAN NATURE

Fear -ScarcityIndividual survival• Selfish• Territorial• Defensive• Prisoners of

routine• Path of least

resistance

Love-AbundanceKinship/Connection

• Mindful• Trusting• Collaborative• Philanthropic/

Generous• Cooperative/Selfless• Compassionate

Creative/ Improvisational/InnovativeRTCA 24

What factionalizes our stakeholders?

• Imposing our values system and view of the world on the people we are trying to engage

• It is always a problem when the parasite eats the host

• Any factionalization is can derail us• Hidden agendas • The perception that if they stay

engaged they will personally lose:– Money– Flexibility, or– Power

What will hold us together?

• Aligning our common interest, visions, goals and principles

• Transcending historical conflicts• Creating and sustaining trust,

respect and structured open and honest communication

• Anticipating and rehearsing for unavoidable conflicts

Slime mold theory…• For such a simple organism, the slime mold has an

impressive intellectual pedigree For scientists trying to understand systems that use relatively simple components to build higher-level intelligence.

• “The slime mold spends much of its life as thousands of distinct single-celled units, each moving separately from its other comrades. Under the right conditions, those myriad cells will coalesce again into a single, larger organism, which then begins its leisurely crawl across the garden floor, nutrition as it moves about. When the environment is less hospitable, the slime mold acts as a single organism; when the weather turns cooler and the mold enjoys a large food supply, “it” becomes a “they.” The slime mold oscillates between being a single creature and a swarm.”

What matters the most?

In an effort like this, with so much at stake forthe country and our respective professions and interest—all that really matters is…

…What’s possible and who cares!