The recreation and sport community continues to be challenged by the coronavirus pandemic.  Public health measures designed to limit the spread of COVID-19 mean that the access to and delivery of recreation, parks and community sport services to Canadians is limited, severely curtailed or not possible at this time.

The Canadian Parks and Recreation Association (CPRA) is seeking input from fitness facility owner/operators to contribute to ReImagine RREC, a Pan-Canadian initiative designed to support leaders working in recreation, parks and community sport to return to sustainable operations.

ReImagine RREC (Renew, Retool, Engage and Contribute) will:

• research, identify, compile and share with recreation, parks and community sport leaders promising practices for navigating in a pandemic and post-pandemic environment;

• identify and share similar, successful practices being used by other sectors that are transferable to recreation, parks and community sport;

• identify effective knowledge transfer strategies designed to get the above information to administrators, policymakers and practitioners in practical and usable formats.

ReImagine RREC will be driven by input from leaders in recreation, parks and community sport, for leaders in recreation, parks and community sport. It will complement, not duplicate, efforts currently underway by other organizations and develop helpful, practical and effective approaches to help combat and counter the impacts of the pandemic for recreation, parks and community sport.

More information will be shared soon on how health/fitness organizations and their members can be involved, including contributing to the following activities to benefit clients, members and partners:

• An analysis and synthesis of existing survey and other data available from a range of Canadian and international sources that can inform the needs among recreation, parks, community sport leaders on how best to navigate and respond to existing and new challenges posed by the pandemic (e.g., needs, pressures and opportunities);

• Key informant focus groups being convened in February 2021 with Canada’s thought leaders in recreation, parks and community sport to gather expert input;

• Crowdsourcing in February 2021 of the most innovative and promising approaches being applied in the recreation, parks, community sport, as well as other sectors, and

• Other activities informed by the learnings from above.

These and other activities will result in the identification and sharing of effective strategies to support leaders working in recreation, parks and community sport to return to sustainable operations, as well as contribute to community recovery more broadly.

To sign up for the ReImagine RREC mailing list and receive an invitation to contribute, please click here.

This project is funded by the Government of Canada