2021 Annual Report 2021 Annual Report Slide Show
Previous Annual Report:
2020 Annual Report – Goals, Priorities, Principles
Goals
- Create a unified, coordinated, and accessible park system.
- Develop parks, public spaces, and programs that engage and inspire.
- Develop brand recognition for quality services through signage and public relations.
- Continue to build the city’s tree canopy.
- Establish a national reputation for best practices and the creative use of resources. Be renowned for our responsiveness to community needs and interests.
- Continue building a team of dedicated, talented and committed employees who are proud to make Providence parks exceptional.
- Increase biodiversity and ecological habitat as an integral part of parks design.
PRIORITIES
- Create safe, healthy, welcoming spaces that meet the needs of Providence’s distinct and diverse neighborhoods.
- Provide enhanced outdoor recreation opportunities by developing innovative, sustainable and responsive parks, facilities, amenities and programs.
- Develop facilities and programs appropriate for multiple generations of residents including those interested in traditional sports and those interested in alternative forms of recreation.
- Connect children and families to nature and strengthen communities through our shared spaces that inspire.
Our Guiding Principles
- Parks promote health and connectivity in the community and enhance quality of life.
- All Providence residents should have recreational opportunities and access to exceptional facilities for traditional and non-traditional sports.
- Everyone, including residents and staff, should feel safe, welcome, and appreciated in Parks facilities and programs.
- Quality parks provide spaces where children are valued, supported, and challenged.
- Parks should promote a variety of inspiring and creative experiences that include healthy risk-taking, free and open play, teambuilding, connection to nature, and performing and visual arts. Parks are drivers of economic development and vitality in the community.
- Parks Department staff will provide prompt, courteous, and effective service, emphasizing problem solving, inclusivity, and creativity.
- The sustainability of parks and facilities is based on continual assessment and evaluation combined with adaptation, innovation, partnerships, and advocacy.
- We promote sustainability and climate resiliency in parks through creative design and use of resources and materials (repurposing, recycling, revitalizing) and practicing climate-positive design.
- Parks inspire people to live active and healthy lives and to push themselves to excel as individuals and as teams.
Our Vision
Providence’s parks and recreation opportunities are essential components of a healthy, creative, and family-friendly city.
Our Mission
The City of Providence’s Department of Parks will coordinate a park and recreation system in which all residents have access to fully programmed, fully operational, and well-maintained parks, facilities and programs that meet both current and future parks and recreation needs. The City of Providence will ensure that all residents in every Providence neighborhood have access to a public park that is a safe and healthy community hub. This will provide a network of neighborhood-based park spaces where all residents, particularly children and youth, are engaged, healthy, and feel safe. We will achieve this mission through robust neighborhood engagement with parks “Friends Groups” and city-wide support for parks programming and infrastructure that is as special and unique as the kids, adults, and staff who use the parks.
