P&R Annual Report 2019

C I T Y O F G R E E N S B O R O Parks & Recreation 2018-2019 Annual Report

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t::. GREENSBORO ~ PARKS & RECREATION

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A Note from the Director

PARKS & RECREATION LEADERSHIP TEAM

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Charles Jackson Community Recreation Services Division Manager

Nasha McCray Director

City of Greensboro Parks & Recreation

Ron McMillan Park Operations Division Manager

For Greensboro Parks and Recreation Department, this past year has been full of exciting growth and development! The department continues to be a leader in shaping the quality of life, character, and economy of Greensboro. With more than 8,000 acres of parkland, 98 miles of trails and greenways, 175 facilities, and thousands of unique programs, we truly offer something for everyone! Our commitment to making positive impacts and improving the quality of life for the residents of Greensboro is stronger than ever. Each day, we strive to ENHANCE our existing assets, EXPAND our offerings through strengthened partnerships and transformative programs, and CONNECT neighborhoods throughout our wonderful city into a vibrant, healthy, and equitable park system. In February 2019, City Council approved our 20-year comprehensive master plan, Plan2Play. To ensure that our future parks and recreation system reflects the values and expectations of our residents and other users, we engaged over 7,000 individuals in our community, including City staff, community partners and stakeholders, elected officials, and residents. As a result of this robust engagement, Plan2Play prioritizes how, over the next 20 years, we will maintain and improve our existing parks and facilities, invest and plan for future parks and facilities, expand programs, and allocate funding and other resources to meet current and future community needs and expectations. This past year, the department was also named a finalist for the National Recreation and Park Association’s (NRPA) National Gold Medal Award for Excellence in Park and Recreation Management! This is a significant accomplishment and honor for the department to be recognized for excellence in long-range planning, resource management, and innovative approaches to developing outstanding parks and recreation services. Having previously received this honor in 2002, 1987, and 1979, the department hopes to earn this national distinction again in the upcoming year. The 2019-2020 fiscal year is shaping up to be even busier, with a renewed focus and vision for “Expanding, Enhancing, and Connecting” our department. Our goal as parks and recreation professionals is to do our part to ensure that Greensboro is the absolute best place to live, work, play, visit, and recreate. The following report is an overview of the outstanding work we have done during the 2018-2019 fiscal year, and a snapshot of the where the department is today. With the help of Plan2Play and a refreshed vision and approach, we are ready for an even more exciting and productive 2019-2020. You can expect to see us investing more in our facilities, providing new amenities for your enjoyment, expanding and enhancing our partnerships and program offerings, and making stronger connections within our department and with you – the community that we serve! In closing, I sincerely thank the Greensboro City Council, the Parks and Recreation Commission, our many community partners, staff, and residents of Greensboro for their continued and unwavering support. Without this support, these accomplishments and our ability to continue to provide a model parks system for the enjoyment of all would not be possible. Thank you for allowing us to serve you with pride and for letting us do what we love.

Shawna Tillery Planning & Project Development Division Manager

GREENSBORO CITY COUNCIL Nancy Vaughan Mayor Yvonne Johnson Mayor Pro Tem Marikay Abuzuaiter At Large Michelle Kennedy At Large Sharon Hightower District 1 Goldie Wells District 2 Justin Outling District 3 Nancy Hoffmann District 4 Tammi Thurm District 5 PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION Justin Washington Chair Kelly Gaines Vice Chair Kim Alexander-Henderson Marsha Glazman Bob Kollar Emily Linden Vanessa Martin Blake Odum Jeff Smith

The Year in Parks & Recreation Highlights from July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019

2018

JULY Inclusive Boat Launch Ribbon Cutting at Lake Higgins.

2018

SEPTEMBER The Drama Center opens for its 50th anniversary season.

2018

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OCTOBER

2018

Country Park introduces new dragon and swan pedal boats.

NOVEMBER Dedicated new Barber Park outdoor basketball court to Ken Free Sr., former Parks and Recreation Commissioner andWindsor Recreation Center Director.

2018

DECEMBER All Abilities Actors Legion, an inclusive acting group that welcomes individuals with disabilities, premiers its frst show, “Chasing the Sword.”

2019

JANUARY The Barber Park Events Center featuring the Ruth Wicker Tribute to Women Opens.

2019

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FEBRUARY City Council adopts Plan2Play, Parks and Recreation’s 20-year master plan.

2019

MARCH Neighborwoods planted trees in Kings Forest Park, which was damaged by the April 2018 tornado.

2019

APRIL Department sponsors frst ever Carolina’s Adaptive Standing Tennis tournament. Department opens frst multigenerational park, the renovated Henry Street Park.

2019

MAY City’s frst outdoor pickleball courts open at Smith Community Park. Athletics launches R.E.D. Zone Football, a joint youth program with High Point Parks and Recreation that focuses on “recreation, education and development.”

2019

JUNE

Gateway Gardens hosts frst Drone Rodeo and RC Expo. Music for a Sunday Evening at the Park opens its 40th anniversary season. Parks and Recreation announced as a fnalist for the National Recreation and Parks Association Gold Medal Award.

Greensboro Parks & Recreation by the Numbers

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$ 18.1 MILLION FISCAL YEAR $ 16.2 MILLION 4.2 MILLION VISITS $ 1.04 MILLION

37,117 11,950 5,496

FREE

MEALS SERVED

2018-2019 BUDGET

YOUTH

VOLUNTEER

ECONOMIC IMPACT

HOURS

OF P&R SPORTS FACILITIES

VOLUNTEERS

281 177 127

SENIOR GAMES PARTICIPANTS

MONETARY VALUE OF VOLUNTEER HOURS

$ 603,958

SPECIAL EVENTS HOSTED

SPONSORSHIPS,

DONATIONS, & GRANTS

47,919 41,026

ADULT

KICKBALL

BARBER & KEELEY PARKS SPRAYGROUND VISITS

TEAMS

24

VOLUNTEER

FREE

HOURS

CONCERTS

2018 - 2019 Projects

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Glenwood Accessible Bathroom

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Apache Park Playground

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Master Plans Approved 1. Smith Community Park 2. Peeler Community Park Master Plan Updates and In Design 3. Battleground Parks District 4. Caldcleugh Multicultural Center 5. Spencer Love Tennis Center Renovation and Improvement Projects Completed 6. Brown Recreation Center Club Garden 7. Steelman Park Fitness Equipment 8. Barber Park Event Center & Ruth Wicker Tribute to Women 9. Glenwood Recreation Center Accessible Bathroom

Planned Amenity Improvements 33. Windsor Recreation Center Seating* 34. Lindley Park Accessible Playground Equipment* 35. Westbury Park Playground & Fitness Area* 36. Arlington Park Accessible Shelter and Playground Equipment* 37. Sunset Hills Accessible Playground* 38. Textile Park Playground* 2300 Textile Drive 39. Twin Lakes Community Park Improvements* 2821 Cypress Park Road 40. Peeler Park Solar Mobile Charging Station* 41. Country Park Solar Mobile Charging Station*

10. Henry Street Park 11. Smith Community Park Pickleball Courts 12. Latham Park Tennis Fence Replacement 13. Apache Park Playground* 14. Sussman Park Fitness Area 15. Lake Daniel Bench & Water Fountain* Construction In Progress 16. Grifn Park Phase II 17. Keeley Park Phase II 18. Gateway Gardens Visitor Center Phase II 19. Brightwood Park 20. Dudley High School Tennis Courts 21. Page High School Tennis Courts 22. Woodlea Acres Tennis Courts

23. Lake Daniel Tennis Courts 24. Sunset Hills Tennis Courts 25. Trotter Center Renovation 26. Hester Park Athletic Field Restoration Under Design 27. Battleground Parks District Phase I 28. Glenwood Recreation Center & Community Park Improvements 29. Lewis Recreation Center Improvements 30. North Bufalo Creek Greenway 31. Windsor - Chavis Joint Use Facility 32. Hester Park Phase III, Lake Loop & Fitness Area*

* Project chosen by residents to be funded through Greensboro Participatory Budgeting.

enhance As part of our Plan2Play master plan, Greensboro Parks and Recreation is working to enhance the department’s existing assets.

Key Accomplishments

• Installed signifcant landscape improvements and dozens of trees in Forest Lawn Cemetery. • Began construction of Brightwood Park and Ken Free Basketball Court at Barber Park. • Piedmont Fat Tire Society volunteers rebuilt miles of mountain biking trails after Tropical Storm Michael devastated segments our trail system in the fall. • UNCG and the Junior League of Greensboro enhanced Smith Community Park by developing a new social space. • Upgraded the ftness room at Peeler Recreation Center and Lindley Boxing Club. • Installed new windscreen aroundWindsor Pool. • Approved Smith Community Park Master Plan. • Increased programming for the ECO bus with the addition of dedicated environmental educators. • Added new AIR programming to include Gate City Wheelers, Greensboro’s only wheelchair basketball team. • Served over 600 youth through music outreach to the pediatric unit at Cone Behavioral Health. • Planted 50 new memorial and honor trees throughout the community. • Started construction on the Gateway Gardens Visitor’s Center and installed stone boulders on the facade. • Constructed additional yellow locust fencing sections at the Old Mill at Tanger Family Bicentennial Garden. • Planted 41 new trees in Kings Forest Park. • Completed accessible bathroom renovations at Glenwood Recreation Center.

Reimagining Our Parks

The Instagram-worthy illustrations of an imagined future Country Park sparked the community’s curiosity when they debuted last spring. The Battleground Parks District – a joint tourism venture with upward of 2 million visitors a year -- is starting to take shape. With it, Parks and Recreation facilities within the district will be reimagined as well. In the last year, a City-hired consultant has worked with the nonproft Greensboro Science Center on conceptual designs for the busy border area between Country Park and the center. This summer, the new Greensboro Rotary Club Carousel opens there. The consultant envisioned what else would complement the shared space, like wide, inviting boardwalks, a treehouse for kids, a zipline, and an amphitheater. It will build upon the $15-18 million expansion at the science center, which includes a Mayalan tiger breeding center. “It all kind of works hand-in-hand,” Glenn Dobrogosz, CEO of the Greensboro Science Center, told the News & Record. “Drawing in just that focal point of what’s unique to Greensboro — our history, our science, our people, our culture, our art — all that comes together in a beautiful 400-acre piece of land.”

The next step, scheduled to being in 2020, is development of schematic designs and prioritizing which elements to build frst. Key features might be bathrooms, new play equipment, and additional picnic shelters. Parks and Recreation’s planners are also in the process of creating a new master plan for the Spencer Love Tennis Center, another key tourist destination in the Battleground Parks District. The tennis center will get 12 new courts.

expand As part of our Plan2Play master plan, Greensboro Parks and Recreation is working to expand oferings by strengthening partnerships and creating transformational programs.

Key Accomplishments

• Continued expansion of the grass and pollinator garden in the Greensboro Arboretum. • Developed a new private family columbarium section in Forest Lawn Cemetery. • Recruited and hired a fulltime community garden coordinator to improve gardening access and education. • Added ftness equipment and oferings at Henry Street and Steelman parks. • Expanded athletic oferings for youth with Start Smart Sports including baseball, football, and basketball. • Expanded aquatics with Swim Fanatics Swim Club ofering additional programs such as swim teams, swim lessons, and water ftness. • Expanded E.N.E.R.G.Y. at the Park to include Rosewood Park. • Expanded senior programming to include TaiRoGa and ukulele classes. • Programming expanded for all recreation center summer camps to learn about environmental education and outdoor adventure at Lake Higgins. • Expanded Challenger Sports Series with the addition of basketball. • Expanded music outreach into additional schools and Cone Health to hold therapeutic drumming classes for community members with Parkinson’s disease. • Began operations in the Barber Park Event Center hosting more than 100 events. • Helped develop a city wide policy and inventory management for Public Art in Greensboro. • Hosted frst Annual Drone Rodeo at Gateway Gardens. • Created additional environmental education and outdoor adventure programming for recreation center summer camp participants at Lake Higgins. • Added basketball to the Challenger Sports series.

Exploring Your Own Backyard

Throughout the week, Parks and Recreation staf guided students through outdoor educational workshops and provided time for students to learn more about each facility through direct interaction. Some kids had never been to camp. None of them had ever been sailing before. This experience was particularly impactful on one for the students, who returned to Lake Townsend after the camp and went to a sailing event. All the students left camp knowing more about all the nature they can experience and fun they can have in their hometown. One student said she “didn’t want camp to be over,” Graves said.

For a group of Jackson Middle School students, spring break 2019 was flled with a lot of frsts. First time shooting an arrow. First time paddling a kayak. First time hiking through the woods. Seventeen students were part of our pilot Youth Explorer’s Camp, an opportunity for teenagers to experience Greensboro Parks and Recreation’s lakes, regional parks, and unique facilities like the Ruth Wicker Tribute to Women. Parks and Recreation’s Youth Services section collaborated with Communities in Schools to ofer the free program to seventh and eighth grade students. Youth Explorer’s Camp was inspired by teens from the Teen Engagement Program at Jackson Middle school, who said they wanted more opportunities to get outdoors. “The camp overall was an amazing experience. The campers thoroughly enjoyed themselves,” said Eric Graves, a recreation assistant who helped organize the camp. “More specifcally they got the opportunity to do things they have never done.”

AFunOutdoorSpringBreakExperience! April 22 - 26, 2019 TheYouthCampersWillBeExploring&LearningAboutSomeof LAKES: Greensboro’sMostUniqueParksandLakes!

Lake Brandt Lake Higgins Lake Townsend

PARKS: Country P Keeley P Hester P Barber P

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connect As part of our Plan2Play master plan, Greensboro Parks and Recreation is working to connect communities with a vibrant, healthy, and equitable park system through ongoing public input and engagement.

Key Accomplishments • Planning and Development partnered with the Fire Department to install rescue marker signs on watershed trails and educate the public about trail safety. • Designed and installed new Battleground Park District map and signage connecting the Science Center, Country Park, and the National Military Park. • Created opportunities for the Bog Garden Plant Committee to connect their passion for native plants by teaching volunteers at the Bog Garden and the Bird, Bee, and Butterfy Garden at Woven Works Park. • Continued the PGA HOPE program for veterans at Gillespie Golf Course. • Held a “Hearts & Rec” retreat for Recreation Center Staf. As part of the retreat, staf participated in an interactive presentation about Plan2Play and their role in creating community hearts throughout Greensboro. • Hosted the Carolina Model Railroaders Annual Train Show at Lewis Recreation Center. • Installed three new garden beds in the club garden at Smith Senior Center through a volunteer Eagle Scout project. • Sponsored “Growing the Green Way” seasonal horticulture education classes in partnership with the Master Gardener Volunteers of Guilford County. • Provided free exhibition space in the Atrium of the Greensboro Cultural Center for visiting public art exhibitions. • Established new Ofce of Community Engagement to better connect and engage with our community and partners, build our department brand and outreach, and establish ongoing sponsorship and volunteer opportunities. • Held Community Conversation at Al Lowe Boxing Center in December to gather public input regarding possible facility improvements, new amenities, equipment, or programs. • Held Summer Camp Fair for residents to learn about summer camp opportunities available through Parks and Recreation, and help establish easy, on-site registration.

Honoring theWomen that Made Greensboro Great

Parks and Recreation Planning and Project Development worked with a team of residents to choose 31 women to honor at the Ruth Wicker Tribute to Women, a frst-of-its- kind in North Carolina interactive exhibition dedicated to the contributions of women. It opened in January 2019 at the new Barber Park Event Center. This project has received statewide recognition. Since its opening, the space is quickly becoming the must have meeting and event space in the community. In February 2019, City staf along with one of the honorees, A. Jean Jackson, the City’s frst female athletics’ director, were interviewed by Frank Statsio on WUNC’s The

State of Things. In that show, honoree, Jean Jackson, talked about her contributions to Greensboro. “What I wanted to accomplish was to make sure that everything was equal across the board. So I tried to make sure that not only women — but women too —would have space, ofcials, and the same types of activities that everybody else did,” Jackson said. The tribute space and the new event center are now busy additions to Barber Park, hosting regular community events and meetings.

Thank you to our many major sponsors and partners who have supported Greensboro Parks & Recreation within the last year.

Next to Nature Landscape Design Out of the Garden Project Pennybyrn Proehlifc Park Qorvo Regional Land Surveyors Richard A. Allen Rotary Clubs of Greensboro, Inc. Salvation Army Boys & Girls Clubs of Greensboro Second Harvest Food Bank of NW NC Shift NC Stacy Black Becher Steven B. Tanger Summit Rotary Susan & Joe Nehmen T. Gilbert Pearson Audubon Society Taco Mama The Arc of Greensboro The Christman Company Triad Foot and Ankle Center

JimWestmoreland Jordan & Marcie Pantzer Joseph M. Bryan Foundation Joseph M. Bryan Jr. Josh & Maria Rich Junior League of Greensboro Just One Foundation Kathy Lynn Cross LifeStorage Madelyn Meyers Martha and Spencer Love Foundation Master Gardener Volunteers of Guilford County Melton Family & Lagesse Family Moore Music Company Morrisette Paper Company Mr. & Mrs. Marc Bush National Forum for Black Public Administrators National Recreation & Park Association Natty Greene’s NC A&T State University NC Cooperative Extension at Guilford County NC Land andWater Conservation Fund NC Native Plant Society NC 811 NC Recreation & Park Association New Garden Landscaping & Nursery

Gary & Patty Brown Girl Scouts, Carolina Peaks to Piedmont Greensboro College Greensboro Convention & Visitors Bureau Greensboro Downtown Parks, Inc. Greensboro Elks Lodge Greensboro Farmers Market, Inc. Greensboro Public Library Greensboro Regional Realtors Association, Inc. Greensboro Regional Tennis Association Greensboro Running Club Greensboro Science Center Greensboro Sports Foundation Greensboro Streetballers Greensboro Tennis Foundation Greensboro Tennis Program Greensboro United Soccer Association Guilford County Schools Guilford Garden Center Guilford Horticultural Society Hayes-Taylor YMCA HUMANA James & Melinda Ogburn James M. Torrey

ACC Action Greensboro

Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. - Sigma Kappa Omega Chapter ArtsGreensboro BB&T Becca Pritchard Brooks Pierce Brown Investment Properties Carolina Panthers Chick-fl-A Cone Health Foundation Curry CPA, PLLC Davey Tree Expert Company David & Linda Kinne Designature, Randal Scott Romie, ASLA Dicks Sporting Goods Downtown Greensboro, Inc. Dr. & Mrs. John E. Chandler, III Dr. & Mrs. Joseph B. Mullin Drama Center Booster Club Duke Energy Carolinas Fat Tire Society First Tee of the Triad FOX8 WHGP TV Foundation for the Carolinas – Carolina Panthers Challenger League Grant Fresh Empire Friends of Green Hill Cemetery Gail E. Gassen

UNC-Greensboro Urban Ofsets, Inc. VF Corporation

Weaver Foundation, Inc. White Oak Amphitheatre WhiteStone

Jason & Amy Black Jerri Linn Phillips

Additional support for Parks & Recreation facilities, programs, and services is secured and provided by the following key non-proft support agencies: