Advancing Park Equity Through Needs Assessments

In partnership with Prevention Institute, City Parks Alliance recently hosted a webinar about park equity and collaboration. Specifically, this webinar focused on the Los Angeles Countywide Parks Needs Assessment, including its purpose and scope, data collection methods, and targeted community engagement process in park-poor neighborhoods and low-income and diverse communities.

The session was moderated by Grace Cotangco, Program Manager with Prevention Institute, and included the following speakers:

• Norma García-González, Director of the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation
• Francisco Romero, Program Manager, Prevention Institute
• Manuel Carrillo Jr., Director of Recreation and Community Services, City of Baldwin Park

In their presentations, the speakers discussed both the 2016 Parks Needs Assessment (PNA) and the 2022 Parks Needs Assessment Plus (PNA+). Unprecedented in scope and scale, the PNA is a comprehensive study of the diverse parks and recreation facilities throughout Los Angeles County’s cities and unincorporated communities. Prepared by the L.A. County Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR), the PNA gathered data to determine the scope, scale, and location of park need in Los Angeles County. Since its completion in 2016, the PNA has been invaluable in informing planning, decision-making, and resource allocation for parks and recreation.

In 2022, DPR completed the PNA+ which complements and offers new information not previously included in the 2016 PNA. Specifically, PNA+ includes data about access to regional parks, open space, trails, beaches and lakes, and local parks in rural areas, as well as mapping and analyses related to population vulnerability, environmental benefits, environmental burdens, and priority areas for environmental conservation, environmental restoration, regional recreation, and rural recreation.