Philadelphia’s 4 Strategies for Cross-Sector Parks and Rec Collaboration
The Liberty Bell and Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Songquan Deng / Shutterstock.com
A strong policy framework and leadership are critical.
The city of Philadelphia has made a name for itself forging successful cross-agency and cross-sector partnerships in recent years, particularly when it comes to sustaining public spaces.
Back in December, the City of Brotherly Love hosted one of the National Recreation & Park Association Innovation Labs with the Knight Foundation.
The gathering of civic leaders sought to brainstorm ways parks & recreation departments could cut costs while better serving residents and visitors, identifying four strategies for collaboration.
“The best way to get collaboration across big city departments, big bureaucracies is to have a compelling idea that everyone has their mission aligned to,” Michael DiBerardinis, Philadelphia’s then-deputy mayor for environmental and community resources, said in a recently uploaded NRPA video. (DiBerardinis is now the city’s managing director under new Mayor Jim Kenney.)
Developing larger policy goals that unite agencies and resonate with the public was the first collaborative strategy.
Next those goals should be made into a framework with defined roles for greater accountability. In Philadelphia, that led to Parks and Recreation personnel working closer with the Water Department.
“So it’s really understanding and respecting the initiatives of your sister departments and going in with some ideas,” says Mark Focht, first deputy commissioner for parks and facilities, says in the video. “And it never hurts to go in with some money or some resources and say, ‘Here’s a possible project you want to collaborate.’”
Neither of the first two strategies do much good if leadership isn’t in place to approve employees’ good policy ideas while giving them space to act on them—a third strategy being appointing supportive management.
Lastly, lines of communication between departments and partners must remain open: “The opportunities that we see, the challenges that we’re facing, trying to figure out together where those gaps and opportunities are that we can design some new solutions around,” says Katherine Gajewski, sustainability director, in the video.
Dave Nyczepir is a News Editor at Government Executive’s Route Fifty.
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