Benefits OnlineBenefits Online1997 Benefits of Parks and Recreation Catalogue
Marketing Message 1:Recreation and active living are ESSENTIAL TO PERSONAL HEALTH - a key determinant of health status!
1.1 Recreation and active living helps people live longer - adding up to two years to life expectancy
1.2 Recreation and active living prolongs independent living for seniors by compressing the disease and impairment period typically associated with aging - keeping seniors vital and involved in community life.
1.3 Recreation, fitness, sports, and active living significantly reduces the risk of coronary heart disease and stroke - the leading cause of death in Canada
1.4 Recreation, fitness, sports, and active living combats osteoporosis - affecting 25% of postmenopausal women.
1.5 Recreation, fitness, sports, and active living combats diabetes - the fourth ranking killer disease (after heart disease, cancer, and respiratory disease).
1.6 Recreation, fitness, sports and active living has been shown to help in preventing site specific cancers - particularly in the colon, breast and lungs.
1.7 Recreation, fitness, sports, and active living help prevent and rehabilitate back problems - affecting 25% of adults.
1.8 Recreation, fitness, sports, active living, parks and arts/culture all contribute to mental health - reducing stress, reducing depression, and contributing to emotional/psychological well-being.
1.9 Recreation, fitness, sports, active living, parks and arts/culture all enhance overall health and well-being - critical to personal quality of life.
1.10 Recreation is a proven therapeutic tool utilized in hospitals, clinics and communities everywhere (physical recreation, sports, arts/culture) - helping to restore physical, mental and social capacities and abilities.
Marketing Message 2:Recreation is a key to HUMAN DEVELOPMENT - helping Canadians reach for their potential
2.1 Recreation is essential to the development of our children and youth:
2.2 Recreation provides the opportunity for adults to develop their full and holistic potential (physical, social creative, intellectual and spiritual) - work only does so much.
2.3 In a society where life-long learning is essential - recreation and adult leisure learning provides exceptional opportunities.
2.4 Parks and natural environments have great spiritual meaning for many - arts/culture is a significant way of exploring our spirtuality.
Marketing Message 3:Recreation and parks are essential to QUALITY OF LIFE
3.1 Recreation, sports, and arts/culture build self-esteem and positive self-image - foundations to personal quality of life.
3.2 Recreation, parks, fitness, sports, and arts/culture enhance life satisfaction levels.
3.3 Recreation, parks, sports, and arts/culture enhance perceived quality of life - for individuals, families, and communities.
3.4 Recreation, sports, and arts/culture nurtures growth, acquisition of life skills, and independent living for those with a disability.
Marketing Message 4: Recreation reduces self-destructive and ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR
4.1 Recreation, sports, and arts/culture reduce self-destructive behaviour and negative social activity in youth - an antidote to smoking, substance-abuse, suicide, and depression.
4.2 Recreation, sports, and arts/culture reduce crime - particularly effective with juvenile delinquents.
4.3 Recreation, sports, and arts/culture can reduce racism - building understanding between diverse cultures.
4.4 Recreation reduces isolation, loneliness, and alienation.
Marketing Message 5:Recreation and parks build STRONG FAMILIES and HEALTHY COMMUNITIES
5.1 Families that play together - stay together. Children and youth remail connected; couples that share leisure interests are more likely to stay together.
5.2 Recreation provides safe, developmental opportunities for the latch-key child.
5.3 Recreation, sports, and arts/culture produce leaders who serve their communities in many ways.
5.4 Recreation, sports, and arts/culture build social skills and stimulates participation in community life.
5.5 Recreation and parks are often the catalysts that build strong, self-sufficient communities (sports groups, arts guilds, adopt-a-park).
5.6 Culture helps people understand their neighbours, their history, and their environment.
5.7 Recreation, parks, sports, and arts/culture build pride in a community.
Marketing Message 6:PAY NOW or PAY LATER! Recreation reduces health care, social service and police/justice costs!
6.1 Fitness and well-being reduces both the incidence and severity of illness and disability - lowering healthcare costs.
6.2 Recreation supports families - reducing costs of social service intervention and foster care.
6.3 Recreation reduces crime and social dysfunction - reducing police, justice, and incarceration costs.
Marketing Message 7:Recreation and parks are significant ECONOMIC GENERATORS in your community!
7.1 Recreation, sports, and fitness improves work performance - increased productivity, decreased absenteeism, decreased staff turnover, reduced 'on the job' accidents.
7.2 Recreation, parks, and arts/culture attract businesses to the community - prime economic development and relocation magnets.
7.3 Recreation, parks, sports, and arts/culture are the attractions that draw tourism - the thrid largest and one of the fastest growing industries in the world today.
7.4 Recreation, parks, fitness, sports, and arts/culture are significant employment generators on their own - providing many jobs.
7.5 Small investments in recreation, parks, sports, and arts/culture often yield large economic returns - money generated by events, capital development, and provision of ongoing services is spent several times in the community (the multiplier effect).
7.6 Parks and open spaces increase property value, and therefore tax revenue, on adjacent - many developers are automatically including parkland, golf courses, etc. as marketing features.
Marketing Message 8:Parks, open space and natural areas are ESSENTIAL TO ECOLOGICAL SURVIVAL
8.1 Green spaces, protect habitat, biodiversity, and ecological integrity.
8.2 Green spaces improve air quality - removing carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide and other pollutants from the air.
8.3 Outdoor recreation is one of the best approaches to environmental education - a key to long term sustainability.
8.4 Protecting land from development (as open space) mitigates against potential environmental disaster - flooding, slip zones, aquifer depletion.
8.5 Trail and pathway systems save energy and protect air quality by enouraging non-motorized transportation.
8.6 Arts/culture is one of the best ways of expressing the spirtuality of the land, thereby encouraging stewardship ethics.
Go back to the Benefits Catalogue Main Page
© Copyright 1997
Canadian Parks/Recreation Association
1600 James Naismith Drive, Suite 306
Gloucester ON
Canada K1B 5N4
(613) 748-5651 (613) 748-5854
e-mail: cpra@activeliving.ca
www.activeliving.ca/activeliving/cpra.html
ISBN 0-919963-62-5
All rights reserved by the Canadian Parks/Recreation Association
