City to Use Non-profit Groups to Staff Rec. and Park Centers

By Carol Dimmick

Over the next five years the SF Recreation and Park Department will enter into partnerships with nonprofits to run programs in as many as 25 recreation centers throughout the city, according to a top official with the department.

"It's going to require a little acceptance and change. The common goal is to keep programs," said Dan McKenna, a superintendent for the Recreation and Park Department.

Although a small pilot program is planned for the next fiscal year, McKenna, who is currently working with several interested nonprofits, says the department's goal is to replace the equivalent of one-to-two full time staff at recreation centers. He said the partnerships will save $75,000 at each center.

The pilot program is part of an effort to stem the financial bleeding after SF Mayor Willie Brown Jr. trimmed almost $10 million from the department's 2003-2004 budget, forcing layoffs in staff and reductions in programming at recreation centers.

The blow hit the department just as it was recovering from years of budget cuts and low employee morale. Privately, officials concede that the weak economy is expected to continue for the foreseeable future and they say partnerships with nonprofits may be the only way to keep recreation centers open.

In addition to the current round of staff cuts, staffing woes are expected to compound as new recreation centers and parks are built as a result of a $400 million Capital Improvement Plan approved by voters in 2000.

Elizabeth Goldstein, general manager for the Recreation and Park Department, recently confirmed that she does not have enough staff for a new clubhouse at Visitacion Valley or a new park in the Mission District.

"We have a diminishing work force. The issue is how we continue to provide a rich program with a diminished staff," she said.

Pilot Program Based on Seattle Model
Forced to look for creative ways to keep costs down, a program started by the Recreation and Park Department in Seattle, Washington caught Goldstein's attention last year.

In effect, the Seattle model turns recreation centers into revenue centers by empowering neighborhood-based nonprofits called Advisory Councils (ACs) to determine programming, hire part-time staff and collect fees through agreements signed with the city.

In 1976 the City of Seattle formalized a working relationship with a nonprofit called the Associated Recreation Council (ARC) to provide a standardized accounting system for the neighborhood-based councils. ARC takes a small percentage of the fees it generates from grants and fundraising to pay for its overhead.

"ARC is an important piece for the partnership to remain healthy and for the public to have trust in the system," said Bill Keller, ARC's executive director.

Today ARC is the recreation program in Seattle. ARC's budget has grown from $200,000 in 1976 to $8 million annually and it has 37 affiliated councils and 2,200 employees under its umbrella organization.

Pilot Program Debuts at Dubois Park Rec Center
The SF Recreation and Park Department is currently in negotiations with Friends of Dubois Park, a nonprofit organization that raised $250,000 to renovate the playground two years ago, to launch a series of new programs at the Harvey Milk Center for the Performing Arts, the park's recreation center.

Carol Maxwell, president of the organization, said her group conducted a needs assessment and determined that the neighborhood would support a program of yoga classes, history lectures and movie nights at the recreation center.

Maxwell explained that her group began to take a more active interest in programming after a series of youth-driven crime waves hit the community about two years ago.

"We were looking for ways, at no cost, that we could get more recreation programming. It was a magic moment when our hopes and theirs collided," Maxwell said.

While McKenna confirmed he is currently in negotiations with Maxwell, he declined to talk about other groups the department is considering to begin pilot programs with because of what he called the "fear factor."

"They are going to need a lot of support. We are going to be feeling our way this first year and see how it grows," he said.

The department's plan is to launch the pilot program at Dubois Park in July or August, sign a partnership agreement with an umbrella organization and then focus on getting a second pilot program up and running at a recreation center in January, according to McKenna.

Opposition Grows From Union Workers Who Fear Loss of Jobs

Concerns about the pilot program are beginning to surface from department employees, some of whom do not believe that Goldstein or her successor will continue to expand the program in the future.

"Goldstein is trying to find a way to balance her budget on the backs of workers. My concern is that the program will displace union employees. Once you open Pandora's Box, it is not going to close," said Floyd Ray, a shop steward with SEIU, Local 790 and a director at two recreation centers.

Others question the department's ability to launch an ambitious new program at a time when it lacks staff and start-up funds.

"They are not in a position to take on that kind of job. The infrastructure has to be set up and that takes money. It's going to take some money to save some money," said Isabel Wade, executive director of the Neighborhood Parks Council, a nonprofit that trains volunteers to work in the department's Natural Areas Program.

But McKenna believes the public will support the program and will step up to the plate.

"I think there is so much interest in our parks that I think the word is out that the department has cut more than it can absorb. People are ready to step up to the plate," he said.