Recreation and Parks / Announcements

Mayor’s Recreation Center Task Force Report 

Baltimore City Department of Recreation and Parks (BCRP) currently operates 55 recreation centers across the city. The majority of centers were constructed in the late 1960s and the early 1970s, when the city’s population was nearly double its current size. Now, 50 years later, many centers are in need of substantial capital repairs and are obsolete for providing today’s recreational services, which have significantly changed over the past five decades. The condition of the recreation centers, their staffing levels, current programming and future funding needed to be examined. As a result, in July 2010, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake convened a Mayor’s Recreation Center Task Force to address these issues.

The report below contains the multi-faceted findings of the Task Force Members, who took an analytical look at existing Baltimore City center models while also crafting a broad vision for a future center network. The key: developing a model based on current national-best practices, including center size, staffing and programming considerations, along with short- and long-term implementation goals.

The results of the Task Force are in three sections below —The Mayor’s Recreation Center Task Force Report; Recreation Center Task Force Implementation Plan; and a quick-read Recreation Centers Fact Sheet. BCRP will hold community meetings where center users and leaders will have an opportunity to ask questions, share concerns and develop ideas on future centers. Community meeting dates and locations will be determined in the near future.

Highlights of this report:

• Under this plan, all City recreation centers will remain open with current operating hours through summer/fall 2011. No recreation centers are planned to close this year;
• Under this plan, there will be no layoffs of existing recreation center staff;
• Rec center staffing and hours will be increased at most City centers;
• Baltimore City Recreation and Parks will appropriate over $14 million within the next two years to build new community centers and extensively renovate certain existing centers;
• The Department will implement charter center, collaboration and partnership programs at up to 25 existing centers.

The Task Force was comprised from a diverse group that included members of public, private and non-profit sectors, and City staff. The consulting firm AECOM, a global leader in design and strategic planning, also helped to facilitate the process to develop criteria for assessing the existing recreation centers.

• Task Force Report (8Mb)
• Recreation Center Implementation Plan (2Mb)
• Task Force Fact Sheet (1Mb)
• Request For Proposal (RFP) to solicit competitive offers for the management and operation of designated recreation centers for the Baltimore City Department of Recreation and Parks. If you are interested in further consideration, you must complete the RFP process. Read and follow directions carefully and submit your proposal by the deadline specified in the RFP. Submissions will not be accepted after the deadline.

Have more questions? Email us at BCRPgeninfo@baltimorecity.gov and put Task Force in the subject line.