The Parks, Culture and Recreation departments in municipalities have a responsibility to support the growth and meet community needs through programming, facility creation, and funding and financial support. This requires recreation professionals to be adaptable, receptive and perceptive to an oftentimes rapidly changing community. Furthermore, beyond patrons attending programming, recreation professionals need to critically reflect on who they are not seeing and not reaching through their programming.This paper investigates this topic through a research question developed as part of the RECR 4400 course. This research question has been created based on the researchers personal mission and values, the organization’s identified priorities, and the topics potential to have a measurable impact on the field of recreation. This paper begins by providing background around the topic and provides context around the topic within the organization. The literature review further explores of the existing literature around the topic and outlines common themes, challenges, and limitations in the research. The primary research plan and methodology is then described, building on elements identified in the literature. The data is then analyzed in the finding section, highlighting emerging themes in the research. Lastly, from the findings several recommendations are made to the sponsoring organization.
