Tigard Community Recreation Committee (TCRC) is a not for profit committee of citizens with a goal of expanding city recreation opportunities for everyone. The committee is working on a plan to raise enough money to construct a community recreation facility in Tigard – run by the YMCA.
Why the YMCA? The YMCA has a 175-year history of operating more than 2,700 facilities, serving 45 million people worldwide, and there is no other community recreation builder that competes with cost and excellence of services, programs, activities and community engagement and outreach. Everyone regardless of age, economics and/or lifestyle orientation is welcome.
There are many reasons Tigard needs to expand community recreation opportunities for everyone.
Recreation saves lives just like police officers – but in different ways. It is true, when youth are provided safe and organized after-school activities of interest… juvenile theft, vandalism, drug use and other mischief decrease, while purposeful and productive lifestyles flourish. This can be validated through year-after-year police incident analysis, community health surveys and city recreation polls.
“While safety is important, it is usually not the main reason someone moves to a city.” … “Today we (parks and recreation] are everything from drowning prevention to after-school care for children, to the only social interaction a senior citizen might experience” [South University, 2019]. For many that use recreation facilities – these places provide not only social interaction, but a real sense of belonging to community through connections that bond people – in ways that’s good for developing cities.
“Regular engagement in physical activity is an essential component of healthy well-being aging. Physical activity improves physical function and provides social and mental health benefits that all contribute to improved quality of life for older adults” [NRPA, 2019]. “Recreation programs provide places for health and well-being that are accessible by persons of all ages and abilities, especially to those with disabilities” [NRPA, 2010].
For the sake of health and wellness justice – affordable health literacy education and recreational activity should be made available to everyone… not just the affluent.
“Throughout the nation young people are facing an obesity crisis. Today we are seeing too many diseases that were, not too long ago, rarely linked to young people (e.g., high blood pressure, diabetes, etc.) [Stanford, 2015]. Cities that fill recreation youth-gap activities K-12 schools no longer provide are more attractive to parents, active seniors and business looking to live active and productive lifestyles in safe places.
To learn more about TCRC, visit our
booth co-located with Tigard Turns the Tide (TTT) at the Tigard Street Fair September 7th, or our website at ymcacw.io/tigard.
