Simple presentation for a potential partnership between the University of Maryland and Prince George's County Parks and Recreation Department. Created as part of a final thesis project at the University of Maryland.
1. UM-PARKS
A PA R T N E R S H I P P R O P O S A L BY
S H A L I A H G E O R G E
2. OVERVIEW
• The PG Parks vision:
– “To provide stewardship of our county's natural, cultural, and historical resources
– To foster the need of our citizens for recreational pursuits in a leisure environment
– To provide the highest standard of excellence in public service through cooperative
partnership with our diverse community”
• The PG Parks role (to the county):
– To inspire appreciation and admiration amongst residents for the county
– To give residents a stake in the well being of the county
– To keep residents happy and content living in PG County
3. CURRENT ISSUES/GOALS
• Issues:
– students don’t gel with the PG community
– young people move away right after college
– only 31.5% of PG residents 25+ with a bachelor’s degree
• Goals:
– integrate students with the residential community
– keep young living and working in PG county after graduation
– drive economic activity, boost county prosperity
4. SOLUTION
• Build community and county prosperity via UM-Parks
– allows students to take part in recreational activities that strengthen their
appreciation of the outdoors, the arts, PG culture, and the county’s resources
– makes students feel welcome and attached to the community
– exposes a powerful demographic to the arts/parks/recreation economy
• Long term outcome:
– students turn into young professionals who are more likely to consider staying in
PG County to live and work (and spend their money)
5. ABOUT UM-PARKS
• Partnership between PG Parks and the University of Maryland
• Gives students free access to local parks and recreational activities on a regular basis
– museums, nature sites, parks, performances, galleries, etc.
• Brings recreational and learning activities to campus
– “Arts on a Roll” bus, lectures, workshops
• Opportunities for leadership and community service experience
– student ambassadors in charge of organizing participants and leading groups
– some activities may involve an element “giving back” (e.g. painting a mural)
• About 3 or 4 opportunities a month
• Transportation provided
– buses or carpooling setup (dependent on # of participants)
6.
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9. #EXPLOREPG CAMPAIGN
• Aims to creatively inform and persuade UMD students to participate
in the UM-Parks program
• Spans three types of media
– physical, digital, and social
• Has a dynamic, engaging, free persona
12. SOCIAL MEDIA
• Focus on Twitter to encourage interaction with young people
• Sample tweets:
– “Join UM-Parks for free weekly trips, workshops, and access to awesome PG facilities and
services! We want to help you #explorePG!”
– “Show us how you #explorePG! Quote this tweet with your favorite recreational activity to
do in PG! Get creative! ”
– “Get involved in the PG recreation scene, terps! Let us show you how to wind down, let
loose, or learn something new in PG County! Visit pgparks.com/umparks for more info!”
– “Know a lot about PG County? Want to be a bridge for UMD students and the greater PG
community? Apply to be a student ambassador for @UMParks today! Help us help students
#explorePG!”
13. SUMMATION
• UM-Parks would benefit all parties involved
– Build a reputation and following for PG Parks
– Enhance student life for UMD students
– Boost prosperity for PG County-benefits all around
• UMD is ready to #ExplorePG!
Editor's Notes
But currently UMD students don’t quite mesh with the PG community, young people move away from the area after college, and the county could always use an economic pick-me-up
It’s not that current residents don’t appreciate or admire the county already, or that residents aren’t happy and content to live here, but by turning the county into a destination we can boost all this tenfold
To broaden the reach of the PG County Department of Parks and Recreation (PG Parks), there needs to be a conscious effort led to engage with college students of PG County. Being that there are two universities and a top-tier community college located in the county, there is, not surprisingly, a large population of college-aged residents. This demographic of students generally aged 18-25 is an essential driver of economic growth and prosperity, since these individuals’ decisions to leave or stay in the county to work and live can carry a lot of weight.
One way for PG County as a whole to inspire these young people to stay and invest in the county is through exposing them to all of the good that PG has to offer. Connecting students and the PG County community at large would foster a sense of belonging and pride on all accounts, and will enhance overall community bonds. That’s where the UM-Parks partnership comes in; it will connect UMD students with PG Parks and provide students access to great services, facilities, activities, and programs to help them explore PG’s natural, historical, and cultural assets.
-promotes everything pg parks stands for, while also benefitting the greater longevity of the county
-breathes life into an often-deprived area of the economy (the arts), which in turn makes places more hip and attracts more economic activity
-fond experiences make students feel welcomed and more inclined to support in the future, either by staying involved after college, living in pg, working in pg, or otherwise giving money/ time/energy to developing pg parks’ initiatives like the arts, nature, etc
-without it, students will grow in to young professionals with no incentive to stay in pg county to live or work
Essentially a glorified field trip program
-arts and performances
-historical sites (Montpellier mansion, fort Washington park)
-museums (NASA Goddard center, college park aviation, natl cryptologic museum)
-nature (brookside gardens/brookside nature center, Kenilworth aquatic gardens)
-theme parks (six flags, dinosaur park)
-and of course, parks (glen echo park)
-group activities (horseback riding,
-workshops, lectures, etc on campus
-campus art bus
Student leadership means we don’t have to micromanage the whole program, it can kind of run itself once implemented
-Focus on graphics and short blurbs of text to appeal to younger audiences who are used to that
-Maintain ambiguity in brand persona to attract as many students as possible (because it’s for everyone we don’t want to be too specific about anything)
Flyers: this is a fancy flyer, but can be adapted for outdoor and drop off purposes (hanging up outside, bulletins, leaving stacks to take)
Postcard: preferably in a gloss finish and given at more important junctions (classrooms, bulletins, events)
Stickers: don’t want to get too clunky with physical merch; incentivize; for special use (first # of people to sign up, coming to an event, etc.); makes the campaign more mobile and personable if students are our billboards (laptops, water bottles, etc.)
Take-a-piece: for outdoor use
-Simple and bold, to catch the scroller’s attention
-Gifs to add an element of interest and dynamism
-Basic template to allow for several riffs off of the essential design; will keep brand from feeling too canned (dynamic and fun), yet consistent