Study: Investing in outreach can make park users more active

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Researchers looked at 50 parks across Los Angeles. Two-thirds of the parks received outreach training and $4,000 apiece to improve communication about their services. 


While that might not seem very high, researchers said any increase goes against the current trend.

"The trend is that park use and physical activity is going down, and when we do these kinds of interventions, we can stop that decline and maybe even increase slightly the amount of physical activity in parks," said Deborah Cohen, the study's lead author. 

The parks were largely free to use the funds as they wanted. Most of the money went to improving signage, including things like banners, bulletin boards, floor mats, staff shirts and walking path signs. Other money was spent on promotional incentives and hiring group activity instructors. 

The biggest increase in activity was in non-Hispanic white youth who were already using the parks. 

Researchers said the increases were also notable because they occurred during a time that park budgets were seeing big cuts.

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