Executive Summary

On Thursday, October 18, at The 2018 SHIFT Festival, SHIFT’s third annual State Offices of Outdoor Recreation Workshop developed the three points related to Public Health and Wellness that were articulated in the Confluence Accords:

• Address social determinants of health by increasing outdoor recreation opportunities for people of all backgrounds and abilities
• Partner with health and wellness stakeholders to determine shared values and common goals, build relationships, and generate innovative partnerships to fulfill shared visions
• Assist in quantifying impacts of access to outdoor recreation and related social determinants on healthcare outcomes and costs

The Workshop, which was presented by the Colorado Outdoor Recreation Industry Office, was informed by that office’s Outdoor Recreation and Health Collaborative as well as initiatives and developments from other states with outdoor recreation leadership positions. Its objectives were to:

• Provide participants with strategies for achieving the Public Health and Wellness goals outlined in the Accords
• Provide current offices with tools for incorporating and promoting public health and wellness objectives in their states
• Provide states that have yet to create offices with ways to use public health to advance their case for office creation

Common themes and highlights that emerged from the workshop were then developed by SHIFT into the following Key Recommendations:

• Aggregate and share data: While empirical evidence that establishes causation between outdoor recreation and positive health outcomes exists, it is fragmented, siloed, and insufficient for widespread adoption by the health care community, the public and policy makers alike. All participants supported the idea of aggregating and sharing data on the connection between outdoor recreation and health and making it available across states, sectors and industries.
  • Recommendation: Adopt the Confluence of States website as a central repository for data aggregation and sharing to help address the data gap.

• Emphasize the health benefits, and in particular the health care costs savings, of outdoor recreation: Framing the health benefits of outdoor recreation message in economic terms, for example in terms of deferred health care costs, creates a powerful, bipartisan argument for the advancement of public-health-related outdoor recreation priorities.
  • Recommendation: Use examples such as the 2019 Oregon Parks and Recreation Department report that noted that “Oregonian’s participation in outdoor recreation activities saves the state $1.4 billion annually in healthcare costs” as best-practice frameworks for policies, programs and initiatives related to outdoor recreation

• Collaborate across sectors with natural allies: Workshop participants agreed on many of the key allies that state offices of outdoor recreation should be working with, noting the potential of cross-sector collaboration to achieve outcomes that outdoor recreation leaders would not be able to achieve alone.
  • Recommendation: Adopt Colorado’s “Outdoor Rx” model for the development of cross-sector collaborations with partners in health care, transportation, parks and recreation departments and other agencies to advance programmatic and funding opportunities

• Consolidate park prescription programs with a unified platform. Park prescription programs are proliferating across the country. Adopting a single platform, particularly one that is already in widespread use, will allow for the consolidation of both prescription platforms and the evidence for the public health benefits of time spent outside.
  • Recommendation: Adopt the Parks Rx America database as the national platform for parks prescriptions

• Invest disproportionately in under-resourced communities to insure access to outdoor recreation is inclusive and equitable: Health disparities and inequities often are correlated with such factors as limited access to and low quality of available public spaces, as well as lesser degrees of representation and participation in the process of shaping and maintaining public spaces. Planning for outdoor recreation must especially address underresourced communities, where obesity and related health risks are greatest and resources least available.
  • Recommendation: Follow The National Recreation and Park Association’s guidelines for improving equitable access to public lands:
    • Develop metrics for measuring equity of access, and prioritize expanding access for disadvantaged communities
    • Collaborate with organizations that have experience working with low-income communities and communities of color. Leverage their expertise and existing community relationships to amplify strategies for improving social equity
    • Engage residents and local leaders from underserved communities to ensure that policies and practices are addressing their unique barriers

• Executive Summary
• Background
• How State Offices are Organized and Structured
• Panel Discussion
• Breakout Discussions
  • 1. Addressing Social Determinants of Health through Outdoor Recreation
  • 2. Partnerships with Health and Wellness Stakeholders
  • 3. Quantify Impacts of Outdoor Recreation on Healthcare Outcomes and Costs
• Potential Opposition