Over time, the Eppley Institute for Parks and Public Lands (Eppley) has frequently been asked to provide suggestions and referrals to various agencies who struggle with planning for, adequately funding, and providing individual career advice to employees through strategic training and development. As more and more requests for assistance and training were received, it became clear that the current approaches being used by agencies were not be adequately providing effective professional development training.

As a result, the Eppley Institute investigated trends and possible solutions to the ongoing agency requests for training advice and assistance. Initial research found that training and development strategy and practices are highly desired by most park, recreation, and public land organizations, but the organizations rarely have the expertise and resources to comprehensively develop an employee (and volunteer) learning and development system. It seems that for many agencies, having a systematic approach to training, and business practices in place was the lowest priority.

To better understand the challenges facing agencies in implementing successful staff learning and development systems, the Eppley Institute sought to meet with leaders of park and recreation agencies across the nation in a series of listening sessions. The ultimate goal in this effort was to inform agencies of the challenge, and eventually to develop systems that agencies could adopt for enhanced employee learning.

Download the full report: Training & Development Trends in Select U.S. Park and Recreation Agencies.