Community foundations open new vistas through accessible recreation projects

Most people with disabilities are not born with them; 4 out of 5 become disabled after adolescence.

Community foundation executive Lynn Borg paints a dramatic scene to inspire team members working on an accessible recreation project in St. Clair, Michigan.

The Vice President of the Community Foundation of St. Clair asks her co-workers to envision a school-age girl on a beach outing with friends. Her buddies gambol in the sand and water, as kids their age have done for generations when warm summer days intersect with sun and sand. But the girl uses a wheelchair, and she can only watch, because her access to the beach ends where hard ground meets sand.

"To us, that's what our Access to Recreation project means," says Borg. "It means all the people in our community being able to take advantage of all the recreation that's available."

St. Clair is one of a growing number of community foundations improving the quality of life in their cities and counties by initiating projects that dramatically expand recreational opportunities for people with disabilities. Foundations in Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, and Illinois are participating in 22 projects made possible, in part, through a $15 million grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

Called Access to Recreation, the grant offers matching funds to communities that initiate new projects or renovate existing facilities, making them inviting to everyone, including those with mobility limitations, and visual, hearing, and cognitive disabilities. The projects provide new recreational opportunities to significant numbers of people, and a growing section of American society. Equally important, they're opening eyes toward the nearly limitless possibilities of creating communities that accommodate the abilities of all citizens, rather than setting some apart by treating them differently.

The grants are issued through the Midwest Community Foundations' Ventures (MCFV), a collaborative effort of community organizations in a four-state area. Executive Director Donnell Mersereau says the Access to Recreation grants are designed in a unique way that takes advantage of things community foundations do best, such as convening diverse groups within communities and building endowments.

The projects funded through the Access to Recreation grant are diverse and imaginative, and include such things as playgrounds, swimming pools, nature trails, park camps, nature blinds, and even a tree house that's accessible to people of all abilities. All share one critical feature. They incorporate principles of universal design that avoid unintended "equal-but-separate" consequences of the Americans with Disabilities Act and other regulations.

Universal design uses a set of principles, rather than regulations, to create places enjoyed in the same manner by as many people as possible: No separate access points for those who use wheelchairs or walkers. Trails that are wide enough, level enough, and stable enough for everyone to use. Features that are attractive to, and used and enjoyed by, people of varying abilities.

In Ohio, the Dayton Foundation is partnering with the City of Kettering and others on a new environmental learning center. In a process replicated by all grant recipients, the foundation went about ensuring the center would be accessible to everyone by involving a wide population of people with varying disabilities. "We involved eight different organizations who were service providers, and also made sure we included individuals who were served by those organizations," says Joe Baldosare, vice president of development for the Dayton Foundation. "We wanted to make sure we got ideas and input from the organizations, but most importantly, we wanted input from people with disabilities."

The value of this approach goes far beyond the project itself. "Our particular project allows us as a community, together, to offer new recreational opportunities we otherwise wouldn't be able to offer," says Dayton Foundation President Michael Parks. "Beyond that, the project is very collaborative and has brought lots of organizations together. In addition, the leverage in bringing new resources to our community has been wonderful."

In Michigan, the Community Foundation of St. Clair is working with local partners on three projects made possible by an Access to Recreation grant. Borg says those are just the beginning. "We're holding a number of public convenings where we're bringing together members of the community to talk about the importance of access to recreation in general, on a bigger level," says Borg. "The idea really is to raise the level of the consciousness of the community about what is universal design, why this type of access to recreation is so important to the community at large, and, potentially, do other things once these projects are completed."

The Harrison County (Indiana) Community Foundation is collaborating with O'Bannon State Park and the county parks department on several park improvements made possible by an Access to Recreation matching grant. They include new accessible cabins, fishing docks and trails, a wildlife-viewing blind, and interpretive signing at key locations. Community Foundation Executive Director Steve Gilliland says the process of involving people with a wide range of disabilities from the beginning has been as beneficial as the project itself.

"Just having conversations about accessibility to recreation or anything else, it became very quickly such a no-brainer simply because there was a little bit of awareness thrown out there at us," says Gilliland. "And, it's carrying over to other grants we're making. I was delighted recently when one of my grants committee people asked, 'Well, is this thing accessible?' It was like almost natural for someone to ask that question."

The MCFV's Mersereau finds that spillover effect one of the endearing features of the Access to Recreation grant program. "You know, here's some money for you to start thinking about accessibility in recreation in your backyard," she says. "Immediately, everybody thinks about a playground and then they begin the learning process and it expands dramatically to all sorts of recreation challenges."

Project participants say Access to Recreation has also expanded their understanding of the very scope of the population being addressed. People with disabilities include those who use wheelchairs or walkers, people with visual or hearing disabilities, and those with cognitive disorders, among others.

In fact, nearly all of us at some time will experience a permanent or temporary disability. "Accessibility is an issue for a lot of seniors," says Gilliland. "You know, grannies and grandpas who want to take their kids to the state park have trouble getting around. It is a community issue because, sooner or later, God willing, we will all get to that point where getting around is a little tougher."

The Dayton Foundation's Joe Baldosare agrees. "We're all only temporarily able-bodied," he says. "A lot of elderly parents use a cane or a walker, and while they could maybe walk a mile trail, having resting points along the way would be real critical to their being able to enjoy a mile-long trail."

Aging veterans and soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan also benefit from accessible recreational opportunities. At a public hearing in Harrison County, the accessible fishing dock got enthusiastic support from a veteran whose leg had recently been amputated. "He talked about how he would like to continue to go fishing and to take his grandson fishing, but he couldn't do that right now because there weren't these kinds of facilities," says Gilliland. "He thought it was going to be great, not just for himself but for other aging veterans and veterans returning from recent wars." In Indiana, the six community foundations that have received Kellogg Foundation grants are part of a statewide advisory committee organized around accessibility issues. Gilliland says one item on his agenda will be to encourage all funding agencies to look for accessibility in all grant proposals that cross their desks, perhaps adding points to projects that address accessibility in their funding applications.

A community foundation executive in Ohio looks forward to the time when accessibility for all people will no longer be an issue. "I still look at one sign in the middle of our downtown that rubs me the wrong way," he says. "It says, 'Handicap accessible. Enter through the garage.' I look forward to the day when there's no need for any of those signs."

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