What is READY2PLAY?

The Ready2Play Master Plan will develop a vision to guide the DC Department of Parks and Recreation for the next 20 years.

Together, we will envision the future of parks and recreation in the District of Columbia and will identify short, medium, and long term goals and strategies to get us to this vision.

Ready2Play will not be limited only to considering DPR owned or managed properties. Reminiscent of the former Capital Space plan, this effort aims to look holistically at all parks and recreational opportunities in the District of Columbia.

This means there will also be a focus on exploring and assessing the impact of National Park Services (NPS) and DC Public School (DCPS) parks and recreational facilities, as well as other spaces that are or could be made publicly accessible to meet the recreational needs of the community.

While DPR does not have jurisdiction over these spaces, we will take the findings and recommendations from this planning process to our partner agencies and work together to address the community needs identified.

One new ability that DPR now has is to enter into cooperative management agreements with NPS. Once an agreement is in place for a property, it will allow DPR to plan for and spend its capital budget to make improvements to NPS lands. These lands will then be shared spaces that both DPR and NPS will work together to program and maintain.

In the initial phase of the planning process, a needs assessment will be completed.

DPR will assess its inventory to look at gaps and new opportunities to improve level of service. DPR will also integrate NPS and DCPS properties into its assessment.

Staff will also research prevailing national and international trends in parks and recreation planning, design, and program implementation.

This plan will act as the guiding document for DPR's future investments and programming decisions. Through thorough analysis, facility condition assessments, public feedback, equity considerations, and recreation and leisure trends analysis, funding priorities will be identified.

This plan will also set the future framework and identify the specific short and medium term capital investments needed that will be used for future capital budgeting requests.

The final plan will identify specific actions for DPR to take that will get it closer to realizing the vision developed for the future of parks and recreation in Washington, D.C.

There will be short, medium, and long-term strategies identified in the plan and DPR will then work to implement these actions and publicly track and share its progress in doing so along the way.

It is anticipated that every 5 years, the plan will be revisited and updated as needed by changing times.

Questions?

If you have questions about the Ready2Play Master Plan, please check our FAQs.