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Building Capacity for Grant Success: Insights from Local Parks and Recreation Agencies in North Carolina.

Record Type:	Language materials, printed : Monograph/item
Title/Author:	Building Capacity for Grant Success: Insights from Local Parks and Recreation Agencies in North Carolina./
Author:	Smith, Kyle Edward.
Published:	Ann Arbor : ProQuest Dissertations & Theses, : 2019,
Description:	142 p.
Notes:	Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 81-07.
Contained By:	Masters Abstracts International81-07.
Subject:	Management. -
Online resource:	http://pqdd.sinica.edu.tw/twdaoapp/servlet/advanced?query=27731884
ISBN:	9781392837276

Building Capacity for Grant Success: Insights from Local Parks and Recreation Agencies in North Carolina.
Smith, Kyle Edward.

Building Capacity for Grant Success: Insights from Local Parks and Recreation Agencies in North Carolina. - Ann Arbor : ProQuest Dissertations & Theses, 2019 - 142 p.

Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 81-07.

Thesis (M.Sc.)--North Carolina State University, 2019.

This item must not be sold to any third party vendors.

Funding local parks and recreation agencies the conventional way, through appropriations from general tax funds, has become increasingly difficult. To mitigate the challenges associated with serving expanding populations with limited resources, parks and recreation agencies may pursue alternative funding sources to meet the recreation and leisure needs of the community. Grants act as one such funding source which allows local governments to pursue land acquisition and capital projects for parks and recreation. Because grants require planning, resources, time, community involvement, collaboration and stakeholder investment, local parks and recreation agencies must possess a certain capacity to apply for and successfully receive funds. This exploratory case study of the public parks and recreation grant application process was designed to identify best practices and strategies that local governments can utilize to build their capacity to achieve grant success. Through the lens of a state funded, dollar for dollar matching grant program, the North Carolina Parks and Recreation Trust Fund (PARTF), we examined the challenges and opportunities local governments face when considering application for a grant. The study utilized a mixed methods approach. First, we examined the past 25 years of PARTF grant data (from the State of North Carolina Treasurer’s Office and NC Department of Natural Resources) at the county and municipal level to explore the influence of financial resources and constituent base on grant participation and success. We then conducted and qualitatively coded 13 semi-structured interviews with municipal (county and city) Parks and Recreation Directors and other key informants to understand the range of challenges that exist in navigating the grant application process and how those challenges might be negotiated. In our quantitative analysis we found that, despite a widely held assumption that access to financial resources ultimately dictates grant success, agency budgets and constituent base (i.e., population size) were not major factors contributing to PARTF grant application participation or success. Interviews revealed two factors that were better indicators of success: organizational and community capacity. While interview respondents still admitted fiscal resources were important, they also identified multiple factors related to organizational capacity (e.g., human resources, planning resources, land availability) and community capacity (e.g., citizen engagement, community buy-in, local government support, and partnerships and collaborations) as significant factors for grant participation and success. For example, engaging citizens in a recreation needs assessment can provide citizen-guided direction which local governments can align with their mission and organizational objectives. Local governments lacking critical financial or human resources can then leverage partnerships and collaborations with other agencies or sectors to overcome deficits and achieve programmatic goals. Elaborating on these themes provides beneficial insight for other municipal governments looking to transform their communities through expanded parks, recreation and leisure offerings. Lessons learned from the PARTF process could be applied to other states or government programs that rely on similar grants and alternative funding sources, ultimately helping diverse agencies finds ways to achieve grant success. 

ISBN: 9781392837276Subjects--Topical Terms:

558618
Management.

Building Capacity for Grant Success: Insights from Local Parks and Recreation Agencies in North Carolina.
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