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# Public Safety

Beyond Fun and Games: How Park and Rec Leaders Can Protect and Engage Residents with Digital Notifications

Authored by Civic Plus Logo

CivicPlus

January 30, 2025
2 min

Your parks and recreation department is responsible for enriching resident lives with opportunities to get outside, exercise, and socialize — but that’s only part of it. Your department also plays an important role in public safety — and resident communication is key to doing it right.

When an urgent situation occurs in your community’s outdoor settings, you should notify residents immediately. Similarly, when facilities are closed or scheduled for maintenance, it’s important to give proactive notice so residents can adjust their plans accordingly.

Your department can keep residents safe, informed, and satisfied with services by implementing a multi-channel digital alert system. This article explores different types of mass notification systems to help you determine the best technology option for your community.

Traditional Communication Methods vs. Digital Notification Systems

When you need to send a message to residents, what’s your go-to approach? It may be time for an upgrade if the answer is printed flyers and outdoor sirens.

Traditional communication methods present several drawbacks, including:

  • Limited reach
  • Slow speed
  • One-way communication
  • Inability to provide real-time updates or gather feedback

These issues cause a lack of community-wide awareness, leading to negative — and potentially unsafe — resident experiences. To effectively run recreation services and programs, a digital mass notification system is essential. These systems keep residents informed while increasing efficiency, streamlining workflows and gleaning data to enable better decision making.

When choosing a solution for mass community-wide notifications, prioritize those with the following features:

  • Multi-Channel Delivery: Reach residents reliably through SMS, email, social media, or push notifications.
  • Alert Personalization: Increase engagement by allowing residents to sign up for specific types of alerts through preferred channels and in their preferred language.
  • Geo-Targeting: Improve the relevance of your notifications by targeting people in specific locations.
  • Built-in Web Accessibility: Ensure all residents can read messages and update their notification preferences, regardless of ability level.
  • Two-Way Communication: Support efforts to align programming with resident demand by collecting feedback and survey data.
  • Automation: Eliminate repetitive tasks by automating routine and scheduled announcements.
  • Integrations: Promote seamless workflows by connecting your notification platform with other systems like weather alerts and social media feeds.

These capabilities enhance the entire recreation experience and give residents the opportunity to share input for future programming. Digital notifications also promote safety and engagement, as people need the right information at the right time to engage with your services successfully and avoid potentially unsafe situations.

4 Use Cases for Digital Mass Notifications

There are countless ways your parks and rec department can use digital alerts to overcome communication challenges and delight residents. Here are a few examples of how public mass notifications can bring value to your department and community.

1. Storm Warnings

Picture this: a large group of family and friends is celebrating a child’s birthday at a local park when a flash storm hits, forcing everyone to run for their cars with as much as they can carry. Digital alerts help avoid this situation with proactive storm warnings sent to resident phones. With enough prior notice, party-goers can pack up their things and leave without getting caught in the rain.

2. Maintenance Updates

When public pools or other facilities are suddenly closed for maintenance, it can cause community-wide disruptions. Residents who depend on these facilities and resources will want to know immediately when service is restored. With digital notifications, your department can keep residents up-to-date throughout planned maintenance and facility closures, notifying them of any unexpected delays and a timeline of when facilities will reopen.

3. Trail Closures

If a hiking trail becomes unsafe due to weather events or erosion, it must be blocked off from the public. Mass notification systems make it easy to immediately alert residents when an outdoor space becomes unsafe, and can even send push notifications to residents who are actively heading toward the impacted area.

4. Community Engagement Opportunities

Have you thought about how many more people would participate in park and rec programming if they could sign up for alerts? When community members get notified of scheduling updates and registration deadlines, they’re more likely to register for and attend classes and activities.

It’s Time to Build a Safer, More Connected Community

Modern notification solutions keep residents in-the-know regarding local recreation spaces and facilities. With the right solution, your department can easily share public safety information and expand the reach of your offerings to everyone in your community.

The CivicPlus® Mass Notification system is built with decades of local government expertise to support thriving, resilient communities. Not only is the system a reliable, user-friendly method for sending accessible, multi-channel alerts, it integrates seamlessly with other software to streamline processes.

Learn more about how our robust Mass Notification system can help your department increase resident engagement, satisfaction, and public safety.

Written by

Authored by Civic Plus Logo

CivicPlus

Stop Fearing the Consequences of Ineffective Communications