Page 10 - 2022 Annual Report

Three Pillars
Serving EBR through...
Health + Wellness
• BREC has worked intentionally to increase miles of trails in the agency to encourage walking, running and bicycling. In 2022, BREC offered the public more than 112-miles of in-park, greenways, nature and primitive trails
• BREC’s horticulture team maintains two community gardens and partners maintain three others to provide fruits and vegetables in food deserts
• Walking one of three 18-hole golf courses burns between 1,500 and 2,000 calories and BREC’s website encourages people to calculate how many calories they burn while visiting parks through a “Burn with BREC” calculator created through a partnership with Pennington Biomedical Center
• BREC’s Recreation Department served more than 925,000 people in programs and events requiring attendance
or registration including athletics, aquatics, outdoor adventure, extreme sports and others to encourage healthy activity
• Provided BREC staff 340 COVID tests
• Provided Cardiology, Mental Health, Colon Cancer
Awareness, Pre-Diabetes seminars, a vaccination/booster clinic and an in-house Ochsner Anytime Health Clinic
Social Equity
• Passage of Community Engagement Policy to institutionalize more robust gathering of community input across the parish
• Commission Statement on Equity created a small business procurement program for all BREC purchases
• Staff DEI Council has three subcommittees focused hiring, learning and development and policy and staff surveys
• Implementation of ADA Transition Plan for accessibility across system
• Park Operations software tracks maintenance and operations to ensure equity for each classification of parks regardless of location or demographics
• BREC Aquatics provided more than 2,400 free swimming lessons to more than 300 children in 2022
• Monthly socials for teens and adults with disabilities now in-person after going virtual during the pandemic
• Highly popular weekly Tea Dances for seniors again offered in person at the most central location in the parish
• Part-time staff are offered benefits, performance reviews and annual merit raises
• Baton Rouge Zoo, a sensory inclusive facility, offers an 83% discount admission on Wednesdays
• Magnolia Mound, an accredited historic home, offers free admission the first Sunday of every month
• BREC provided $60,000 in scholarships for qualifying children for its award-winning camps
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