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• Hand over a building that is an asset not a liability: Buildings ideally need to be operational when
handed over. They must be structurally sound, secure, compliant with the Americans with Disabilities
Act (ADA) and health and safety regulations and, ideally, have high-level kitchen facilities (not least with
a view to having fundraising events there). For example, the Phillips Community Center in Minneapolis
was saved from demolition and is now jointly run between the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board
and paying tenants. However, the board paid for rebuilding the roof, the electrical, heating, and air
conditioning systems, and other needed maintenance.
• Efficient partner selection process: City councils need to have in place a Request for Proposals (RFP)
process that rapidly sorts out organizations and groups that are provisionally interested in taking on one or
more assets from those that are not only interested but also have many of the key factors in place for taking
on the responsibility successfully. This minimizes wasted effort and disappointment.
• Legislation needed: There may need to be changes to city ordinances and state laws. For example, the nonprofit
management of several California State Parks has been possible because of the passing of Assembly
Bill 42, which smoothed the way for non-profit groups to take over (up to 20) park operations between
now and 2019.
#2 – Post-transfer
• Management assistance: Management assistance may be needed for rec center managers, which could
mean advice on programming and/or day-to-day management of a building.
• Maintenance: With the St. Paul rec centers, the city agrees to maintain the building exterior whilst the
service partner is responsible for the interiors. The Department of Recreation and Parks mows the fields
and collects the trash.
• Financial assistance: Baltimore City Council has made some start-up funding available for rec centers that
come under non-profit ownership. In both Baltimore and St. Paul, the rent for non-profit run rec centers
is minimal, leaving the organizations with utility costs and minor maintenance. With the Detroit Eastern
Market, operational funding from the city of Detroit was withdrawn gradually, not “overnight.”
• Creation of a special-purpose charitable foundation: Baltimore’s Parks and People Foundation was
created in 1984 by the then mayor of Baltimore to help raise funds for the city’s public parks and park
programming. More recently, the (now former) mayor of Detroit, Dave Bing, has looked at creating such a
foundation for that city’s public park and rec facilities.
• Consider joint delivery: The Phillips Community Center in Minneapolis was saved from demolition 53
by community activists and is now run by an innovative public/private partnership composed of the
Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB), which operates the gym and teen center as a park
facility, and four non-profit programmatically compatible tenants who rent their own space in the facility.
Management of the facility and the maintenance/renovation fund are in the hands of the partnership of
stakeholders. This is the first time the MPRB has entered into such a joint structure. A Memorandum of
Understanding was created to allow a fifth group (Minneapolis Swims) to raise money for the renovation
and future operation of the pool.
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The center was attached to a now-demolished school and returned to the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board in poor condition by a long-time tenant. It was
scheduled for demolition on cost grounds.
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