Recreation Program Coming to St. Helens

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 10, 2018

St. Helens, Ore. - The City of St. Helens and St. Helens School District have partnered to bring a Recreation Program to St. Helens. The program, which launches at the end of April with the publication of a summer recreation calendar, will provide a central location where community members can find a wide range of recreational activities that are available in St. Helens. The initial calendar will include activities that begin on June 1, 2018 or later and are free or low cost for citizens to enjoy.

For years, community members and local agencies have wanted to create a centralized program where people can more easily find and plug into the many recreational activities and groups that St. Helens citizens already enjoy. Both the City of St. Helens and St. Helens School District identify building a better community as one of their main agency goals and believe that a recreation program is one way to help support that goal.

In December 2017, staff from the City and School District began meeting to discuss what a St. Helens Recreation Program would look like. The School District has sports facilities, fields, classrooms, and other spaces that are not fully utilized after hours and both agencies felt that a partnership would help bring a much-needed, streamlined recreation program to the community. Serving the same families, the partnership will allow an expansion of recreational opportunities without requiring either organization to build extra facilities of its own to meet public demand. This will also help save taxpayer money.

The two agencies started to inventory what recreation activities already existed in St. Helens, discussed how a centralized recreation program could help community members connect with existing activities, and brainstormed a few new programs to add to the list, including drop-in sports, arts and craft meet ups, and do-it-yourself classes.

In preparation for the publication of the first Recreation Program calendar, the City and School District have created a short online survey where people can provide feedback about the types of recreation activities that they already participate in and the programs that are most important to their household. The survey will remain open through Friday, May 4, and can be found at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/sthelensrecsurvey. It takes approximately three to five minutes to complete the survey.

The City and School District plan to publish a quarterly or seasonal Recreation Program calendar, with the first calendar scheduled for publication at the end of April. The calendar will provide a list of summer activities that start June 1, 2018 and later. The City will add a Recreation Program page to its website (www.ci.st-helens.or.us) by the end of April where community members can access an online version of the calendar and find out general information about the Recreation Program.

To help facilitate the program, the City is currently exploring options to hire a recreation coordinator who would work with local groups and the School District to manage event information and publish the Recreation Program calendar.

Applications will be included in the Recreation Program calendar for any community member, business, or group that would like to list a recreational activity in the calendar.  

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For further information regarding the new St. Helens Recreation Program, please contact City of St. Helens Finance Director Matt Brown at mattb@ci.st-helens.or.us or 503-366-8227.