Planning, priorities, and a pandemic.
The process to update Alabama’s 2021 Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan (SCORP) began in the spring of 2020 during the early months of the pandemic.
Creating this important roadmap requires plenty of effective public engagement. A big task in normal times made all the more difficult because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Empowering engagement
The SCORP is a vital statewide planning document that identifies regional and statewide outdoor recreation needs and opportunities. It also sets a collective strategy for statewide partners to work together to enhance the delivery of outdoor recreation services to citizens.
Every five years, states are required to update their Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan (SCORP). Since having in-person meetings throughout the state was impossible, H+W helped the University of Alabama’s Center for Economic Development (UAED) develop an online workshop platform to empower engagement, facilitate conversation and collect input.
A roadmap for the future
This SCORP is an aspirational guide for the improvement and development of outdoor recreation services throughout Alabama.
Through the 14-month process, UACED transformed the hopes and needs of the general public, service providers, planners, funders, and operators into an actionable plan for the successful development of outdoor recreation opportunities for all Alabamians.
To see the SCORP and learn more about the process, outcomes, and goals, visit: alabamaoutdoorrecreation.org
Project Outcomes:
- Through online workshops and surveys, we engaged over 2,600 Alabama residents, 800 recreation providers, and 60 key stakeholder organizations
- Definition of SCORP values that guided the outreach process
- Creation of a new vision statement for Outdoor Recreation in Alabama.
- Seven goals defined as priorities for Alabama’s robust outdoor recreation future
- Development of alabamaoutdoorrecreation.org to empower online engagement during and after the SCORP development process
- Design and layout of the SCORP document.
