Mountain Recreation launches on-line neighborhood survey

Mountain Recreation seeks feedback on the quality and accessibility of its facilities and programs.
Courtesy photo

Mountain Recreation last week launched an online survey aimed at evaluating the quality of its current programs and the accessibility of its facilities. The survey will be available in both English and Spanish until Sunday April 10th.

The local Rec district will use data to allow Mountain Recreation staff to assess community needs and lay the foundation for future programs, activities and events.

“Mountain Recreation is not the district it once was,” said Anna Englehart, Mountain Recreation’s superintendent of recreation programs, in a press release announcing the survey. “Over the past 20 years, the district has grown significantly and we have had to evolve as the needs of our community change. We want to get a sense of how we’re serving our community, identify gaps in service, and be able to shift our offerings as needed to further maximize already-overcommitted space.”

The Rec District encourages all Eagle County residents to participate, even if they don’t live within the district boundary — which stretches from Dotsero to Edwards and McCoy in the north. According to the press release, respondents will be asked a variety of questions ranging from frequency of facility use and program participation, barriers to entry, need for current programs, interest in potential future programs, and about the district’s increasing outdoor recreation programs.

All questions are designed to provide an understanding of how these offerings are currently impacting the Eagle County community and how the district may evolve to meet new needs.

The community survey is a departure from the Rec District’s recent capital improvement surveys, conducted to inform its all-access plan. The all-access plan calls for $60 million in improvements — which it will fund primarily through a $40 million mill levy increase if voters approve in May — at its three main facilities. The capital improvement surveys helped the district determine space and equipment needs.

This community survey, while intertwined with those previous surveys, has a different purpose and will provide different data to the organization.

“The purpose of this survey is not to determine what new spaces and facilities our community needs; they’ve already shared that with us through extensive surveys, board meetings and Q&A,” said Eddie Campos, Mountain Recreation’s marketing and communications manager. “Instead, this survey is designed to assess whether the district’s programs serve all residents, assess the quality of its programs, and where the district may be able to make improvements and add new programs to fill service gaps.”

While Campos said listening and acting on the needs of his community has always been part of his approach, the launch of this survey follows a diversity, equity and inclusion initiative that the district actively pursued in January 2021. At that time, the district initiated a push to create a sense of belonging directly in its programs and facilities. This survey will help inform this effort and ensure community members feel included.

“It has always been our process to first ask our community what they need, rather than offering what we think the community wants. We want Mountain Recreation to be able to strategically adapt and go beyond traditional state recreation,” Campos said in the release. “We want to create welcoming community centers for everyone. We hope this survey gives everyone the opportunity to help shape how we as a community take care of our health together.”

The Mountain Rec Community Survey is available now through Sunday, April 10 at MountainRec.org/survey. For more information, please contact Englehart at [email protected].

Reporter Ali Longwell can be reached at [email protected].