While the Dublin Community Recreation Center celebrates 30 years this year, programming, green spaces and community planning were already shaping the way residents lived and connected long before the doors of the DCRC opened.
Today, that foundation has grown into a nationally recognized system – one that continues to elevate quality of life through intentional land use, evolving programming and a deep understanding of community needs.
Guided by purpose
Ella Jay
Dublin Parks & Recreation's program pamphlets - from its first in 1985 to today's.
Before the DCRC, recreation in Dublin began to take root in a small network of programs embedded across the community – formulating in parks, schools and neighborhood spaces used for sports leagues and summer camps throughout the mid ’80s and early ’90s. As the community grew, those offerings gradually expanded into the 1,000-plus programs the Parks and Recreation Department maintains today.
“The Dublin community has always supported parks and recreation as an essential service,” says Director of Recreation Services Tracey Uhl. “We’ve always felt very lucky that folks here understand the value of green space, multi-use paths and all of our programming. They engage with it heavily, so it’s really to the credit of the community that we’ve had the growth that we’ve had.”
As Dublin has expanded in both size and diversity, so too has its approach to programming – evolving to serve residents at every stage of life. Today, that includes offerings for everyone from infancy through older adulthood, alongside a strong emphasis on inclusive and adaptive programming, with dedicated staff who work closely to ensure accessibility and belonging.
City of Dublin
Recent initiatives such as the 2023 Parks and Recreation Master Plan continue to shape both spaces and services across the board, with projects such as the ongoing DCRC Refresh. Director of Parks and Recreation Matt Earman says these changes will help reimagine how facilities can better serve future generations, while broader citywide efforts further align recreation with long-term goals surrounding health, environmental stewardship and community well-being.
“We are a very strong planning city,” says Earman. “Envision Dublin identifies appropriate land use, our Parks & Recreation Master Plan strategizes land acquisition and use of existing land, our Sustainability Plan incorporates as many sustainable practices as possible and the Dublin Wellness Alliance addresses the needs of the community. So, all of these things we’re doing are intentional, systematic and collaborative. The success of that work is really driven by dedicated City staff across departments who continue to invest in the community and help bring those plans to life.”
City of Dublin
Even as the Department has grown in both scale and complexity, Uhl says its core mission has remained the same: focusing on community well-being and the design of programs that not only meet the needs of residents, but anticipate them.
“We try to offer programs that people don’t know they need before they need it,” she says. “Everything we do is all about improving community health, wellness and quality of life.”
More than recreation
City of Dublin
Dublin’s Parks and Recreation Department is nationally accredited through the Commission for Accreditation of Park and Recreation Agencies (CAPRA), a distinction that requires meeting 154 industry standards and maintaining them over time, and one which only 10 departments in the state of Ohio currently hold.
“Every time we’ve gone for reaccreditation, we’ve met every standard,” says Earman. “We do that every five years. The bottom line of that is, we try to benchmark against the best.”
The City has also earned recognition as a Bicycle Friendly and Runner Friendly Community, as well as a Tree City USA for the past 37 years – designations that speak not only to infrastructure, but to a broader commitment to wellness and accessibility.
City of Dublin
With the help of surveys, feedback loops and ongoing engagement, Uhl says the Department works to understand how residents utilize parks and programs and where there may be gaps – helping guide everything from new program development to updates in existing spaces to ensure offerings remain relevant, inclusive and responsive.
“We take a very analytical approach to program development… creating programs that are trending, responding to what we think people may like, and managing those programs as residents engage in them through post-program surveys and tweaks,” says Uhl. “There’s substantial community input in everything we do.”
Designed to evolve
City of Dublin
Over the years, Dublin’s Parks and Recreation Department has been shaped not just by long-term planning and community input, but also key moments that have redefined how residents experience the city.
According to Earman, catalytic developments such as Bridge Park and the creation of Riverside Crossing Park have introduced new opportunities for programming, events and community gatherings.
Those investments have expanded the system’s reach, with millions of touch points recorded each year across the community.
City of Dublin
“We serve the community in so many ways that people don’t think about. For example, our summer camps also provide childcare, and our part-time jobs offer first-time employment opportunities for kids,” says Uhl. “There’s really not any aspect of life we don’t have a touch point on.”
Looking forward, Uhl and Earman say that impact will continue to be guided by the same principles that have defined the Department for decades, with ongoing projects underneath the umbrella of the Parks and Recreation Master Plan – such as updates to Coffman Park and Riverside Crossing Park, the continued evolution of the DCRC Refresh and the development of a Premier Athletic Campus – reflecting the Department’s ongoing commitment to enhancing the quality of life for generations to come.
Ella Jay is an editor at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at ejay@cityscenemediagroup.com.
