FORT COLLINS, Colo. — Standing by the banks of the Cache la Poudre River, a short walk from the Northside Aztlan Community Center, LeAnn Williams said the Fort Collins Department of Recreation’s mission is simple: make recreation welcoming, not exclusive.
“We’re all about equity and access, and when you do that, people participate with you,” Williams, the director of recreation for the city, said. “Our focus is participation and community.”
That philosophy guides programs that range from swim and art classes to an adaptive recreation program, as well as a robust reduced-fee option for many Fort Collins residents. The adaptive recreation program provides opportunities for people with disabilities to stay active, and families who qualify for benefits such as SNAP or Medicaid can buy a single annual family pass for $50.
The Get FoCO pass gives access to all city recreation facilities and reduces program fees by 70 to 90%. Residents who qualify for Get Foco can often get help that extends beyond recreation, like assistance on utilities and a grocery rebate program.
Fort Collins has kept the same level of recreation in the city even as others across the country, Denver included, have started making cuts to their recreation departments. Williams said that Fort Collins residents value recreation more than many other municipalities, in large part because the city provides such a high-quality recreational experience.
“How much care our team puts into what they do makes me in awe every day, and it makes me so dang proud to lead that department,” she said. “Parks and Recreation, our natural areas, our culture and arts, our neighborhood services, all the different services we provide, people rate us highly and say we love what you do.”
Williams wanted to be clear that every city, including Fort Collins, is struggling with balancing lower tax revenue post-pandemic with an increasing population. Each city must determine individually where to spend money that is more stretched than ever.
“Every community from the Front Range to nationwide has different community priorities,” Williams said. “How do we balance the things that we’re doing that are community priorities that people say, “I love this, and I don’t want you to reduce my funding in these spaces, but I also have this new priority that I want you to address.’ How do we strategically rethink how we provide that service without reducing the level of service, and then being able to still address community priorities? That is a very difficult problem to solve.”
Williams believes the best way to build support for a robust recreational department is to provide high-quality services and increase access to as many people as possible. She said that better services bring more participants which brings more revenue, but for Williams, the work is more about connection than budgeting.
“Social, emotional, and physical wellness is so important to someone’s quality of life,” she said. “We create those spaces for people to have those connections.”
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