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| | Much More Than Open Spaces, City Parks Can Open Pathways to Opportunity, Reports Suggest |
 | | While parks are valued for their open spaces and recreational facilities, innovative programs and partnerships are demonstrating how parks can advance broader public policy objectives, such as job preparation for youths and adults, and stronger neighborhoods. |
 | | Parks are a particularly fruitful training ground because the work is low skill, continuously needed, and organized so a single employee can supervise a relatively large crew. |
 | | "Park managers, community organizers, elected officials, and nonprofit organizations across urban America have found that when local residents are involved in the planning, building, renovating, and operating of urban parks, the odds are good that parks and communities benefit," says Walker, who oversaw the Urban Institute research. |
| www.urban.org /url.cfm?ID=900719&renderforprint=1 (998 words) |
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