As we head into the warm seasons, many Clevelanders will be looking to utilize their neighborhood recreation centers. 

Alexandria Nichols is Cleveland’s new director of the Department of Parks & Recreation. The city created the standalone department to focus on improving recreational opportunities for residents. Nichols came to the role in 2024, driven to make improvements residents can see and feel. 

So what can Clevelanders expect from their recreation centers this summer? Signal Cleveland sat down with Nichols to talk about her work improving the quality of city parks and recreation centers and summer programming.

Who is the Director of Parks and Recreation for Cleveland? 

Can you give our readers some background on who you are and how you came into this role?

I grew up in Cleveland and Shaker Heights. When I was preparing to go to college, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to major in. I looked through a catalog of all the different majors the school offered and I decided on recreation because it sounded fun.

When I was younger, I enjoyed spending time outdoors. I loved climbing trees and playing in creeks. I was a competitive gymnast and swimmer. Majoring in recreation just felt like the right fit. My goal was to become a recreation director.

As far as experience, I spent two summers in college working for New York City parks and recreation at the pools in Manhattan as a park security officer. I have served as the recreation director of Avon Lake, Shaker Heights and currently for the City of Cleveland. I was also the district executive director for the YMCA of Greater Cleveland.

Her first year accomplishments

Before you became the recreation director for Cleveland, the role had been vacant for some time. What were some of the things you saw when you started that you felt needed to be addressed?

In my first year, I took time to read and study the master plan. I wanted to understand the work that the consultants were recommending for the city. I did some exploring of my own. I went to different rec centers and parks across the city. I thought the overall conditions were poor, and I wanted to make a difference for the residents.

I had three things that I wanted to accomplish during my first year: [improving] facility conditions, expanding programming and improving marketing. I recognized that if we didn’t take care of our facility conditions first, then nobody would be satisfied when they did come out for our programming. 

We spent time identifying the programs that we have in the centers and where we saw gaps in service. We wanted to provide better quality-of-life programming for residents.

The last piece was marketing, and how do we share with the community what we have available on a broader scale. We have a catalog that shares what our programming is, which is something the department of parks and recreation took over from the Office of Prevention, Intervention and Opportunity. We wanted to make sure we had a collaborative project, including those two departments and the Department of Aging. I think it lays the foundation for the quality of services we want to provide to the community.

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Residents’ frustration 

In the survey responses from residents about their experiences with recreation centers and parks across Cleveland, one of the major frustrations voiced was the cleanliness of the different facilities. This year it was noted during budget hearings that only $14 a month had been budgeted for cleaning products at the recreation centers.  What is the plan to address this issue?

The Department of Property Management is under the Department of Public Works. When the division of parks and recreation was under public works, we were a part of one department. As a part of that, custodians reported directly to property management. In our new department, the custodians now work for our center managers. We reduced the barrier to service by cutting out an extra supervisory link. 

Now, we can focus on getting fully staffed, in terms of having custodians to do the work, and investing more in our centers to make sure they have everything they need to keep things clean.  We still have to consider, how do we establish facility standards? Who takes care of the exterior of the building versus the interior? We still have a few gaps we are trying to figure out, but we are moving forward in the process.

We also need to look at necessary repairs. We are creating a reporting mechanism amongst the staff so that we don’t have to wait until the master plan needs assessment or until a resident reports it to us.

There is a list of parks and recreation centers that will be receiving upgrades in phases during the next decade. What type of improvements can residents look forward to?

From the Southeast Side Promise perspective, one of our largest urban parks, Kerruish Park, had picnic pavilions that had roofs that were all in bad shape. If I go to a park and the roof is falling apart, do I feel safe? We were able to replace all the roofs on the pavilions. 

As I look at other parks, Glendale Park saw some recent improvements – they have a great athletic field, and there were some renovations done to the pool there. We are working from an equity standpoint. We have to consider where we have invested in the past and where we should begin to put some of our energy. The master plan has specific recommendations that work. It will take time, but it will be worth it.

Cleveland recreation programming

Is there a cost to become a member of a recreation center?

Anyone who lives in the City of Cleveland can become a member at our facilities, free of charge. All programming is free as well. Non-residents are welcome for free as well. While we appreciate them utilizing our facilities, we want to make sure that we are prioritizing Cleveland residents. 

Is there any new programming taking place this summer?

We have partnered with an organization called STEM Playbook, which is an opportunity for early elementary age kids to come into our centers and learn a little bit while having some fun. This year, we are piloting day camp in four of our rec centers. We will also be hosting a weekly, overnight camp for school-aged kids. You can find more information about that on the City of Cleveland’s website.

Is there a specific staffing number in mind that would have the recreation centers operating at full capacity?

The consultants who created the master plan took a look at the different sizes of our recreation centers and they came up with recommendations on how we should operate based upon the square footage of the center and the radius of neighborhoods that we support.

We have neighborhood centers which are our smaller ones, community centers which are our mid-range ones, and we have our regional centers, which are the largest centers. Bigger centers can offer more programming, so the number can vary. I would say on average our centers should have six to 12 people on staff.

How can residents view available programming at the different parks and recreation centers across Cleveland?

We have an online portal  where residents can register for classes online, make facility reservations and schedule events. It’s an opportunity for people to cruise the link and show curiosity in what they may be interested in. We also have a parks and recreation catalog that residents can read, which can be found at our neighborhood resource and recreation centers.

Learning to swim in Cleveland

Which programs have you found that the community is showing interest in?

People want our pools running. We are working to elevate aquatics. Very few people have pools at home. They want a place to swim. Swimming is a lifelong sport and activity. Shortly after I got here, I said, what do we need to do to serve our community from an aquatics standpoint?

We are seeing a lot of interest in our learn-to-swim program, so we really want to expand that.  There is data that shows people of color don’t have the same swimming abilities as their counterparts, so this is an opportunity for us to really impact the community through swimming.

Let’s talk safety 

What are the plans in place to address safety at the parks and recreation centers?

We have a contract with a third party provider of security services in our rec centers and pools for the summer. We also have metal detectors that everyone must walk through prior to entering. We have to assess, ‘What makes people feel safe?’ When I go to facilities sometimes and I see garbage and debris, I understand when something seems unkept, people feel unsafe. Our facilities are no different. Do we clean the carpet, do we wipe down the walls, do we make sure the trash is picked up?

We also have to think about youth behavior, and what makes people feel safe from a youth behavior aspect. Kids like to congregate, they like to hang out in front of the doorways, sometimes they can be loud. We have had to really think about the placement of outdoor park furnishings as it relates to what would make people feel safe. Safety is a real issue, but sometimes I think it’s a perception issue. What can we do to make our spaces look safe? That’s important.

If residents want to give feedback about their experiences at parks and recreation centers in Cleveland, what is the best way to express their thoughts?

I always encourage people to use 311. 311 is the best way for people to initiate a concern they might have, especially as it pertains to maintenance issues or quality of equipment at parks and recreation centers. 311 requests come to us, and we get on top of those right away.

They may also email me at ANichols2@clevelandohio.gov

To view the Parks and Recreation master plan, click here. To view an executive summary of the plan, click here.