The Porter County Parks & Recreation has received a generous donation of $16,500 from the Greater Northwest Indiana Association of Realtors® to fund its recent needs assessment survey. $15,000 of this donation was provided by a National Association of REALTORS® Smart Growth Action Grant. According to Valerie Rosenblum, President of the Greater Northwest Indiana Association of Realtors®, this is the largest grant GNIAR has ever received from the National Association of REALTORS®. The remaining $1,500 was matched by GNIAR. The needs assessment survey, completed by Ron Vine and Associates in conjunction with the Eppley Foundation at Indiana University, measured public use of and opinions about Porter County Parks & Recreation’s properties and programs.
Rosenblum recently explained that GNIAR and the National Association of REALTORS® value the role of parks in building stronger neighborhoods and communities. “Parks, no matter the size, are key in providing recreational, aesthetic and environmental benefits to our communities. They’ve been proven to increase property values and rank high in the minds of homebuyers when deciding where to start their families, relocate because of job responsibilities or simply retire and begin enjoying life’s rewards. …With all this in mind, it’s easy to see that our parks have been a key component as to why Porter County “leads the pack” of Northwest Indiana counties in population growth over the past 20+ years – and is expected to do so into the future.”
The Porter County Parks & Recreation will be using the findings of the needs assessment survey to craft its 2017 5-Year Master Plan. The survey findings and recommendations are available to the public on the Porter County Parks & Recreation website: http://www.portercountyparks.com.