Outstanding Planning Award for a Special Community Initiative, 1998
Youth Recreation Needs Assessment
City of Albuquerque--Department of Cultural & Recreational Services and Consensus Planning, Inc.

This inclusive initiative boldly illustrates how a community can use the planning process to address a need outside the normal sphere of planning. Albuquerque invited an overlooked segment -- its junior high students -- to "recreational planning parties" in 10 middle schools, to identify, with the aid of audio and video interviews, their recreational needs. Through this process, the teens are helping shape their public environment, which not only will create an ideally tailored recreational system but sends a positive message to teenagers: their opinion is important.