Mission Statement
Our mission is to enrich the lives of the residents of Los Angeles by providing safe, welcoming parks and recreation facilities and affordable, diverse recreation and human services activities for people of all ages to play, learn, contemplate, build community and be good stewards of our environment.
Description
The Department of Recreation and Parks is the most comprehensive social service agency in the City, operating 184 recreation centers, 61 swimming pools, 11 lakes, 7 camps both in and out of town, more than a dozen museums and historic sites, and hundreds of programs for youth, senior, physically disabled and volunteers. The responsibility for the total year-round recreation program at each of the local centers is in the hands of that center's director, a trained professional recreator.
Thirty-one centers specifically for senior citizens are located in all areas of the City. Also, senior citizen clubs hold meetings and special events at numerous other recreation facilities.
In addition to extremely broad and extensive sports programs for children and youth, the Department sponsors a municipal sports program for adults which includes baseball, softball, tennis, soccer and basketball. Canoeing, sailing and swimming instruction also are available through the Aquatics Division.
