Community Research
TCR Background
TCR formed in 2016 by a group of like-minded community members who recognized a lack of spaces for sports and recreation in Tburg. Our mission is to develop facilities & programs for community sports, recreation, and leisure in the Trumansburg area.
Why Does Trumansburg Need More Rec Space?
For decades, our community has asked for more outdoor space that is free and accessible for all. Most existing community space is currently at the school or fairgrounds, where availability is highly competitive, and not always conducive to casual family gatherings or use by multiple programs or activites.
Outdoor community spaces are necessary for a healthy community: It is proven that outdoor spaces are critical to the mental and physical health of communities and people of all ages. See national report here.
Overcrowded current facilities: If you have ever seen an event at the school on a weeknight, you’ve seen how much activity there is on one space, as seen below.
Current school spaces are maximized
School Sports:
This fall alone, there are
192 middle to high
school students
participating in school-sponsored sports who practice on the school fields. School programs (rightly) take priority over the all other community programs.
Trumansburg/Ulysses recreation programs:
These programs serve upwards of 600 youth and adults
with nearly 1400 registrations each year. Some of these programs are indoors, but many are outdoors on the school facitilties.
Recreational clubs and sports groups:
Additionally, we have had approx.
250-300 athletes
participating in youth club sports (like soccer, baseball, football, track, among others) on congested school fields during weeknights and weekends during spring and fall. These programs are competing for less space than they need in order to accommodate as many different programs as possible.
Increase in youth sports participation: In the past decade, local sports clubs have all seen an increase of an average of 10-15% in participation.
Population growth is trending up: There is evidence showing a 15-30% increase of 29-34 year-olds (based on 2010 census data) in the immediate Trumansburg area in the coming decade. And with the new INHS Village Grove property under construction now, we expect another bump in population growth.
What Our Community has Told Us
Needs assessment & survey data: Since TCR’s inception in 2016, we have engaged with the community through surveys, community gatherings, at sports games and events, and through feedback to our monthly newsletters to gather input and feedback on what recreational activities and spaces our community needs. The data that we've gathered over the past 6 years are below:
Cornell’s DesignConnect: In 2017 we worked with a team of Cornell students to help us do a community needs assessment to find out what was missing in our community. The community was invited to attend multiple group discussions
at the American
Legion in 2017.
See DesignConnect's Final report -->
Census Data Review: In 2017 we reviewed population data that we were able to gather from the most recent census info to get a sense of where the Town population was headed.
See data document -->
Community Surveys: Since 2018 we have sent out multiple surveys to the community via Facebook and emails to collect as much data as we could on community needs.
See ongoing results of our online survey->
See our needs assement presentation-->
Quotes from our community
