Whether a person has just a dime in their pocket or the richest bank account in the city, Jennifer Jones feels the mantra of the city’s parks and recreation is the same: “You’re invited.”
An outdoor enthusiast since childhood, Jones has long taken up the invitation of public parks and recreation opportunities and decided to make it her career when she considered college majors. Her mother saw the career field in a catalog of majors and told her, “That is so you,” Jones recalled.
The suggestion was a fitting one, she said.
“I was a major adventure seeker,” Jones said. “I just had that in my personality.”
After 24 years in parks and recreation management, Jones recently was hired as Lynchburg’s director of parks and recreation. She succeeds Kay Frazier, who served the department for 16 years and announced her retirement earlier this year.
Jones, 50, a native of West Virginia, was selected out of more than 50 applicants for the position, according to the city. She served as Parks and Recreation Director for Winchester and spent years working for the city of Staunton in a variety of capacities, including Interim Public Information Officer, Assistant City Manager and Superintendent of Recreation.
Helping residents tap into their “inner child” and fostering childhood memories through civic activities and events are ways she sees the department making a positive impact. Parks are a free place to be physically active in the effort to fight obesity; and fitness classes and other activities help connect people, she said.
Lynchburg has a good reputation throughout Virginia, she said, and she is impressed with the city’s trails other localities “would have died” to have. The city’s neighborhood centers serve as community gathering places and afterschool hubs, she said.
“Proximity to parks is the number one factor in people using parks,” she said.
Jones said she believes a shift is taking place in the value the city places on the department, which is “a core city service.” High employee turnover because of the lack of competitive salary has been a challenge, but steps have been taking this year to begin to address it, she said.
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Related article: Virginia Recreation and Park Society
