History

A 1976 amendment to the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 directed the Secretary of the Interior to study the needs, problems, and opportunities associated with urban recreation. The resulting National Urban Recreation Study (1978) evaluated the quality of urban recreation systems in 17 of the nation's most populous urban areas and found urban recreation in a virtual crisis state all over the country:

Over 70 percent of our nation's population lives in urban areas. For many urban dwellers, access to recreation opportunities is limited by geographic or economic factors. In several cities, opportunities had declined in because of aging facilities and fiscal restraints. Urban residents in all studied jurisdictions placed high priority on close-to-home recreation facilities. However, neighborhood park and recreation areas are often deteriorated, inadequate, or entirely absent, despite their importance as community focal points.

In 1978, Congress authorized the Urban Park and Recreation Recovery Act (Title X of P.L. 95-625), which recognized of the severe deficiencies in urban recreation in the United States. The Act sought to restore facilities which have fallen into disuse or disrepair; to encourage innovations in recreation programming; to stimulate and support local commitments to recreation system recovery and maintenance; and to improve the management and delivery of recreation services to urban residents.

The Urban Park and Recreation Recovery program was originally administered by the Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service (HCRS) within the Department of the Interior. When HCRS was abolished in 1981, administration of the program was transferred to the National Park Service. Congressional funding for UPARR grants has significantly varied over the years, with the last appropriation provided in 2002.