Health

GOAL: Improve overall health and wellness in the community.

FOCUS AREAS:

• Recreation Opportunities
• Wellness Infrastructure
• Environmental Health Awareness
• Urban Farms and Community Gardens

Parks and Recreation Programming

The City offers a wide variety of recreational and wellness opportunities. In FY24, approximately 555,000, participants enjoyed recreational programs at City facilities, which include:

• 100 Parks
• 8 Community Centers
• 2 Service centers and 1 senior center, which also serve as Resilience Hubs
• 1 additional senior center currently under construction
• ~4,000 acres of parkland
• 80 miles of trails
• 92% of residents live within a 10-minute walk of a park or open space

In honor of its bicentennial, the City set the ambitious goal of expanding its park system to 100 parks. The City has surpassed this goal by starting or completing the construction of 3 new parks. Each project offers a new option for residents to enjoy.

For furry residents, check out the new FAMU Way Dog Park, located at 959 FAMU Way.

For those looking to explore the historical Griffin Heights neighborhood, check out the new multi-purpose walking/biking loop at Griffin Heights Park.

For the disc golf enthusiast, try your skills at the new Paradise Park, located at 1800 Trimble Road. This marks the City’s third disc golf course within its park inventory.

Additionally, the City and its partners continue to make strides to improve our world class system of trails and outdoor spaces. In 2024:

• Lafayette Heritage Trail Park was designated as a portion of the Great Florida Birding Trail.
• Capital Cascades Trail Segment 4, the final 1.7-mile segment of the larger 4.25-mile trail through central Tallahassee, completed design and permitting. This project will protect water quality in the Central Drainage Ditch and downstream springs protection zone.
• $1.1M was invested along FAMU Way and the Cascades Trail corridor in public artworks to complete the History and Culture Trail, developed by Blueprint Intergovernmental Agency in partnership with the Council on Culture and Arts (COCA) and AKT-Artful Inc. This project marks the single largest financial investment in outdoor public art in the City's history.

On the Horizon

In addition to significant projects funded through the City, over the next five years, the Blueprint Intergovernmental Agency has planned $144 million for projects that would ensure green space and recreation are proactively set aside today as a commitment to future generations, including:

• 121 miles of bicycle and pedestrian facilities
• 7 new parks
• 338 acres of parks and public space
• 52 miles of greenways
• 26 miles of road improvements

Community Food Systems

The City’s commitment to improve food access for residents continues to be a focus through investment in the urban food infrastructure. In addition to ongoing collaboration with community gardening and agriculture partners, City-led efforts include:

• 300 pounds of fresh food sold to the community during 11 Southside Farmers Market days
• 550 coupons for the Southside Farmers Market distributed to the community to ensure accessibility and equity
• $51,500 USDA Farmers Market Promotion Grant for the Southside Farmers Market

Additionally, through the City Farm TLH program, the City:

• Graduated nearly 200 students since April 2021 from the 12-week Urban Farming and Entrepreneurship training program in partnership with Tallahassee State College (TSC)
• Provided 22 Tallahassee residents with 120-hour paid apprenticeships with local area farms to provide in-depth hands-on training
• Continues to provide five scholarships per year for Tallahassee residents to complete the Sustainable Agriculture training program at TSC
• Partners with the THRIVE Network and the Frenchtown Neighborhood Improvement Association by hosting their 12-week farmer training program at the City’s training farm

Wellness in the Community

Healthy and connected communities start at the neighborhood level. To help move the community toward greater resilience, the City has designated four of its facilities as Resilience Hubs. These hubs are focal points in their neighborhoods that provide enhanced social services and wellness programs. They also incorporate environmentally sustainable design, as well as emergency preparedness and disaster recovery resources. The City’s Resilience Hubs are:

Lincoln Center - Located in the historic Frenchtown neighborhood, the Lincoln Center provides residents with many services and programs not offered anywhere else in the community. Services include low-impact exercise classes, technology classes, after school and summer youth enrichment programs, congregate meal programs, free legal services for eligible civil matters, an on-site pharmacy and health clinic, an Early Head Start program and much more.

Smith-Williams Service Center - Located in the Greater Bond neighborhood, this center offers youth and senior programs, computer classes and after school and summer youth enrichment programs. It also houses the independently run Neighborhood Medical Center, which provides a walk-in clinic, community health screenings, eye clinic, hygiene item distribution and more.

Tallahassee Senior Center – Located on North Monroe Street, the senior center offers fitness classes; art programs; lifelong learning classes; monthly wellness circles; counseling services through the Utilizing and Promoting Social Engagement for Loneliness, Isolation, and Depression in the Elderly (UPSLIDE) program; and more.

Jack L. McLean Community Center – Located on the Southside, this center offers 52+ acres of active and passive recreational space, including disc golf, an aquatics complex, a gymnasium, weight room, multi-purpose rooms and teen activities.

Environmental Health Awareness

For more than 120 years, the City has been providing the community with clean, safe and reliable drinking water. The City’s commitment and passion for this runs deep – from rigorous testing and advanced technology to national and international certifications for environmental protection.

Since 1991, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Lead and Copper Rule (LCR) has established guidelines to minimize lead and copper in drinking water across the United States. The City's delivery of water to customers consistently meets all of these and other regulatory health-based standards, and there is no record of lead in City-owned water service lines.

In accordance with the EPA's LCR, which is applicable to all water utilities nationwide, the City is working to identify service line materials throughout the water system. Based on a review of historical records and water system plans, the City has developed an inventory of utility-owned and customer-owned water service line materials. Information about this program, as well as a Water Service Line Address Look Up Tool and Survey for customers, is accessible at Talgov.com/WaterServiceLines.