Communities across the country are seeking safe, accessible, and affordable places for children and their families to exercise and play. Public schools have a variety of recreational facilities—gymnasiums, playgrounds, fields, courts, and tracks—where people can engage in physical activity. In under-resourced communities, schools are often the only place to find safe and affordable recreation facilities.  Unfortunately, due to both real and perceived concerns over liability, staffing, and maintenance, these facilities are often locked during non-school hours, inaccessible to both students and the larger community.  

To secure access to these underutilized spaces, the public health community has embraced the concept of “shared use.” Shared use is most often used as a strategy to increase physical activity opportunities on school grounds, but other government agencies, community groups, and faith-based organizations are successfully implementing shared use arrangements as well.  This training introduces the topic of shared use, identifies ways for public health professionals to get involved with shared use efforts, and explores how shared use agreements and policies can address common barriers such as liability.