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Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Cedar Rapids looks to define, promote therapeutic recreation
Parks & Recreation staff look to offer accessible, all-ages programming to support residents’ social, emotional and physical health
Mar. 1, 2026 6:00 am
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CEDAR RAPIDS — When Macey Lovell tells people what she does for work, one of the most common follow-up questions is “What’s that?”
Lovell, therapeutic recreation coordinator for the city of Cedar Rapids, doesn’t get offended. She takes it as an opportunity to provide the other person with explanation of the job and education about the growing field.
“It is becoming more of a household name, but it is still definitely something where background knowledge can be essential,” she said. “We really want therapeutic recreation to be known for what it is, (rather) than ‘what is it?’”
Lovell joined the city staff in October and has worked since to centralize and expand the long-running city program previously called “special populations.” Now dubbed “therapeutic recreation,” the program focuses on providing accessible, all-ages offerings.
It’s a broad program, Lovell explained, that covers everything from Special Olympics practices to line dancing lessons for seniors and more. She’s hoping it can grow even further in the future.
“Therapeutic recreation is like an umbrella,” she said. Under that umbrella, “there’s inclusive recreation. There’s adaptive recreation … and Special Olympics. We really want to expand on all that.”
City pivots program structure
Recreation Superintendent Tony Ireland said the city has worked to offer accessible recreation options for decades in recognition of the quality-of-life benefits residents garner.
The responsibility to put on those programs historically fell to several employees across the Cedar Rapids Parks and Recreation Department, rather than being centralized in one place. The city last year took a closer look at that system in an effort to update and modernize its therapeutic recreation program.
“We’re always looking at evaluating our programs and services, and we wanted to look at what would let us put our best foot forward to be able to offer quality programs,” Ireland said. That gave the department “the opportunity to retool the position and pull out the therapeutic rec stuff into its own category.”
A community open house was held in July, and city staff received over 300 comments from residents about existing and desired programs. One standout from that feedback was the desire for stability and ongoing communication — residents wanted to see consistent programming over time, and they wanted a way to make sure they could keep up-to-date on those offerings.
Enter Lovell, a Marion native who last fall moved back to the area from Austin, Texas, to take what she considers her “dream job.”
She’s spent the months since combing through the city’s current offerings, centralizing those efforts and working alongside other city staff to imagine how the program can grow to serve even more people.
“As a city, it’s very unique to even offer this kind of program,” Lovell said. “Not a lot of communities do, but it’s very important to offer (therapeutic recreation) in a community setting and not just a hospital one.”
Program focuses on physical, social health
Historically speaking, the city’s therapeutic recreation offerings have been most closely tied to its Special Olympics program. The city has the largest Special Olympics delegation in the state and serves more than 300 athletes.
Athletes compete in everything from track and field to basketball to power lifting, soccer and more. Practice takes place year-round to prepare participants for various state and regional competitions.
Lovell acts as the delegation's contact and collaborates frequently with staff, including regional competition coordinator Sela Ingall, at the statewide Special Olympics Iowa program.
Ingalls said the Cedar Rapids delegation sticks out not only for its size, but also for its broad array of sports options and ongoing efforts to reach athletes of all ages.
“All of our delegations are very different, … but Cedar Rapids Parks and Rec has athletes that are as young as 8 up to athletes who are 65-plus,” Ingalls said. “They don’t have restrictions on what ages they allow, and they’re really giving a lot of opportunities to athletes in their community.”
But while Special Olympics is a prominent part of the therapeutic recreation program, Lovell stressed it’s not the only part.
“It’s so much more” than Special Olympics, she said. “We really want to home in on the fact that we’re a therapeutic recreation program and underneath that is all sorts of different programs for people with disabilities, seniors” and others.
That includes current offerings like weekly card games for older adults, as well as line dancing classes or day trips for seniors. The group has taken trips to the Mississippi Valley to see the fall leaf color, for example, and Gay Mills, Wis., to visit apple orchards.
“Over the past few years, we’ve been trying to pull in a little bit more of a social aspect” into our recreation programming, Ireland said. “Some people obviously won’t care about sports, but they might still want that social side.”
Moving forward, Ireland said, the plan is to continue those programs while also expanding the city’s therapeutic recreation offerings in line with resident feedback. He said early efforts will focus on increasing youth programming before expanding.
City staff also are in the process of finalizing a strategic plan for the program to further outline its future goals and growth. That plan should be completed soon, at which point it will be made available for public review.
Questions/Comments: grace.nieland@thegazette.com
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