In 2024, the Los Angeles County program that provided free nighttime activities and programs in underserved areas continued its success, drawing more than 350,000 visits from people of all ages, including a 40% increase in adults ages 60 and older, according to a new study by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research (CHPR).

Parks After Dark (PAD) kicked off in 2010 as an initiative to promote public health, public safety, and increase feelings of community connectedness in neighborhoods with higher levels of violence, obesity, and economic hardship. It grew from three participating parks to 34 in 2024.

“Our evaluation clearly demonstrates the value of PAD programming to the surrounding communities throughout Los Angeles County,” said Nadereh Pourat, PhD, director of the UCLA CHPR’s Health Economics and Evaluation Research Program and the report’s lead author. “The positive feedback from these communities throughout the years we have conducted the evaluation of Parks After Dark shows that PAD provides valuable and hard-to-obtain resources for lower-income residents.”

Throughout its existence, PAD has consistently scored highly in surveys of participants. According to the UCLA CHPR evaluation of the 2024 Parks After Dark program:

• 96% of participants said they would attend again.
• 96% said they would recommend it to others.
• 87% said that Parks After Dark is important for their community.
• 90% said they believed that there was a wide variety of resources available, which included things like health and social services.

To help achieve one of PAD’s goals of promoting senior connectedness, the program offered additional activities specifically for older adults, such as senior social hours, bingo nights, exercise classes, and senior dances. Parks After Dark ran for eight weeks in the summer of 2024.

Across 13 of the participating parks in 2024, there were 100-plus senior social hours and nine senior dances that drew more than 9,000 participants. Among adults 60 and older who were surveyed for the study, 38% ranked the concerts as their favorite activities, 19% said the movies, and 11% said the exercise classes.

“I am thankful this is a nice place where my disabled mother feels safe because she is really insecure about her walking, and seeing you all have a senior night was a highlight,” said one participant who attended PAD activities at Jesse Owens Park in South L.A. “She really enjoyed herself.” 

PAD was led by the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation, in partnership with other county departments and community organizations, and offered a wide variety of free activities on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights between June and August.

Participants said their favorite activities were movies (33%), swimming (16%), and concerts (16%). 

The vast majority (82%) of attendees participated in physical activity programming at PAD, including organized team sports, walking clubs, exercise classes, and swimming. The evaluation found that if the level of physical activity at PAD was maintained year-round, it would lead to 27 fewer years of life lost, 27 fewer years of disability, and avoidance of two premature deaths for the entire PAD population in 2024. 

One in four participants reported frequently walking to PAD and 67% of participants lived within a PAD zip code, the study found.

“The benefits of PAD go far beyond entertainment. Our evaluation indicates that PAD is an essential and worthwhile investment in the health and welfare of Los Angeles County residents,” Pourat said.

PAD organizers added mega sites and events in 2024, which included concerts on arena-sized stages and “dive-in movies” held in pools. There were 18 mega site concerts, with some drawing more than 1,000 people.

In 2024, 88% of PAD participants attended as a family. Seventy-two percent of attendees were Hispanic/Latinx and 17% were Black or African American.

Another goal of PAD is to decrease community violence and increase perceptions of safety. Ninety percent of participants agreed that their neighborhood felt safer during PAD events, and 88% agreed that the sheriff’s deputies on site positively engaged with members of the community during the events. Previous UCLA evaluations of PAD had further estimated savings associated with reduced criminal justice costs.