ABOUT COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS: Community Connections is a lesson collection designed for adult learners and community colleges, with the goal of inspiring student civic action. This might be respectful debate or conversation about a local issue, planning a community event, or a creative project that helps connect local, national and global issues.

To use this lesson: First, watch the video and answer the questions below as a warm up. Next, choose one or more of the activities under "Take Action" that best fits your classroom. Or, use the segment above to inspire your own original classroom activities — the spirit of these lessons is to connect current events to actions that make your community a better place for everyone!

SUMMARY

In 2025, national parks recorded more than 323 million visits, and 26 parks set attendance records. But as the parks gain popularity, the Trump administration has proposed slashing $1 billion from the National Park Service, likely eliminating thousands of jobs from an already understaffed workforce. Geoff Bennett discussed more with Jeff Reinbold of the National Park Foundation.

View the transcript of the story.

News alternative: Check out recent segments from the News Hour, and choose the story you’re most interested in watching. You can make a Google doc copy of discussion questions that work for any of the stories here.

WARM-UP QUESTIONS

1. How many people visited national parks in 2025?
2. Who is seeking to slash funding for the National Park System?
3. What are some of the challenges facing national parks, according to Jeff Reinbold?
4. Why is there "nothing more American" than the country's national parks, according to Reinbold?
5. Where is the National Park Foundation investing in the future?

FOCUS QUESTIONS

• In this segment, host Geoff Bennett asks about the park service's plans for "innovation." Do you think the country's national parks will change and incorporate new technology in the future?
• If you could make a change to our parks system, what change would you make?

Media literacy: After watching this segment, do you have a good sense of the purpose of the National Park Service and the purpose of the reason the park system was set up in the U.S.? How could you find out more?

TAKE ACTION

Can you remember the last time you visited a national park? Do you have any near your own community? As a class, locate the closest national park to you using this map. Then discuss —

• Have you visited or could you access the park easily?
• How do you think the park could be developed to attract you or more visitors from outside the state?
• What do you notice are some of the reasons behind establishing some of the parks on the map? Did any surprise you?
• If you could establish a new national park near your own community based on highlighting the community's history, important figures or natural areas, what would it be and why?

Finally, consider making a short film using this guide about your closest national parks. How could you promote the park beyond your community to encourage others to visit?

This project was funded under the 2024 Leonore Annenberg Civic Mission of the Nation Initiative, sponsored by the Leonore Annenberg Institute for Civics. LAIC is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania.

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