Who Is Michael Duncan of Clarkston, GA? Parks Manager, Programs, and the City Nobody Fully Covers

Michael Duncan Clarkston refers to Michael Duncan, the Parks and Recreation Manager for the City of Clarkston, Georgia, responsible for all parks facilities, community programming, and the CivicRec online registration system used by city residents. His department oversees Milam Park, the Clarkston Woman’s Club, Friendship Forest Nature Preserve, and 40 Oaks.

What Michael Duncan Actually Does at the City of Clarkston

Per the City of Clarkston’s official website, Michael Duncan holds the title of Parks and Recreation Manager and is the primary contact for parks operations, reachable at mduncan@cityofclarkston.com. He is also a listed member of the Georgia Recreation and Park Association (GRPA), the professional body for parks professionals statewide, with a direct line at (470) 586-4753.

His department manages the following facilities:

• Milam Park: the city’s primary public park, with a seasonal pool, six covered pavilions, a dog park, tennis courts, and soccer facilities
• The Clarkston Woman’s Club: a historic event venue built in 1913, available for community rentals
• Friendship Forest Nature Preserve: a walking trail network within city limits
• 40 Oaks: a smaller community green space

The city’s stated mission for parks and recreation is to “enhance the well-being of each resident by providing affordable facilities, activities, and services that foster active and healthy lifestyles, support positive social interaction, and enhance the community’s quality of life.”

That language matters more in Clarkston than it would in most other Georgia cities. We’ll get to why.

One clarification worth making early: Duncan’s official title is Parks and Recreation Manager, not director — a distinction that matters mainly if you’re reviewing city org charts or researching the department’s reporting structure. Some online listings use “director” loosely. The city’s own pages use “manager.”

Michael Duncan’s role in context: According to the City of Clarkston’s Parks and Recreation page, he manages all public parks, recreational facilities, and community programming across Clarkston’s 1.86 square miles. This includes facility rentals, youth sports leagues, seasonal pool operations, and the CivicRec online reservation platform. His GRPA membership connects him to a statewide network of Georgia parks and recreation professionals.

The City Where This Job Is Different

Clarkston is home to about 14,700 people. An estimated 60 languages are spoken within city limits, and roughly 50 percent of the population was born somewhere outside the United States.

That’s not a rounding error. That’s what the city actually is.

Clarkston has been referred to as “the Ellis Island of the South” and is considered the most ethnically diverse square mile in America. Since 1980, more than 60,000 refugees have relocated to the city and its surrounding area. The city today is home to African communities from Somalia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, and the Congo; Asian communities from Bhutan, Cambodia, and Myanmar; and Syrian refugees, among others.

It is the primary place in the state where refugees from all over the world have been resettled since approximately 1980, and as a result, it has undergone demographic changes related to several waves of resettlement in the United States, alternating between East African, Southeast Asian, and Middle Eastern points of origin.

Most guides covering Clarkston parks stop here — they note the diversity as a fun fact and move on.

What they skip is the operational implication. When a city’s public park serves families who share no common language, no shared cultural context, and often no experience with American civic institutions, “recreation management” stops being about scheduling and starts functioning as community infrastructure. A youth soccer league becomes a cross-cultural contact point. An accessible online registration system becomes a low-barrier entry into city services for families navigating a new country. A maintained, well-lit field means kids from fifty different countries have somewhere to be after school.

Or maybe I should say it this way: in Clarkston, a parks manager is partly running a social integration program. The job description just doesn’t say that out loud.

Why Clarkston’s parks role carries unusual weight: According to a peer-reviewed study published in the Journal of Urban Affairs, Clarkston’s immigrant and refugee population has historically represented nearly half of all city residents, with 60+ languages spoken across fewer than two square miles. In cities with this level of diversity, accessible public recreation programming directly affects social integration outcomes — making parks management a civic function with measurable community health implications well beyond leisure.

Duncan’s Professional Background

Duncan’s professional background, per available professional profile information, traces a path that’s common among Georgia municipal parks managers but rarely documented in any publicly accessible place.

He holds both a B.S. and M.S. in Sports Management from Missouri Baptist University in St. Louis — an NAIA institution that runs a dedicated sport management program through its College of Business and Entrepreneurship. The program is designed to help students develop skills to organize, administer, and facilitate sport programs at the corporate, agency, professional, and amateur levels. A master’s degree in sports management is not a standard credential for municipal parks managers at cities of Clarkston’s size, and it’s worth noting: most comparable roles in small Georgia cities are held by candidates with a bachelor’s degree and field experience alone.

Before his role with the City of Clarkston, Duncan built hands-on programming experience at the YMCA of Metropolitan Atlanta — one of the largest YMCA associations in the Southeast. The YMCA of Metro Atlanta operates with programs and services that build spirit, mind, and body, serving people of all ages and from every walk of life, with a stated mission of ensuring that everyone — regardless of gender, income, faith, sexual orientation, or cultural background — has the opportunity to live life to its fullest.

The nonprofit-to-city-government pipeline — Y experience first, then a municipal role — is a recognized path in Georgia parks management. What it produces, practically speaking, is a manager who understands program-level operations, volunteer coordination, grant partnerships, and community engagement before taking on the policy and facilities dimensions of a government department.

CivicRec: The Registration System That Changed How Residents Access Programs

One of the more concrete, measurable shifts Duncan’s department has implemented is the launch of CivicRec — the city’s new online parks reservation and program registration platform.

The City of Clarkston announced the launch of CivicRec as its new online reservation system for all Parks and Recreation facilities and programs. Residents can use the system to rent the Woman’s Club, host an event, or access any parks and recreation booking through a single site. The portal lives at secure.rec1.com/GA/clarkston-ga/catalog.

To register for Clarkston parks programs using CivicRec:

1. Visit secure.rec1.com/GA/clarkston-ga/catalog — the city’s official portal
2. Create an account using your name and email
3. Browse available programs, facility rentals, and seasonal activities
4. Select your reservation or program and follow the registration steps
5. Complete payment online and receive a confirmation by email

Before CivicRec, residents had to call the City Hall Annex directly. The shift matters more in Clarkston than it would in a less diverse city. A self-guided, written process — one you can translate, revisit, and complete at any hour — removes a genuine barrier for the many families navigating English as a second or third language.

Quick Comparison: Clarkston Parks Reservation Methods

Most people assume small-city parks departments resist technology upgrades. The data says otherwise — at least in Georgia. Multiple DeKalb County municipalities now use CivicRec or comparable platforms, and adoption has accelerated since 2022 as parks departments recognized that online self-service reduces administrative load and increases resident participation rates.

The Milam Park Soccer Field and the GA 100 Initiative

The most externally documented infrastructure project connected to Clarkston’s parks in recent years is a soccer mini-pitch at Milam Park — and it ties into a significant state-level funding program.

The GA 100 Initiative, a partnership between the Atlanta United Community Fund (AUCF) and LISC, aims to provide nonprofit and neighborhood-based organizations in under-resourced communities with financial and technical assistance to improve the quality, safety, and accessibility of local mini-pitch soccer fields across Georgia. The program provides grants of up to $100,000 for capital improvement projects.

In 2023, AUCF committed an additional $3.36 million to construct 30 more mini-pitches across the state, with financing and technical assistance channeled through LISC to local organizations who then oversee construction, maintenance, and programming of the fields.

The Clarkston Community Center Foundation received one of these grants — specifically for a grass field at Milam Park. The announcement was made in February 2025.

A few things are worth understanding about how this grant works. LISC gives strong preference to proposals that demonstrate active use of fields, attract matching funding that exceeds the minimum 1:1 requirement, and involve local partnerships with parks departments or YMCAs to promote youth sports programming and community programming on the fields. Clarkston was selected on those criteria — which means the coordination between the parks department and the Community Center Foundation was already operational and demonstrable before the grant was awarded.

The cultural dimension here is real. Soccer in Clarkston isn’t an imported suburban hobby. Families from Somalia, Ethiopia, Congo, and much of the world already knew the game when they arrived. It’s the one sport that requires no translation. A dedicated, maintained mini-pitch at the city’s primary public park removes an actual access barrier — not a theoretical one.

Clarkston had already seen earlier GA 100 investment when UPPER90, a nonprofit that empowers children in underserved communities through soccer, received grants to refurbish mini-pitches at the Friendship Center and English Oaks community in 2023. The Milam Park grass field represents a continuation of that investment pattern — with the city’s own park now in the network.

The Youth Soccer Program and Current Programming

The City of Clarkston Parks and Recreation Department launched a Youth Soccer Program in 2025, designed for boys and girls ages 3 through 7 at all skill levels, with a focus on fun, fitness, and teamwork. Registration runs through the CivicRec portal.

That’s a narrow age range by design. Early-childhood sports programming builds habits, and in a city where parents may have had no prior exposure to American recreational leagues, low-stakes introductory programs reduce the friction to participation. You sign up a five-year-old for a Saturday morning soccer program before you sign up a twelve-year-old for a competitive travel league.

The broader program catalog — per the city’s Parks and Recreation page — also includes pool passes and family swim hours at the Milam Park Pool, pavilion rentals across six covered structures, private pool event bookings on weekend evenings, venue rental at the historic Woman’s Club, and open access to Friendship Forest’s walking trails.

Look — if you’re a parent trying to find out whether Clarkston’s youth soccer program is still accepting registrations, here’s what actually works: go to the CivicRec portal directly at secure.rec1.com/GA/clarkston-ga/catalog, or email parksandrec@cityofclarkston.com. The department page on clarkstonga.gov has current program announcements.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Michael Duncan’s role at the City of Clarkston, Georgia?

Michael Duncan is the Parks and Recreation Manager for the City of Clarkston. He oversees all parks facilities, community programs, and the CivicRec reservation platform. He is contactable at mduncan@cityofclarkston.com.

How do I register for parks programs in Clarkston, GA?

Visit secure.rec1.com/GA/clarkston-ga/catalog — the city’s CivicRec portal — create an account, and register online. For help, call the City Hall Annex at 404-296-6489 or email parksandrec@cityofclarkston.com.

What is CivicRec used for in Clarkston?

CivicRec is the City of Clarkston’s online parks reservation and registration system. Residents use it to book pavilions, buy pool passes, sign up for youth sports leagues, and reserve the Clarkston Woman’s Club for events.

Why is Clarkston, Georgia called the Ellis Island of the South?

Since 1980, Clarkston has served as a primary U.S. refugee resettlement location. More than 60,000 refugees from Africa, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and elsewhere have settled in and around the city — giving it the designation “Ellis Island of the South.”

What is the GA 100 Initiative, and how does it connect to Milam Park?

The GA 100 Initiative is a statewide program run by the Atlanta United Community Fund and LISC to build mini-pitch soccer fields in under-resourced Georgia communities. Grants go up to $100,000 with a required 1:1 local match. In 2025, the Clarkston Community Center Foundation received a GA 100 grant for a grass soccer mini-pitch at Milam Park.