January 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 14

WE ARE PARKS AND RECREATION
CAPRA Volunteering: Preparing the Next
Generation of Accreditation Leaders
By Tara Eggleston Stewart, CPRE, AFO, M.S.
C
alling all Certified Park and Recreation Professionals (CPRPs)
and Executives (CPREs) - are you looking to learn more about
the accreditation process or further develop your leadership
within the process for your agency? If you answered " yes " to
either question, then consider CAPRA Volunteering.
NRPA is actively recruiting volunteers
to serve as CAPRA Review
Team (CRT) Members, Leads,
Advisors
and Agency
Mentors.
According to NRPA's CAPRA
accreditation manager, Jennifer
Schleining, " The CAPRA volunteer
program is essential to the success
of the CAPRA Accreditation
Program. Each individual serving
provides their time and invaluable
talents supporting agencies as mentors,
representing the commission
as CRT members, conducting report
reviews and site visits (virtual
or in person) during the annual
visit season, coaching CRT members
as a CRT Advisor or providing
overall governance for the program
as a CAPRA Commissioner or
Committee member. We are grateful
for each and every one of our
volunteers and the important role
they play with CAPRA. "
My journey as a CAPRA Volunteer
began in 2015 while attending
the NRPA Annual Conference in
Las Vegas. Since then, I have served
in several volunteer roles and have
completed six accreditation visits
- three in person and three virtual.
I have served in the role previously
known as a " Site Visitor, " now
CRT Member, and have worked
with an agency as a CAPRA Mentor
as they pursued reaccreditation.
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In 2022, I served as a CAPRA
Advisor for a CRT and joined the
CAPRA Volunteer Committee.
Serving as a volunteer has been
one of the most rewarding and
knowledge-building experiences of
my career. Getting to know the accreditation
standards as a volunteer
was also very helpful as I pursued
becoming a CPRE, as much of the
information covered in the Management
of Park and Recreation Agencies,
4th Edition, the textbook used to
study for the exam, also provides
content references for the 154 accreditation
standards.
Roles and Responsibilities
CRT Member
CRT Members work with other
team members to review an agency's
self-assessment and make the initial
recommendation on whether the
agency's narratives and submitted evidence
of compliance meet enough
of the standards to move forward
to the official site visit and review
of the complete self-assessment.
The CRT acts as the eyes and ears
of the Commission while conducting
the initial and site-visit reviews.
They conduct interviews and review
all narratives and evidence of compliance,
and seek information from
the agency, the CRT Advisor, and
the Commission to provide further
| PARK S ANDRECRE AT ION . OR G
guidance to the applying agency regarding
compliance.
CRT Lead
Team Leads provide
and guidance
direction
to Review Team
Members and serve as the main
point of contact with the applying
agency throughout the CAPRA
review process. Leads ensure the
CRT is organized and completes a
thorough review of an agency's selfassessment.
They ensure
timely
and effective communication with
the agency director, accreditation
lead and staff, and review team
members regarding all initial and
onsite
reviews. The Team Lead
manages the logistics for virtual
and in-person site visits, including
agency and Review Team meetings
and development of the final
executive field summary report.
CRT Advisor
CRT Advisors serve as a liaison
between the Review Team and the
Commission, providing guidance
to Review Teams as they complete
the initial and site-visit reviews.
Advisors are there to answer questions
regarding the review of the
self-assessment process, assist with
reviewing compliance challenges
as they arise, and to reach out to
the Commission and Accredita
January 2023 - Parks & Recreation

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