July 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 42

CAPRA
viewing several of their policies,
procedures and master plans. The
district, which serves a population
of more than 62,000, is Oregon's
first special park and recreation district,
designated in 1944. He found
inspiration in a CAPRA session
at the 2016 NRPA Annual Conference
in St. Louis and believed
CAPRA " was just a blueprint for
success to get us where we need to
be, to make sure we were using best
practices - not just updating our
existing
policies and procedures
but identifying what our deficiencies
are and enabling us to correct
those. "
After
chaired by Deputy Director Dave
Thommes, CPRE, with members
of its leadership team. The staff
saw the CAPRA process as an
opportunity
to
better
organize
their policies and procedures and
wanted to join the small group
of Illinois
CAPRA-accredited
becoming an Illinois
Distinguished Accredited Agency
in 2015 by the Illinois Association
of Park Districts and the Illinois
Park and Recreation Association,
the Oak Brook Park
District
decided to start the CAPRA
process. Oak Brook is a western
suburb of Chicago that is home
to approximately 8,000 residents
and 350 employers. To prepare,
the agency formed a committee
departments. In 2017, the Oak
Brook Park District did so.
When she joined Lower Makefield
Township, Pennsylvania, as
director of parks and recreation
in 2017, Monica Tierney, MBA,
M.Ed., CPRE, found the agency
was experiencing a growth spurt.
The township serves a population
of about 33,000 people and
is located on the Delaware River.
Tierney turned to NRPA and the
Management of Park and Recreation
Agencies book for guidance. She
used CAPRA guidelines to help
her create policies and plans for her
new parks and facilities. In 2019,
she decided the agency was ready
to earn the CAPRA accreditation.
The City of Atlanta Department
of Parks and Recreation,
which serves a population of nearly
500,000, recently embarked on a 10year
comprehensive master plan and
decided to pursue CAPRA for the
second time after a brief hiatus. The
department specializes in vibrant senior
and youth programming and is
responsible for forestry services on
more than 5,000 acres of city-owned
public land. According to Sabina
Kasumova, senior management analyst,
" We knew that the [CAPRA]
accreditation process itself would
provide a critical roadmap for improving
our
operations
through
comprehensive
self-assessment,
peer review and ongoing monitoring.
We aimed to identify areas of
strength, [to find] opportunities
to improve, and to ensure that our
policies and procedures are aligned
with best practices for parks and recreation
management. "
Lessons Learned
Dominic DeCono, CPRP, senior
management analyst for City of
Avondale, joined the staff in 2020
with
responsibilities to oversee
CAPRA. He shares that " going
through the CAPRA accreditation
process for two years almost feels
like I went back to school to get a
professional degree in parks and
recreation.... There were so many
things I had no idea about that after
going [through] the process, I now
have so much more knowledge
[about] and so does my team. "
Sydney Elliott, MBA, CPRP, youth
and business coordinator for DeSoto
Parks and Recreation Department,
says the team learned the strengths of
the staff members who were leading
the work for the initial accreditation
The City of Atlanta Department of
Parks and Recreation celebrates CAPRA
accreditation at the 2022 NRPA Annual
Conference in Phoenix.
42 Parks & Recreation | JULY 2 0 2 3
| PARK S ANDRECRE AT ION . OR G
PHOTO COURTESY OF CAUGHT IN THE MOMENT PHOTOGRAPHY
July 2023 - Parks & Recreation

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