August 2017 - Parks & Recreation - 27

prove my writing, planning and, most
importantly, my public speaking skills.
Interning with Live Healthy Gwinnett
has given me the upper hand for the future and prepared me to become more
confident and successful. "
Building Technical Skills Through
Hands-On Learning
Rec2Tech Pittsburgh was launched in
September 2016 to demonstrate how municipal assets can be leveraged to address
the digital divide. During a one-week
demonstration, Rec2Tech Pittsburgh
transformed five city-owned recreation
centers into technology-enhanced learning centers, where youth learned to use
technology to express their creativity,
solve real-world problems and build
job-ready skills. Examples of activities included youth combining art and
drone photography to document their
community, using engineering to create
a self-watering greenhouse out of upcycled materials and designing characters,
building levels and making their own
video game controllers.
" Rec2Tech demonstrated how we can
use existing city resources to increase
access to technology and provide young
people with the 21st-century learning
opportunities they will need to succeed
in the innovation economy, " says Pittsburgh Mayor, William Peduto.
Congressional Action Around CTE
and Workforce Development
A series of congressional actions around
CTE and workforce development in recent years has created a significant new
opportunity for providers, such as local
park and rec agencies, to tap into the federal funding and resources available for
CTE programs nationwide.
The Every Student Succeeds Act
(ESSA), formerly known as No Child
Left Behind, was signed into law by former President Obama in December 2015

and will go into effect this fall. Included in the new law is updated language
that allows funding from the 21st Century Community Learning Center (21st
CCLC) program to be used specifically
for workforce development and CTE.
(To learn more about 21st CCLC, read
June's Parks & Recreation magazine article " Federal Budget Cuts Threaten
Educational Funding " (http://ow.ly/
Ow8U30dOUHh).
As part of President Trump's " Workforce Development Week " in June 2017,
an initiative to highlight job training programs and apprenticeships, the House
Subcommittee on Higher Education
and Workforce Development hosted a
hearing titled, " Helping Americans Get
Back to Work: Implementation of the
Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act
(WIOA). " A portion of this hearing was
dedicated to the role afterschool programs can play in preparing students for
future employment.
Finally, the House Committee on Education and the Workforce introduced the
Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act in June
2016 and then again this past spring. The
bill (now numbered H.R.2353) passed
the full House and was referred to the
Senate Health, Education, Labor and
Pensions (HELP) Committee for consideration in late June 2017. Specific provisions of the bill that would benefit local
park and rec agencies include:
* Establishment of an " Innovation
Grant Program " that would reserve 25
percent of an initial $7.5 million allocation for specific programs, including
partnerships with nonprofits and local
municipalities.
* Allowance for community-based partners, defined as a " local public organization, " to become eligible entities
to receive funding directly to support
CTE programs locally.
* Prioritization of STEM (science, tech-

nology, engineering and math) learning programs for underrepresented
students, especially those encouraging
career pathways for non-traditional careers, such as girls in computer science
or coding camps for Latino or African-American students.
* Allowance for career development activities to start as early as fifth grade
(previous limit was seventh grade).
Park and rec agencies are incredibly
well-positioned to offer CTE programs
or incorporate CTE activities into current
programming. Your agency may already
be working in partnership with your local
school district or higher education institutions to offer CTE, but now is the time
for park and rec agencies to help lead the
work in this area and bring a greater emphasis on CTE into the OST space.
We need your help to demonstrate
to Congress how park and rec agencies
are offering CTE activities locally and
how federal funding and resources can
be used to support these efforts. If your
agency is currently offering a CTE program or you are interested in learning
more, please contact me.
Kate Sims is NRPA's Government Affairs Manager
(ksims@nrpa.org).

Share your CTE stories, learn how federal
funding affects local parks and rec, and
gain critical advocacy skills at the inaugural Park Champion Advocacy Summit at
the 2017 NRPA Annual Conference! This
advocacy and storytelling workshop will
teach you all you need to know about
how to step up as a Park Champion.
The Park Champion Advocacy Summit
is a 3.5-hour workshop that will be held
Monday, September 25, 2017, prior to
the start of conference. Registration is
free for conference attendees and CEUs
will be offered - visit www.nrpa.org/
park-champions for more information
and to register.

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August 2017 - Parks & Recreation

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