February 2021 - Parks & Recreation - 10

W E A R E P A R K S A N D R E C R E AT I O N

How CAPRA Learned to Love Zoom and
Maintained Continuity in the Wake of COVID-19
By Jennifer Schleining

t was Friday, March 6, 2020. The CAPRA Commission had just
wrapped up a productive retreat at NRPA headquarters in Ashburn,
Virginia, when suddenly the conversation quickly shifted to the
growing concern about the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) and how
it was going to impact NRPA activities, such as the upcoming CAPRA
visit season. Commissioners expressed some concerns about what types
of travel and physical distancing restrictions agencies were implementing,
including some of our site visitors' agencies. It quickly became clear that
the CAPRA Commission, in partnership with NRPA staff, would have
to conduct all 2020 CAPRA visits virtually. It was one thing to make
that decision - it was another to figure out how that would happen. The
CAPRA Commission and NRPA staff had to develop plans very quickly
since visits were due to start on March 30.

The Plan
On Thursday, March 12, the
CAPRA Commission sent a communication to all 2020 agencies,
reviewers and visitors that instructed them to immediately halt travel
arrangements for all CAPRA visits; that visits would take place virtually; and that NRPA/CAPRA
would be hosting a webinar to
discuss details. Positive feedback
from the 2020 agencies, reviewers and visitors signaled that the
CAPRA community was willing

Maria Nardi, director of Miami-Dade
County Parks, Recreation and Open
Spaces, participates in a virtual CAPRA
visit.
10

Parks & Recreation

and able to make this transition,
providing a much-needed confidence boost for the success of
the commission's plan. Right after sending this communication,
NRPA closed its headquarters
building, in response to the severity of the pandemic nationwide.
NRPA staff and the CAPRA
Commission introduced their plan
to 189 attendees during a March 20
webinar. Agencies would be given
five days for their visits (Monday to
Friday) and NRPA/CAPRA would
host the kickoff and wrap up meetings via Zoom during the week. The
Visit Teams received the agency
self-assessment reports upon their
approval, giving the teams the opportunity to start their review right
away and compare notes in advance
of the scheduled visit. At least seven
to 10 days prior to the start of the
visit, Visit Chairs provided the agencies with a list of outstanding issues
and concerns that they expected
the agency would need to address.
NRPA/CAPRA provided each

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team with a Google Drive folder
to help them stay organized. Visit
Teams could collaborate at the same
time on the final visit report and
have private conversations about
the visit. The agency had access to a
designated folder where they could
upload additional materials as requested by the Visit Team.

The Results
The Visit Teams conducted 37 virtual visits during a 19-week period from March to September. All
Visit Teams included at least one
first-time visitor. Park and recreation professionals are known for
their creativity, and a number of
agencies demonstrated that during
their virtual visits. A few examples included agencies sending
daily videos of specific parks and
recreation centers; creating virtual
backgrounds highlighting some of
the parks and facilities that they described during kickoff meetings for
the visit; and sharing images that
described and demonstrated the
unique culture of each agency.

The Feedback
The CAPRA Commission received
positive feedback from staff at many
of the agencies that participated in
virtual visits during the COVID-19
pandemic. Katie Lockhart, outdoor education and parks manager
at Garner (North Carolina) Parks,
Recreation and Cultural Resources,
says, " I think we may have been the
first virtual visit. We could not have
asked for a better experience given

February 2021 - Parks & Recreation

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