June 2015 - Parks & Recreation - 56

NRPA Update
Preparing the Troops for Battle
By Roxanne Sutton

t looked like an average professional development gathering. Attendees checked in, received folders stuffed with materials and meandered
off for coffee and networking with other park and recreation pros.
Despite the look, however, this gathering was a strategic and tactical briefing to prepare park and recreation professionals with the tools and
knowledge they'll need to lead Commit to Health sites during their summer
and after-school programming.
In its second year, the Walmart
Foundation's
Healthy
Out-ofSchool-Time Grant Program allowed 80 park and recreation
agencies to receive grants that will
support their USDA Summer Food
Service Programs (SFSP) and Child
and Adult Food Care Programs
(CAFCP). On May 12 in Reston,
Virginia, representatives from these
agencies gathered to learn how
to use their grants to help combat
countless health issues facing today's youth. Each agency is tasked
with increasing the number of
healthy meals served, providing nutrition literacy to children, implementing Healthy Eating and Physical Activity (HEPA) standards at
their program sites as part of NRPA's Commit to Health, and adopting policies to reduce food waste.
To prepare them for their task,
NRPA's partnerships team set up a
full day of training with expert advice from the USDA, Alliance for a
Healthier Generation, the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC),
National League of Cities, Afterschool Alliance, past grantees and
others. They shared some great tips
and advice from which all agencies
with summer and after-school programs can benefit.

54 Parks & Recreation

Marketing
Marketing summer and after-school
programs is not only important for
informing those populations who
need these services the most, it's
also important for managing the
perception that these programs are
only for " poor kids. " Clarissa Hayes,
child nutrition policy analyst with
FRAC, pointed out that it's important to keep " needy " language out of
marketing materials in order to help
combat the " poor kid " stigma that
may prevent those who actually need
these resources from attending.
Align Priorities with
Elected Officials
Jamie Nash, National League of Cities' senior associate of benefit outreach, gave advice on how to reign in
support from local elected officials.
First, agencies need to do their research and understand what the key
priorities are for their mayor and/or
council members. Then, they need to
align their summer and after-school
programs with these priorities. For
example, if safety is a priority for the
town council, agencies should show
how their programs contribute to
youth safety as well as feed hungry
kids nutritious meals, provide places
for physical activity and more.

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Data is also important to rally support from local officials. Agencies
should show the impact they already
make through number of sites, meals
served and children impacted, but they
also need to show where the gap is -
who isn't being served and what are the
consequences of that? Nash also recommends having a very specific ask. People are often surprised what their elected
officials may be able to do for them.
Train Staff (and Train Again)
Veteran grant recipient Katie Yandell,
aquatic and special programs coordinator from Lubbock, Texas, shared
that it's important for agencies adopting new healthy standards to train
their staff appropriately. Staff may be
used to doing things a certain way and
may even push back a little. Providing
hands-on training and following up
with staff throughout the program can
help make healthy changes easier.
After a successful and sunny day in
Reston, our latest grant recipients are
prepared to create healthier summer
and after-school programs at their
agencies. You can help combat childhood health issues, too, by signing on
to Commit to Health at www.nrpa.
org/committohealth.
Roxanne Sutton is NRPA's Senior Marketing
and Communications Specialist (rsutton@
nrpa.org).

June 2015 - Parks & Recreation

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