June 2018 - Parks & Recreation - 67

NRPA's Public Policy Team on Capitol Hill
By Kate Clabaugh, MSW, and Kyle Simpson

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RPA's public policy team has been hard at work on Capitol Hill,
making the case that park and recreation agencies have a role to play
in some of the hottest debates happening right now in Congress.
NRPA spearheaded an effort with our partners at the US Water Alliance
and the National League of Cities to host a congressional briefing on green
infrastructure as part of Infrastructure Week. The event, " Water, Parks,
and Cities: Partners in Green Infrastructure, " brought Kathryn Ott Lovell,
Philadelphia's commissioner of parks and recreation; Kishia Powell, commissioner of the city of Atlanta's Department of Watershed Management;
and Cynthia Pratt, deputy mayor of Lacey, Washington, to Washington,
D.C., to discuss green infrastructure. The panel, aimed at congressional
staff, was NRPA's first event as an affiliate of Infrastructure Week. All three
panelists talked extensively about opportunities for park agencies and water
utilities to work together to implement green infrastructure at scale.
Atlanta and Philadelphia exemplify how overcoming political,
institutional and financial challenges to build strong relationships
between water utility and park departments can transform neighborhoods and cities. From the Historic
Fourth Ward Park in Atlanta to
the dozens of water/parks partnerships throughout the city of Philadelphia, examples abound of multifunctional green infrastructure
projects that provide huge benefits
to the respective cities.
On the health and wellness
front, NRPA has been advocating
alongside key out-of-school-time
partners, including the Afterschool
Alliance, Boys & Girls Clubs of
America and the National 4-H
Council, to raise the profile of
quality summer and afterschool
programs as a critical strategy in
combatting the nation's opioid
epidemic. Montgomery County
(Maryland) Recreation was invited
by the Senate Afterschool Caucus
to present on its Excel Beyond the Bell
(EBB) program as part of a Capitol

Hill briefing, titled " Afterschool &
Summer Learning Programs: Key
Partners in Prevention & Response
to the Substance Abuse Crisis, "
(check out this Afterschool Alliance blog about our briefing at
https://tinyurl.com/ybqhs9zm).
EBB aims to keep young people
healthy, productive and connected during out-of-school time. It is
the ideal example of how park and
recreation agencies are redefining
substance use prevention among
youth. With a proven track record
for increasing resilience, supporting positive youth development and
preventing substance use, EBB has
shown how investing in afterschool
and summer learning programs is
a cost-effective way for Congress
to help build and enhance an integrated trauma-informed system
that supports children, youth and
families impacted by the substance
misuse crisis in this country.
A few other key events on Capitol Hill are already in the works
for this summer as the public policy team continues the fight for the

Philadelphia Parks & Recreation's Kathryn
Ott Lovell (left) and City of Atlanta Department of Watershed Management's Kishia
Powell participated in the recently held
green infrastructure briefing on Capitol Hill.

federal dollars used by park and
recreation agencies nationwide -
stay tuned!
- Kate Clabaugh, MSW, and Kyle
Simpson, NRPA's Senior Government
Affairs Managers

W W W. PA R K S A N D R E C R E AT I O N . O R G | J U N E 2 0 1 8 |

Parks & Recreation

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June 2018 - Parks & Recreation

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