November 2014 - Parks & Recreation - 55

nrpa Update
Investing in People

The Chicago Park District implements a professional development overhaul to
support and advance the careers of its park and recreation professionals
By Samantha Bartram

H

ere at NRPA, one of our primary directives is to provide extensive professional development opportunities. Whether a member is looking
for additional certification or to expand their skill set, we do our best
to offer classes, seminars and webinars that fit the bill for continued education.
Implementing comprehensive, effective professional development within a department can be a daunting task requiring a significant investment of time and
resources. However, the Chicago Park District (CPD) has been tweaking its
educational opportunities for almost 20 years, recently arriving at a centralized
plan intended to benefit all its employees.
Back in the mid-1990s, CPD received
grants to establish the Neighborhood
First and Chicago Park District University (CPU) programs. These were
conducted in partnership with Chicago State University to provide ongoing
training for specific areas of expertise
including landscape management,
sports officiating and other disciplines.
At the time, trainings were mandated,
and while some employees believed
CPU was very useful, others felt a lack
of buy-in by all participants damaged
the program's efficacy. Nonetheless,
CPU continued to evolve and became
CAPRA-accredited, with a continued
focus on employee development.
" Then, in the early 2000s, CPU was
dismantled and our priorities kind of
changed a bit, " Nikki Ginger, CPRP
and professional development manager for CPD, explained in a recent
NRPA webinar. " We didn't really focus on accreditation and honestly kind
of let our accreditation go. " It wasn't
until late 2009 that her agency began to
reassess professional development and
come up with a new plan that would
truly support the educational needs of
all employees.
	

Supporting a Workforce
CPD never abandoned training for its
employees, but there was recognition
of a " need for a centralized program led
by one individual who would partner
with managers across the community
recreation department to ensure consistency and increase quality, " Ginger
says. To accomplish this, the agency,
under the direction of Chicago Mayor
Rahm Emanuel and CPD General Superintendent and CEO Michael Kelly,
adopted a strategic approach to retool
its professional development offerings.
" It started with a needs assessment that
included interviews and a detailed survey, " Ginger continues. " This assessment - which hadn't been done in recent history - asked employees what
they would like out of their professional development program. It doesn't focus solely on training, but also organization policy, mentorship and support.
The data we gathered from both the
interviews and survey helped create
a foundation that we could rely on to
launch the program. "
By no means was this a small undertaking - revamping a program to
provide educational support to CPD's

31,000 year-round, full-time employees, not to mention the thousands who
are seasonally employed, took careful
planning to address all the needs identified. But, says Ginger, the effort is
well worth the reward. " Professional
development is a worthy investment
in your employees, " she says.
And, facilitating certification for
CPD workers is an impactful sign to
the community and the field at large of
the value placed in park and recreation
professionals. " Certification is the
backbone of our professional development initiative, " Ginger says. Indeed,
that spine is quite strong now - before
implementing the new professional development protocols, the agency boasted only four Certified Park and Recreation Professionals (CPRPs) - today,
there 120 and growing.
" There are certainly many challenges to any new initiative, but that's what
makes the program so valuable, " Ginger says. " This was not an effort of one
individual - it took a community of
professionals. Does that mean if you
have a small agency that it's not possible
to deploy a professional development
program? Certainly not! Take small
steps and set achievable goals. "
For Ginger's tips for agencies looking to centralize or reboot professional
develoment, visit www.parksandrecreation.org/2014/November/Investing-in-People.
Samantha Bartram is the Associate Editor
of Parks & Recreation Magazine (sbartram@
nrpa.org).

w w w. N R PA . O R G | N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 4 |

Parks & Recreation

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November 2014 - Parks & Recreation

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of November 2014 - Parks & Recreation

November 2014 - Parks & Recreation - 1
November 2014 - Parks & Recreation - 2
November 2014 - Parks & Recreation - 3
November 2014 - Parks & Recreation - 4
November 2014 - Parks & Recreation - 5
November 2014 - Parks & Recreation - 6
November 2014 - Parks & Recreation - 7
November 2014 - Parks & Recreation - 8
November 2014 - Parks & Recreation - 9
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November 2014 - Parks & Recreation - 11
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