October 2020 - Parks & Recreation - 12

P E R S P E C T I V E S A M E S S A G E F R O M N R P A' S L E A D E R S

Embracing Future Opportunities
It seems like just last week when I transitioned to the
NRPA board chair role during the 2018 NRPA Annual
Conference in Indianapolis, Indiana, with three things
in mind: 1) collaborating, partnering and further developing a nationwide park movement that builds on coalitions, alliances and partnerships; 2) owning the voices of
NRPA's Pillars by taking deeper dives into research and
data delivery, especially in the areas of resiliency, urban
revitalization and economic impact; and 3) returning to
NRPA's roots by rebuilding our philanthropic capacity.
As the board developed an agenda focused on a new
strategic plan, President and CEO Barbara Tulipane
announced her retirement, and a national recruitment
for a new leader and subsequent reorganization at headquarters began. After eight months of due diligence,
our board transition team ultimately selected Kristine
Stratton to lead NRPA. And, despite a national pandemic creating chaos throughout the nation, this incredible
board of directors and Kristine's leadership team collectively developed an amazing work plan that included:
% Finalizing a five-year actionable and inspirational Strategic Plan built on our pillars of community
Health and Wellness, Equity and Conservation
% Establishing a board Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Task Force that developed internal-and
external-facing strategies and established a new vice
president of education and chief equity officer
% Initiating cooperative international agreements with
our counterparts in Canada, Mexico and Australia
% Leading the public policy charge to get the Land and
Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) Great Outdoors
Act permanently signed into law
% Creating a development manager position at headquarters and re-energizing philanthropy, while connecting and leveraging it with corporate sponsorships
% Establishing new partnerships with our state affiliates
at the Council of State Executive Directors (CSED),
City Park Alliance and World Urban Parks to drive
the Parks Movement effort
NRPA's leadership inside and outside of the United
States in COVID-19 response and park reopening has
been our biggest challenge and most critical success.
Rather than allow it to threaten our momentum, we
used data analytics to establish a new normal, with the
biggest decision of all being to pivot from a physical
conference to a virtual conference format.
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Parks & Recreation

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As I wrap up my tenure as board chair, I want to
thank the incredible volunteers who have worked so
hard these past two years as your NRPA Board of
Directors! And, as I look ahead, here are just some of
our opportunities:
% We can continue to serve as the beacon for best practices in our profession by developing a comprehensive
continuum of professional development that creates a
common language, standards and measurement, and
connects academics, certification, accreditation and
Gold Medal recognition
% We can work with our state associations, allied park
nonprofits and World Urban Parks to ensure the strategies for our pandemic recovery and the projected budgetary impacts are mitigated to every extent possible
through durable and coordinated advocacy that focuses
on revenue stabilization and infrastructure stimulus
% As we advance community health and equity, we can
level the economic playing field and re-establish our
role in youth sports, working with the President's
Council on Sports, Physical Fitness and Nutrition
% As a key component of a national Parks Movement,
we can continue building on the 10 Minute Walk
movement to include the establishment of local " park
districts " with permanent, dedicated and sustainable
funding in every community across this nation
% Without reinventing the wheel, we can learn so much
from our international partners, like the Canadian
" Parks for All " model, and create a similar unified
national public policy framework for parks and recreation in the United States
And, if a Parks Movement is to mean anything, we must
infuse intelligence and human compassion into today's political dialogue, actively managing our parks systems and
transcending party politics to speak up for what is right, and
defend what will endure as tributes to healing and social
justice throughout our nation's public parks. To do that, we
must believe that we are strong, we are confident, we are
selfless, we are passionate, we are driven and we are essential. WE ARE PARKS AND RECREATION!

JACK K ARDYS
Chair, NRPA Board of Directors
October 2020 - Parks & Recreation

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of October 2020 - Parks & Recreation
