WRPA 2021 Conference Breakout Session Block 4

• Session 4A
• Session 4B
• Session 4C
• Session 4D

Bringing Anti-Racist Practices to Your Agency: Caucus Train-the-Facilitator 

Description:

Participants must attend Bringing Anti-Racist Practices to Your Agency: Racial Identity Caucus session first. In this session, you will explore a tool designed to improve your ability to serve as a change agent within your organization. Change agents work to normalize equity discussions, practices and to center equity as a core value within their organization.

You will learn how to host racial identity caucuses and help normalize equity discussions at your workplace. You will get to practice hosting while exploring the instructional design and adult education theories that power the experience. You will receive tips on facilitation style and ideas for delivery from your peers. You will close out the experience by crowdsourcing ways to bring caucusing back to your workplace. Join us to learn how to bring racial identity caucusing to your team.

Learning Objectives:

• Participants will explore tools designed to improve their ability to serve as change agents within their community.
• Participants will practice applying tools that help normalize equity discussions and practices within their organization.
• Participants will work together to brainstorm ways to implement the tools within their organizations.

REGISTRANT NOTE! This session has a limited number of available spots (25 BIPOC and 25 White Ally) and requires additional registration. In order to participate in this session, you MUST also attend the prerequisite course, PART 1 Session 3A.

Presented by: 

WRPA Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Committee, WRPA has launched a new committee in support of our commitment to Equity, Inclusion & Belonging (EIB). The EIB committee was formed in recognition that many public service institutions were created during a time when societal norms privileged and included some groups, while they disadvantaged and excluded others, creating inequities. These founding policies, practices, this culture, behaviors, and beliefs created day-to-day barriers for equity-seeking communities, which have compounded over time. The legacy of these barriers is sustained in our current time, through the unconscious practice of doing things as they have always been done. If left unexamined and unchanged, our current policies, practices, and procedure recreate the historical exclusions set by their predecessors.

WRPA’s EIB Committee is an invitation for members of our professional community to connect, collaborate, and increase equity within our profession.

Shanyanika McElroy, Policy and Organizational Performance Advisor, Seattle Parks & Recreation

Shanyanika McElroy believes that today's public servants have a responsibility to undo the harm caused by a legacy of oppressive government policies and practices. She has enjoyed a 20-year career focused on removing barriers that prevent marginalized community members' access to recreation experiences. Shanyanika currently serves at Seattle Parks and Recreation and is a WRPA Board Member.

Brian Judd, Enterprise, Partnerships in Community Manager, Seattle Parks, and Recreation

Brian Judd works for Seattle Parks and Recreation as the Manager of Magnuson Park and engages in other special projects. During his 17 years with SPR, Brian has led teen programs, run community centers, opened a flagship recreation complex, and currently oversees 63 property contracts leveraging $1.7 million in private-public partnership revenue (with even more value in public benefit) at Magnuson Park. Brian has long been committed to racial justice work as a white ally in the workplace and within the Jewish community in Seattle. He appreciates that this work provides him a safe space to grow, learn, and co-create with colleagues like his co-presenter Shanyanika McElroy.

Keeping Communities Connected - Virtual Programming During COVID19 and Beyond

Description:

Our job as recreation professionals is to bring people together, to play, stay fit, socialize, and so much more. When COVID 19 hit and people could no longer congregate, everything we do was put on hold, programs were canceled, planning future programs and events stopped, and we began to lay off hundreds of employees. Seattle Parks and Recreations saw the impacts that the pandemic was going to have on communities long term and as a result, we decided to keep people connected by offering the best aspects of our in-person programs on-line. With no dedicated funding and some blood sweat, and tears, we completely transformed how we do business. By the Fall of 2020, we offered 108 programs with over 2,200 registrations. In this session, we will talk about how we did it, including successes and blunders, new partnerships we made, and our plans for the future of Virtual Programming.

Learning Objectives:

• Attendees will leave with an understanding of what it takes to make a successful virtual program.
• Strategies for tackling equity on-line which is fundamentally an in-equitable platform including partnership development.
• Attendees will learn how virtual programming can become more equitable than what we were providing pre-pandemic.

Presented by: 

Moshe Hecht, MPA, Sr. Recreation Program Coordinator, City of Seattle Parks and Recreation

Moshe Hecht, MPA is a Sr. Recreation Program Coordinator at Seattle Parks and Recreation where he has worked in various roles over the last 15 years. He has his master’s in public administration from the Evans School of Public Policy and Governance at the UW. Over his career he has led multiple transformative efforts for the department to better serve communities through recreation. Most recently he has been leading the Virtual Programming Team in response to the COVID-19 in order to provide safe recreation opportunities.

Katherine Ichinoe, Marketing Manager, Associated Recreation Council

Katherine received a BS from Western Oregon University where she studied graphic design and has been working in marketing and graphic design for nearly 15 year. Since then, she worked and designed in a print shop, advertised real estate, has a variety of marketing jobs with the Associated Recreation Council including her current position as Marketing Manager. As the Marketing Manager Katherine manages a team who is responsible for supporting the programming and marketing of recreation programs for the Seattle Parks and Recreation.

Demystifying Land Dedication, Development & Impact Fees

Description:

Over the next 20 years, the population across the USA is projected to grow by 10%. This will require new parks, trails, and open space as absorbing growth is no longer an option.  As administrators, you must fairly and equitably finance growth to maintain a high-quality system. One of the best tools available is a well-thought-out land development and impact fee policy, designed to ensure that "growth pays its own way". In this session, participants will be introduced to funding methodologies and the important financial and legal ramifications inherent in land dedication and development policies. Participants will be introduced to the math and tools used to determine appropriate fees. We will discuss the importance of using an equity lens and the impact of discounting fees on founder-served communities. Participants will "do the math" with examples and leave with a checklist on the important steps needed to create, implement, and review policy.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the financial and legal ramifications inherent to land dedication and impact fee policies.
• Understand how fees are set, and how to calculate land dedication, fees-in-lieu of land dedication and development fees for their parks and recreation system.
• Learn about the options available, the impact of discounting fees, and why fairness and equity are important concepts to ensure a sustainable funding mechanism for future growth.

Presented by: 

Jeff Milkes, Project Manager CPRP, B.S., M.S., GreenPlay, LLC

Jeff Milkes is a Project Manager with GreenPlay, LLC currently working with parks and recreation agencies in Oregon, California, Nevada, Colorado, and Arizona completing long-term master planning efforts. Jeff is a former Parks and Recreation Director, manager, and supervisor. He served fifteen years overseas supporting the military in MWR positions, retiring as Community Recreation Officer. Jeff holds a B.S., in Parks and Recreation from the University of Oregon and an M.S., in Parks and Recreation from Texas A&M University. Jeff has served as a college instructor in leadership and has spoken at WRPA, ORPA (Oregon), and at NRPA Conferences.

Swimming Through It—Defining Essential Aquatic Services During a Pandemic 

Description:

In the ever-changing environments of aquatic centers during the COVID pandemic, leaders must challenge themselves to find innovative options for staff development, community partnership, and mission-driven programming. Attendees will discuss the evolution of aquatic center norms and work to define a new advocacy model for educating elected officials, staff teams, and community members.

Learning Objectives:

• Participants will learn to define essential aquatic services in emergencies.
• Participants will enhance knowledge of how to start advocating for aquatics.
• Participants will be given new resources for developing and implementing facility reopening plans.

Presented by: 

Cory Hilderbrand, Community Services Manager, City of Irvine

Cory Hilderbrand is currently the Community Services Manager of Aquatics, Arts, and Human Services for the City of Irvine. He currently oversees a staff of 250 and manages day-to-day activities and two year-round aquatics facilities, two art-specific centers, three senior centers, and our ability center. Cory has worked in Aquatics and Recreation Management for over 20 years in both Washington and California. He is currently the President of the Association of Aquatics Professionals.

Lydie Gutfeld, Community Services Manager, City of Mission Viejo

Lydie Gutfeld has been presenting for over 10 years on topics ranging from active aging, contracting, leadership, marketing, and staff management. With over 25 years in recreation, she brings an energetic and passionate view to the definition of leadership. Lydie completed her MPA at California State University Fullerton in 2017 with honors and had the honor of being selected as the top fellow for the City Manager Fellowship internship. She currently works for the City of Mission Viejo where she is the Recreation and Community Services Manager responsible for Aquatics, Tennis, Recreation and fitness, teen programs, after school programs, special events, marketing, and staff development. Lydie has been a passionate advocate for aquatics and parks and recreation for many years and served in the presidential series on the CPRS State Board 2017-2020. She has developed numerous educational sessions to engage her audiences at various state, national and international conferences including California Park and Recreation Society, Nevada Recreation and Parks, Women in Leisure Services National, and Municipal Management Association Southern California, AOAP, and NIRSA.

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