CONFERENCE SESSION BLOCK 6

Closing the Gap: Community Schoolyards as Neighborhood Parks

Description: 

Over the last 20 years, The Trust for Public Land's Community Schoolyards program has transformed hundreds of conventional schoolyards in New York, Newark, Philadelphia, and Oakland into densely layered nature rich spaces. Current planning aims to bring Community Schoolyards to six million more people in 20 school districts. As part of this effort, the Tacoma Community Schoolyards program was launched, piloting five community schoolyards in the Eastside and South End neighborhoods of Tacoma. Through an innovative partnership between the Trust for Public Land, Metro Parks Tacoma and Tacoma Public Schools, the program looks to make a significant impact on the city's park access gap by re-thinking schoolyards as neighborhood resources for all. Over 30% of Tacoma residents cannot access parks and open spaces within a 10-minute walk of their homes, the largest park access gap of any major city in the state of Washington. Partnerships such as this can be the most effective way to increase access to open space resources. This panel discusses the nuts and bolts of Community Schoolyards including creating interagency agreements, designing schoolyards as park resources, and facilitating participatory design processes that are equitable and inclusive.

Presented by: 

Vinita Sidhu, Principal, Site Workshop

Biography: Vinita Sidhu, PLA ASLA is a Principal at Site Workshop and currently serves as Chair of the Seattle Design Commission. Her professional expertise includes public parks, healthcare and university campuses, K-12 schools, and cultural landscapes. She is focused on improving community wellness through close collaboration with stakeholders, clients and integrated teams to design and build projects that achieve design excellence through implementation of a shared vision. Combining thoughtful design with an emphasis on equity, she aims to connect people to nature and to each other through the artful creation of landscapes that are welcoming, immersive and engaging.

Mitsu Iwasaki, Associate Vice President and Northwest Area Director, Trust for Public Land

Biography: Mitsu oversees activities to create parks and conserve green open spaces in Washington and Oregon. In Washington and Oregon combined, TPL has helped preserve 222,867 acres of open space and connected over 200,000 people to a park or natural area within a 10-minute walk of home. As part of the Northwest Team, Mitsu will help further TPL's current conservation and trail building work in Wenatchee, Washington and the Mountain to Sound Greenway as well as TPL's parks and schoolyards projects in Chiloquin, Oregon and Tacoma, Washington.

Kristi Evans, Capital Program Manager - Community and Neighborhood Parks,  Metro Parks Tacoma

Biography: Parks and Recreation has been my life for the past 30 years, working for Metro Parks Tacoma. I have had the honor to manage projects from the renovation of 100 year old parks and facilities to bringing on new parks. I am a Washington State University graduate in Landscape Architecture. Outside of work I enjoy the outdoors/nature as my playground, biking, hiking and meditating. I hold season tickets to the Sounders and cheer on the Liverpool Football Club.

Learning Objectives

1. The participant will be able to discuss and explain how partnerships between public agencies and non-profit organizations can be applied to increase community access to open space resources.
2. The participant will understand how to develop a community and stakeholder engagement process that balances the unique needs of school communities with neighborhood park goals.
3. The participant will understand and be able to discuss the benefits of designing schoolyards as community resources for the whole neighborhood.
   

Giving People with Passion for Parks a Purpose

Description: 

During the pandemic, the Friends of Manito and Spokane Parks working together were able to create a magical drive through Holiday Light event that has become a staple annual community event. Join City of Spokane Parks and Recreation staff and Friends of Manito Park Board members as they share the success stories of their partnership and walk away with a tool kit you can utilize to help guide your existing ‘friends of’ groups or utilize to start up new groups effectively where you find passionate individuals willing to help. Friends Groups are volunteers who play an invaluable role in helping to protect, preserve and promote their local parks. Park Friends volunteers add resources where budgets are limited, and enhance the vitality and quality of a park they steward. Activities may include park clean-up days, fundraising activities, assisting with programming the park with recreational activities, advocating for park improvements, and similar. Encouraging positive relationships with Friends groups and embracing practices that invite community participation not only result in better parks, but also more successful agencies. How an agency engages with a Friends group determines the successful outcomes of this partnership; the foundation for the relationship must be built on trust and transparency and have clear structure and boundaries. If done correctly, these passionate citizens can assist your agency in many ways.

Presented by: 

Kelly Brown, Board President, Friends of Manito Park

Biography: Kelly Brown is the current Board President for The Friends of Manito, a founding board member for The Friends of Riverfront Park, and the Chair of the Development and Volunteer Committee Citizens Advisory Committee of the Spokane Park Board. Kelly is passionate about celebrating Spokane's beautiful parks and creating partnerships to help keep our community treasures beautiful for present and future generations.

Fianna Dickson, Communications Manager, City of Spokane Parks and Recreation

Biography: Fianna is the Communication & Marketing Manager for Spokane Parks & Recreation. She serves as the staff liaison for two committees - Development & Volunteer and the Citizen Advisory Committee. She also helped develop the department's volunteer framework, matrix for community engagement, and Park Friends policy and toolkit. Fianna holds a Master's degree in Communication, and has 10+ years of experience as an adjunct professor in the field.

Angel Spell, Assistant Director of Natural Resources, City of Spokane Parks & Recreation

Biography: Angel is an experienced arborist, urban forester, and natural resource manager dedicated to the municipal parks and recreation environment for the past 20 years. She currently works as Assistant Director of Natural Resources for the City of Spokane where she manages the Urban Forestry program, Finch Arboretum, Manito Park, and thousands of acres of trails, open space, and conservation areas. Angel is certified by the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) as an Arborist and Municipal Specialist. Angel has served as past President and Governance Director of the PNW Chapter of ISA, past Chair and member of the Washington Community Forestry Council, and member of the Strategic Advisory Team for the NUCFAC Ten-Year Urban Forestry Action Plan in 2014-2015. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in biology and a Master’s degree in environmental policy and management. Angel recognizes the guidance and influence of her mentors and teachers along this 20-year personal and professional journey. Their enduring presence has made everything possible.   

Jennifer Papich, Director of Recreation, City of Spokane Parks and Recreation Department

Biography: Jennifer Papich is the Recreation Director for Spokane Parks and Recreation. Jennifer works closely with the Friends of Manito Group during the 10 day Holiday Lights Event, and the planning and coordinating that lead up to and follow the event. Jennifer has over 23 years experience in the profession of Parks and Recreation and has worked in a variety of areas prior to her current role from special events, volunteer management, programming, athletic field allocations, fitness, aquatics and others. She has held a variety of positions on the WRPA board and is currently the Past President.

Learning Objectives

1. Receive a tool kit full of concepts, direction and inspiration on how to effectively stand-up Friends Groups.
2. Discuss relationship building techniques to set your partnerships off on the right foot.
3. Explore successful projects and events that can originate as a result of activating passionate citizens.

Go Mobile! A Mobile Recreation Case Study

Description: 

Connecting with our communities and creating opportunities for all is a fundamental part of the parks and recreation profession. Eliminating barriers to participation such as transportation is one of the many ways a recreation department can serve its community. The best way to remove a transportation barrier is to bring the programs to the community. Mobile recreation programs are becoming increasingly popular as they bring play to children. Learn from the cities of Auburn and Federal Way about their newly created mobile recreation programs which debuted last summer. Hear how they were created, marketed, and implemented. Learn from their successes and mistakes so you can create a mobile recreation program of your own!

Presented by: 

Kevin Witte, Recreation Manager, Auburn Parks, Arts & Recreation

Biography: Kevin has been working in parks and recreation for over 15 years having created several events and programs to connect with his community. Kevin is always looking to try new things and improve existing programs to best serve the public. Kevin created a mobile recreation program in 2022 by examining other successful programs and repurposing assets to make a wildly successful program that he wants to share with you.

Ashley Gain, Facility Assistant, Auburn Parks, Arts & Recreation

Biography: Ashley is a recent grad from WWU. She has worked for the cities of Puyallup and SeaTac, and currently works in Auburn. Ashley helped create and implement the Rec ‘n Roll program and wants to share her experience with others. She is passionate about recreation and how it impacts youth development and contributes to their overall well-being and social development. Ashley looks forward to doing more community and outdoor based recreational programs in the future.

Cody Geddes, Recreation Manager, City of Federal Way

Biography: Cody has been working in parks and recreation for over 20 years and is passionate about trying to serve the local communities where they are at. The Pandemic challenged all departments to look at the best ways to reach citizens and youth in their communities. The mobile recreation program allowed the City of Federal Way to connect with areas of the city that have been historically underserved. Cody's goal is to explore the challenges, obstacles, and successes of the mobile recreation program to help others be more successful.

Learning Objectives

1. Learn how to create a mobile recreation program from the ground up.
2. Learn what types of activities were the most successful.
3. Learn what type of sites are the most successful for a mobile program.
   

Accessibility in Parks and Rec: Software, Website, and in General

Description: 

Web accessibility is the law. Governments are being sued, fined, and exposed for being inaccessible. But what are the laws? How do I know if my website and recreational software is accessible? How can I ensure people with disabilities can use my website and recreational software?In this session, we will unpack what web accessibility means for parks and recreation, what the rules are, and how you can ensure that you are not only compliant, but that you have an accessible website and recreational software that works for everyone, regardless of ability. We will discuss how to use your website and recreational software to ensure equity for people who have a disability.

Presented by: 

Don Torrez, Partner Manager, CivicPlus

Biography: 

Don Torrez has worked with more than 350 local governments to better understand web accessibility and how to best comply with law and guidelines.
Don is a Certified Accessibility Coordinator with the ADA and has written training curriculum on Web Accessibility and speaks out for greater awareness in electronic disability issues. His vision is to remove the fear and confusion from this issue.

Brian Scott, Partner Manager, CivicPlus

Biography: 

With 10 years local government technology experience, Brian has helped 600+ municipalities become highly ADA compliant and provide a better streamlined experience for their citizens, customers, and internal staff. As a recreation software public user, he registers our CPHQ intermural sports teams.

John Botelli, Parks, Recreation & Facilities Director, Spokane Valley Parks & Recreation

Biography: John Bottelli was appointed Director of Parks, Recreation & Facilities for the City of Spokane Valley in 2021. John has a Bachelor's degree in Environmental Studies from the University of Vermont and a Master's degree in Natural Resource Management from Central Washington University. Mr. Bottelli has over 23 years of experience as a public employee, including 16 years in Parks and Recreation and an extensive background in managing parks, recreation programs and facilities including involvement in the acquisition and development of park land for recreational purposes. John was a member of the Washington State Local Parks Advisory Committee from 2008 to 2021.

Learning Objectives

1. Learn to integrate accessibility into your strategic communication plans.
2. Learn laws and codes that apply to accessibility.
3. Explore how to ensure equity for people who have a disability.

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