CPRA 2021 State of the Association Report

2021 State of the Association Report

By Allison Kincaid, Executive Director, Colorado Parks & Recreation Association

Dear CPRA Members,

What a difference a year makes. Last year at this time we were all faced with incredible uncertainty, facilities were closing and communities were struggling to come to grips with a pandemic. I don’t think that any of you need me to remind you of the challenges you faced in the last year but perhaps you might like a reminder of how incredible you’ve been in your willingness to adapt, persist, and continue to provide the important services and opportunities that your communities needed, at a time when they needed it the most. Your work did not go unnoticed and your contributions were recognized by our Governor, our CO State Department of Public Health & Environment, and Local Health Departments across the State. Looking back, it was an incredible time to be a part of this inspiring industry and to be able to work to advocate for all of you! A year later, we are looking forward to a Spring and Summer with far more certainty and an exciting recovery. While we aren’t in the clear yet, we can certainly see it on the horizon as more vaccines are made available every week and the most vulnerable populations are now protected. Like 2020, this Spring will be another one to remember! Just as you are working hard every day to restore services to your communities, CPRA is also navigating through this year of recovery. For this reason, I thought it would be a great time to share some important updates with all of you regarding our CPRA path to recovery and plans for the year.

CPRA Annual Conference

The last few months have provided our team with the opportunity to assess the state of budgets at many of our Parks & Recreation Member Agencies. It may not come as a surprise to you that most agencies have cut travel budgets and many have cut training. CPRA launched a webinar series early this year and quickly learned that many of you were unable to attend due to budget shortfalls and that scholarships were needed in order to get you all the training that you require. In addition to an uncertain landscape as far as funding for professional development, the meetings industry has also taken a hit. Snowmass, the location for this year’s Annual Conference, has alerted us that due to the many cancellations they have had for conferences, they are beginning a massive renovation to the hotel and conference center and cannot accommodate us this year. After careful thought and consideration, in addition to assessing the fiscal impact of the Annual Conference on CPRA, we have made the difficult decision to host our Annual Conference virtually again this year. We project that an in-person conference will result in CPRA losing at least $50K after fees, meals, room rates and the projected decline in registrations due to budget shortfalls. The fiscal impact of the pandemic on CPRA has been significant and we, unfortunately, are not in a position to subsidize an in-person conference by $50K or more. We ask for your understanding and recognize that the Annual Conference might just be the social event that we all need this year. We have begun plans for an improved virtual event and are hoping to plan an in-person Awards Banquet this fall so that we can all get together and celebrate our successes in person again! Keep an eye out for a call for Conference Session proposals and Awards nominations soon!

CARA Youth Sports

For agencies interested in participating in the CARA Youth Sports Programs this year, we are excited to announce that we’ll be resuming this program starting June 1st. Contact the CARA Chair for the sport you are interested in to learn more. Or, feel free to reach out to Jillian (jillians@ cpra-web.org) to learn who that person is. We are very excited to bring sports back to our Colorado communities that are ready to get outside and resume play!

Other CPRA Events

You may have all noticed the absence of some long-standing CPRA events this Spring. This includes the Parks Tradeshow and many Section Events that we are feeling the loss of keenly. However, be aware that our team is watching the pandemic recovery in our Industry closely and we look forward to bring opportunities back, especially for in-person learning and connections, as soon as possible! We do hope that you are all enjoying the other CPRA Member benefits in the meantime and we will continue to work toward building more and improved opportunities for you all. We are always open to hearing feedback on how we can support all of you, our CPRA Members, and hope you will consider sharing your ideas, feedback, and dreams for our Industry in Colorado by reaching out to any of us (contacts below). Keep up the great work, everyone, and remember that the work you do is incredibly important and so appreciated by your CPRA family! Sincerely, Allison Kincaid, Executive Director Ashley Perillo, Professional Development Program Manager Rachel Hungerbuhler, Professional Development Program Coordinator Jillian Strogis, Membership and Communication Coordinator

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