Education Highlights
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ith more than 60 sessions and 12 education tracks being offered at the 2020 NRPA Annual Conference: A Virtual Experience, you are guaranteed to learn something new and leave inspired. Below are just a few of the education sessions that will be offered during NRPA Virtual. WE GOT ENGAGED!: Tips for Communicating Effectively with Your Part-Time Workforce This session will focus on tackling the challenges of effectively communicating with large numbers of part-time employees in an efficient manner that encourages collaboration, mentorship, cross-training and employee development. Attendees will learn about the benefits of creating a part-time advisory council and embracing the unique talents found in a diverse department, while exposing the part-time workforce to the varied and wide-ranging careers that can be found under the park and recreation umbrella. Interactive discussion topics will include lessons learned from an array of communication and efficiency barriers, best practice suggestions for managing today’s part-time employee and tips for how to prepare for the future of increased service demands balanced with staffing challenges.
Speakers: Adam Blackmore, City of Henderson Public Works, Parks and Recreation Track: Career Development
Safe Spaces for High Performers: How to Create a Safe Space for Your Workforce In this interactive learning experience, participants will explore the characteristics of high performers and how engaging these key team 72 Parks & Recreation
members within the workplace can be critical to work performance. Identifying these characteristics will create an opportunity for managers and coworkers to put into action the concept of “checking on your strong friends.” Highperforming staff members can be an asset to your team. However, managing and staying engaged with such members can be a challenge. This session will stimulate a conversation that identifies characteristics of high performers and also puts into action essential staff engagement tools to support the continued success of high performers within the workplace. Speakers: Atuya Cornwell, MarylandNational Capital Park and Planning Commission, Prince George’s County Department of Parks and Recreation; Cortni Grange, Grange Enterprises Track: Employee and Volunteer Management
There’s an Octopus in the Parking Garage?! ‘Futureproof’ Your Parks for Resiliency to Climate Change With the election upon us, one topic that is often discussed is climate change and its dramatic effects on communities all over the world. Increased flooding, drought, expanding ranges of non-native invasive species, access to clean water and changes in the growing season
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are just a few impacts that show that this isn’t just a coastal problem. Resiliency is another term often used — but what is resiliency and why should you be thinking about it when developing/redeveloping parks? Making decisions regarding the location of parkland, the use of those lands, the placement of infrastructure and overall park design will be critical in the coming decades. This discussion will give you a good idea of how climate change will be affecting parks and recreation departments, what jurisdictions around the country are doing to be more resilient, and how you can describe these changes and their effects to elected officials and the public. Speakers: Chris Matthews, Mecklenburg County Parks and Recreation; Jai Cole, Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, Montgomery Parks Track: Conservation
Equity: The Case for Redlining the Term ‘Social’ and Getting Comfortable with ‘Racial’ Why “racial,” not “social” equity? While wealth is a major driver in outcomes, race is the stronger predictor. When studies control for income, racial disparities remain key factors in health, education, employment and incarceration outcomes. Racial equity strategies are currently a major focus of parks departments in large, diverse, urban cities. Parks departments — such as the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, New York City Parks and Recreation, Los Angeles County
