Greetings!

The WRPA E-news is distributed twice a month to our total membership. Its our tool for providing timely news and information you need regarding current events, grants, training, and great ideas to add value to your work day.

Legislative Action Alert
Recreation Resource Account Raid

We still need your help with one last surge of e-mails, HOTLINE calls, and other contacts into the budget negotiators, Capital Budget leads, Ways & Means folks, rank-and-file lawmakers, etc., on the continued raid of the Recreation Resource Account.  More

Legislative Special Session Report

With fewer than 10 days to go in the Special Session, we are getting a series of mixed signals as to whether the Legislature can get to an Operating Budget deal in time (end of April 10). The ticking clock on the Operating Budget threatens to douse a proposed Capital Budget/Jobs Package, and there are sharp disagreements holding up that package as well. See full week 3 report

Annual Conference & Trade Show

Pre-Conference Cultural Competency Skill Building  

Tuesday, May 1, 2012 * 9am-4:30pm * Bellevue City Hall $115 per person, includes lunch. 

SPACE IS LIMITED to the first 35 registrants!

Increase your ability to effectively engage diverse communities. This interactive training provides a foundation for building individual and organizational cultural competence skills. Participate in exercises that help us get beyond cultural festivals and PC language to transforming our organizations to genuinely serve all members of our community. Walk away with resources and tools that can be used immediately. More

Don't have budget to attend the whole conference?  Special daily rates are available. 

Conference Golf Tournament 

Tuesday May 1, 2012: Bellevue Golf Course. Start building your team and get ready to participate in a fun event.  $55 includes 18 holes of golf on our premier public golf course, cart, deluxe box lunch, goodie bag, and awards ceremony with refreshments and discounted beverages. Title Sponsor: Buell Recreation / Hole sponsor: Northwest Playground Inc.  Register

Discover Pass Transferability
Go ahead and write in that second license plate number on your Discover Pass!  On March 30 Discover Pass transferability became law- because of the emergency clause, the bill- E2SHB 2373- became law immediately upon signing by Governor Gregoire.  If you've been holding out for transferability, no more excuses- go buy your Discover Pass today!

WRPA Today Spring Issue

Our official quarterly publication expanded from 24 to 28 pages!  This issue is packed with great information including our annual buyers guide, succession planning, re-purposing water, grant opportunities, inclusive playgrounds, a new commercial spotlight feature, and more on our upcoming 2012 Annual Conference & Trade Show.  More 

New! Red Cross Partnership  

WRPA and our local Red Cross have entered a partnership which provides WRPA Agency members a discount of 40%. This applies to all of our courses with the exception of our Learn-to-Swim (LTS) courses.  All Red Cross Authorized Providers will already have the benefit of the new LTS pricing structure.  Licensed Training Providers are training organizations that offer Red Cross Health and Safety training in a responsive, accessible and high-quality and professional manner.  For more information contact Marty Mullins, Sales Manager or Mike Dilley. Washington Territory Aquatic Specialist.

WRPA Board Meeting/Training

Friday April 13, 2012 - North Bend WA. The next official meeting of the WRPA Executive Board is at the Environmental Watershed in North Bend. Agenda items include board training, policy updates and a discussion about a new "agency all inclusive" membership.  Our board meeting calendar is posted on the WRPA website under the "About WRPA: tab, "Executive Board" tab. View our new 2012-2013 Executive Board.

Youth Against Violence Grant

Applications due Monday April 30, 2012  

The Greater Tacoma Community Foundation is currently accepting applications for the Youth Against Violence Fund which was created to support programs that provide alternatives to youth violence in Pierce County. More

Feed Your Brain Grant     

Applications due Friday April 6, 2012

WSDOT Grant     

Applications due June 30, 2012

Teaching Safe Springboard Diving

May 20, 2012: Hazen Pool, Renton WA. Patti Southerland will be offering this course on how to teach diving that is safe, fun and informative for beginners-advanced level diving! The goal of the clinic is to help new instructors teach young swimmers to become divers or maybe young gymnasts how to become divers.  More / Register

Building Community by Helping Kids
A municipal leaders forum to build on existing supports for quality afterschoo/expanded learning
May 10, Federal Way/May 15, Cheney.  These events are specifically targeted for local leaders: city council, Mayors, county council members, legislators, heads of city departments etc. who are interested in learning more about afterschool and expanded learning opportunities. WRPA members are encouraged to personally call local municipal leaders and urge them to attend. These are public will building events that are being co-sponsored by School's Out, the Association of Washington Cities (AWC), funded with support of many partners and planned by a great committee. More 

Washington State Trails Conference
Save the date: October 26-28, 2012 Vancouver Convention Center & Hilton Hotel. Join trail advocates, consultants, agency representatives, and recreation and transportation professionals from across Washington and Oregon to share skills, insights, and resources, celebrate successes, and inspire new trail projects!  More

NRPA's New Website

WRPA Forums
The Facility Section and the Mid Year planning committee is testing our forums before we upload our entire membership. If you want to check it out start here.  Remember you must log into the WRPA web site to see and access the forum pages. 

Quick View of Upcoming Training

Visit our registration page for more information on all these trainings.

• May 02: WRPA Annual Conference & Trade Show
• May 20: Springboard Diving
• June 09: Westside Summer Skillbuilder (save the date)
• June 09: Aquatic Skillbuilder (save the date)
• August 15-17: Certified Playground Safety Instructor

Brit Kramer, CPRP, CAE

Executive Director 

Washington Recreation & Park Association

Upcoming Section Meetings

We believe ALL kids are created equal

At Landscape Structures, we're creating play environments where all children and their families can play together, regardless of their abilities.

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