Greetings!

Message from the Executive Director

This is our first issue of the Update for 2008, and I hope all of you are off to a great start to the New Year! Here in the PRPS Office, we continue to stay very busy which is as it should be as we try to maximize the number of programs and services to our members and others involved with recreation and parks in Pennsylvania.

The big event for us, of course, is the upcoming 61st Annual PRPS State Conference at Seven Springs beginning on March 8th, chaired by Lee Bryan and Gerrie Delaney, where we hope to see many of you. We have a great line-up of programs starting with an expanded Citizen Symposium on Saturday and Sunday, top-notch general session speakers including DCNR Secretary Mike DiBerardinis who will be joining us for lunch on Tuesday, and very strong breakout sessions with Mark Fenton, John Irvin, and others who could easily also be doing general sessions. As always, we work very hard to bring in experts to address the educational needs of our broad spectrum of members whether you manage an agency, run the aquatics program, maintain a trail, plan programs, provide recreational therapy services, or help as a volunteer. To this, you add the great opportunity to network with other members from across the state, and we hope we provide outstanding value for the time and dollars invested to attend. A full exhibit hall and fun socials like the Steelers vs. Eagles Tailgate and the Monday Murder Mystery Dinner will make it even better. There are still plenty of overnight rooms available during the main conference at the conference rate--MAP-which includes the dinner and breakfast each day. So, if you haven't already registered, now is the time to do so.

In January, we held our second Youth Sports Summit in State College as we continue our strong effort to assist agencies in their support of youth sports programs. The Youth Sports Task Force is currently chaired by Kurt Baker, and thanks to their efforts, a Youth Sports Tool Kit CD was sent to PRPS Community Branch members with the Conference Registration Guide. If you didn't receive a copy of the CD and would like one, they are available from the PRPS Office for free. Give us a call or send an email to kwoodward@prps.org.

We just received the final audit report for our fiscal year ending June 30, 2007. I'm pleased to report that we ended that year in the black by $14,000 of which $4600 was in the operating budget. The report will be presented to the Board of Directors at their March 8th meeting at Seven Springs.

Looking ahead, we are working with DCNR and the PA State Association of Township Supervisors to offer a "Citizens Academy" which will be a series of nine workshops in April 2008, three workshops on each of three topics, in East, West, and Central PA on board organization, finances, and regional cooperation. PSATS spearheads a training consortium of local government associations so these workshops will be marketed across the board to local government agencies. PRPS and DCNR will also be exhibiting at the PSATS Conference in May. This is all part of our continuing effort to market the importance of recreation and parks to local government officials.

Other workshops for the spring and early summer are being planned including the swimming pool management course, the one-day playground maintenance course, art therapy workshops, and a NPSI course in Monroeville.

The co-chairs of the 2008 Annual PA Therapeutic Recreation Institute, Carrie Chisano and Kirk Rakos, are doing a great job with the support of a strong committee to provide a very special TRI that will focus on the strong tradition of excellence training that the TRI has provided to those in therapeutic recreation and activities for the past 40 years. Please check out the information on the TRI in this update and go to the PTRS website for a lot more information.

For all of our members involved in greenways and trails, a rapidly growing membership area for us, you may look forward to the 2008 PA Greenways and Trails Summit to be held on September 29-30 at The Inn at Pocono Manor in northeastern PA. We'll again be bringing top-notch speakers from around the country plus providing many programs to highlight the excellent trail and greenway areas in the Poconos. This program is offered in cooperation with DCNR and many trail related partners.

Our Governmental Affairs Committee under the leadership of Bill Forrey remains active. We have visits to state legislators scheduled in February, and we'll be looking at dates for legislative days in both Harrisburg and Washington for more of our members as we see how the budget schedule unfolds. Thanks again to all who assisted last year with the effort to save the Keystone Fund; a two year agreement on HSCA funding provided a temporary fix. It's important that all of us take advantage of opportunities to let legislators know how important Keystone, Growing Greener, and LWCF funding are to our communities. On the federal level, we are also doing our part to support efforts to maintain funding for recreational therapy which is important to many of our PTRS members.

That's a look at some of the things that we are doing particularly with training and education. In addition to this update, we utilize the PRPS WebNews extensively for announcements. If you are not receiving the WebNews, be sure to let Emily Schnellbaugh ( eschnellbaugh@prps.org) know, and she'll add you to the email list.

Best regards,

Bob Griffith