Kansas City, MO School District; YMCA of Greater Kansas City; the Sports Commission; Kansas City, MO Parks and Recreation; Greater Kansas City Chapter of the American Red Cross; Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Kansas City; Guadalupe Centers , Inc. and Midwest Pool Management formally signed an agreement to participate in the Make A Splash Kansas City Coalition.  In doing so, each organization commits to the following:

• Provide facilities and on-site swimming lessons to young people ages 7-13;
• Assign trained Water Safety Instructors, Water Safety Aides and Lifeguards to Make A Splash Kansas City activities;
• Provide supervision of Water Safety Instructors, Water Safety Aides and Lifeguards;
• Collect participation data and contribute to performance reports;
• Participate in periodic quality improvement activities;
• Promote Make A Splash Kansas City to local audiences and the general public

The Coalition's goal is to teach a total of 50,000 lessons to youth, ages 7-13 to swim at 10 sites in Kansas City's urban core.  In order to meet this ambitious goal, a fundraising goal of $1 million has been set.

The Dogpark Improvement Group (DIG), one of Parks and Recreation's many Parks Partners, is a volunteer, non-profit organization composed of individuals coming together to raise funds to improve the Off-Leash Dog Park in Penn Valley Park. According to DIG President Paul Randall, the group's accomplishments in 2009 include: 

1.   Supported maintenance activities at the park, specifically by taking over the job of restocking bags, mainly with bags supplied by Parks, but also with bags supplied by DIG.  

2.   Supported area doggie non-profits, specifically KCMO/park area focused organizations Spay Neuter Kansas City and Halfway Home Pet Adoptions.

3.   Three DIG members were very active on the mayor's dogpark task force, which produced a blueprint for the city to implement new and better dogparks through the dog park task force report.  DIG played a role in getting the word out and generating feedback which resulted in some revisions back to the task force's original recommendations.

4.   Regularly attended Friends of Penn Valley meetings, and took an active role in efforts to set up a Conservancy for the park.  

5.   Communicated items of interest to off-leash park users, such as Penn Valley events impacting the park, etc.

April

Took full responsibility for providing volunteers to staff the KCMO Parks booth at the 2009 Pet Expo.  The Expo went well, were able to talk to many folks about dog parks and Penn Valley.

May

Worked with Parks to hold the second annual "Take Your Dog to a Movie" night.  Worked with City Pets and Ponds on funding the movie rights and the fashion show, and worked to include several shelters and rescues in the event.  2009's event was quite successful with a larger turnout than the year before enjoying the movie "Dog Park".

July

After two years of work, the parking lot and expansion funded by a DIG initiated PIAC grant was completed by Parks.  DIG immediately jumped at an opportunity to privately fund a small dog area that could not be completed with the city funds available.  Largely through a Firstgiving site, DIG was able to raise nearly half the amount needed to fund the small dog area in a few weeks.  A DIG Facebook page was also set up during this time.

October

Purchased and planted two trees in the new small dog area.

December