IPRA Today

Greetings!

Recently, we held the annual leadership retreat for the Chair, Chair Elect and Membership Council representatives from each of our seven section boards. This allowed the section leaders to learn from each other. I also shared with them a "State of the Association" presentation to more clearly show how the great work done in all seven sections fits into IPRA’s bigger picture. I very much appreciate all the people who joined us and added to the success of this event.  We will plan to hold it annually.

The IPR Foundation continues the "Pay it Forward" donation campaign. The intent of the campaign is to increase our endowment fund from $245,000 to $500,000. This fund is separate from IPRA and managed by the foundation board. As an endowment, the funds are permanently restricted and we will only spend from the interest. Our intention is to grow the fund to grow the interest which will be used for student and professional scholarships and to support the annual members-only Education Institute, coming up in April. If you are interested in supporting the foundation campaign, please mail a check to the IPRA office addressed to "IPR Foundation." At this time we cannot accept credit card payments for the foundation. 

Speaking of which, the Education Institute is an annual event for members where we bring in a nationally known speaker and provide a nice lunch, and only charge members a minimal fee. IPRA pays more than 50 percent of the per-person cost for this event as a way to give back to our members. Our keynote speaker this year is Ian Hill, who was formerly the keynote speaker at NRPA as well as several other park and rec state association events and IPRA’s Professional Development School. Registration is already open for this April 26 event. We will have multiple locations live streaming this event so that everyone in the state can access it.

I am thrilled with the outcome of my trip to southern Illinois last week to meet with IPRA members and non-members in the southern region. I was able to meet with so many people who were so giving with their time and knowledge and who shared with me their views on IPRA and their parks and recreational programming. Many thanks to the following:
•    George Bryant and Wes Plummer at Mt. Vernon Parks & Recreation
•    Todd Strubhart and Debbie Belleville at Belleville Parks & Recreation Department
•    Angie Beaston at Fairview Heights Parks & Recreation Department
•    Bryan Werner, Mike Buehlhorn and Jacob Volkmar at Metro East Park & Recreation District (MEPRD)
•    Terry Wilson at Collinsville Area Recreation District
•    Jerry Sauerwein at Kingsbury Park District
•    Debbie Hunt and Stacy John at Roxana Community Park District & Recreation Department
•    Jason Woody at Wood River Parks & Recreation
•    Kimberly Caughran and Jessica Wiedman at Godfrey Parks & Recreation Department
•    Angela Sullivan and Kyle at Jerseyville Parks & Recreation
•    Mark Badasch (Past Chair, IPRA) at Mebadasch & Associates, LLC

Further, I was able to see many of them again as well as some other parks and rec friends at the Southern Illinois Parks and Recreation Association (SIPRA) meeting last Friday. It goes without saying how much fun I had in southern Illinois: I toured the construction site of the future Aquatic Zoo in Mount Vernon (see photos and a newspaper article about it on IPRA’s Facebook page). I saw the St. Louis Arch from the Illinois side of the river with the MEPRD team—they have created an expansive and beautiful park in one of Illinois’ most poverty-stricken areas. What a wonderful benefit this park has been for the East Saint Louis community! I learned that Roxana is probably the only agency in the state that is both a park district and a municipal department at the same time. I could go on and on. I had such a great time with everyone and learned so much!

While we are always working to improve IPRA’s service for all our members across the state, this trip was a great reminder about all the exciting things happening in parks and rec in southern Illinois and the opportunity we have to better serve our southern members. I am in process of several strategies designed to improve our geographic access for members statewide. Watch this newsletter and our magazine for more information. The live multiple locations for the Education Institute I mentioned earlier in this article is just one example.

If you have questions about any of these items, please feel free to email me at debbie@ilipra.org.

– Debbie Trueblood, CAE