April 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 63

NRPA Update
Legislative Forum Recap
Reports from the 2013 NRPA Legislative Forum bode well for parks and recreation

he recently completed Legislative Forum was once again a success as
nearly 200 park and recreation advocates came to Washington, D.C.,
to advance NRPA's legislative priorities and discuss the importance of
parks and recreation with their congressional representatives.
NRPA members also took their
message to key federal agency officials
as a select group of urban directors
joined NRPA leadership in meetings
with the U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Department of Housing and
Urban Development (HUD), and the
White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs. These meetings served
to further the dialogue on the role of
parks and recreation in addressing current national interests as well as how
local park and recreation agencies can
better position themselves to utilize
and leverage existing federal resources.
On the final day of this year's forum, representatives from the Nation-

al Park Service held a session discussing their youth-engagement initiatives
and their vision for the future of the
Land and Water Conservation Fund
(LWCF). Following the session, about
two dozen NRPA members had the
opportunity to experience a VIP guided tour of select monuments on the
National Mall.
The seeds planted by parks advocates on Capitol Hill are already
beginning to bear fruit as several
Congressional offices have expressed
serious interest on the top issues on
NRPA's legislative platform. Members on both sides of the aisle have
been identified as potential sponsors

of authorizing legislation that would
permanently allocate 40 percent of
total LWCF funds to the State Assistance program. Offices in both
the House and Senate have emerged
as likely original co-sponsors for the
Community Parks Revitalization
Act, which will soon be reintroduced in both chambers of Congress.
NRPA members were also able to
gather information on other public
lands and outdoor recreation bills
that could serve as potential vehicles
for NRPA's issues.
A special thank you goes out to all
who were able to attend this year's
Legislative Forum and make a difference in the future of parks and
recreation. The Legislative Forum
was made possible in part due to
PlayCore's generous Titanium-level
sponsorship of NRPA in 2013.

NRPA New Year, New You Challenge

RPA employees accepted the friendly challenge
to become healthier with
their colleagues in 2013. The goal
was simple: Along with healthier eating habits and exercise, staff
were challenged to lose the highest percentage of body weight in a
nine-week time frame. Staff who
were not able to participate or not
in need of losing weight were still
encouraged to eat more healthily
and exercise. NRPA further incentivized staff to participate by offering $1 for every pound lost to be

distributed between the top
three individual competitors
along with a day off for the
team with the largest percentage lost.
In order to compete, staff
members had to join a team
with at least three but no more
than 10 participants. Confidential weigh-ins occurred
once a week, and each person
was tracked by percentage of
their body weight gained or
Slimmer NRPA staff members show
off their hard-earned trophies.

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Parks & Recreation

April 2013 - Parks & Recreation

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