February 2011 - Parks & Recreation - 8

edito r 's letter

Best in Practice

W

hat makes a good park and recreation system? Abundant resourc-

es, talented staff, and an engaged citizenry are fundamental, for certain.
But the really great ones leverage all three attributes to improve. Their
cultures encourage seeking out the best ideas and trends and finding ways to overlay
them onto their programs.
For our cover story this month, Managing Editor
Beth Beard set out to learn where best practices in
our field originate and how they are applied. Beth
didn't lack for quality sources; rather, she needed to
narrow the many fine examples into a manageable
format. Beth turned to winners of the National Gold
Medal Awards for Excellence in Parks and Recreation Management. Administered by the American
Academy of Park and Recreation Administration and
NRPA, the program honors agencies of all sizes that
excel in multiple categories of administration-just
the thing for exploring best practices. Gratifyingly,
many comments led back to NRPA programs-certification and accreditation, training schools, conferences and webinars, and more-that provide
ready-made structure and expertise for agencies
in pursuit of excellence.
There's an indispensable best practice just now
coming online that has the potential to significantly boost the fortunes of agencies large and small-
Proragis, the recently united GIS and Operating
Ratio Study programs of the NRPA. By providing a
searchable online database of park and recreation
agencies, the Park and Recreation Operating Ratio

and Geographic Information System helps agencies analyze their operations internally and against
agencies across the country. The mapping features
of Proragis have even further potential to assist
agencies. As NRPA's manager of Proragis, Bill Beckner, wrote last month in Parks & Recreation:
" Proragis provides information about your department that may be compared to all other departments-or to selected departments. It is information
that justifies your budgets and strategies, informs
your planning processes, verifies your capital acquisition and development initiatives, and provides
you with management benchmarks and best practices for your operations. "
It sounds almost too good to be true, and it could
be, without participation and input from parks and
recreation agencies. For this best practice to be viable, it needs input from every agency. The more input,
the greater its value. You can read more about Proragis in the January issue of Parks & Recreation (www.
parksandrec-magazine.org) and by accessing its
URL: www.nrpaproragis.org. Hopefully, the next time
the editors pursue the topic of best practices in parks
and recreation, we'll be featuring your agency. 

Phil Hayward
Editor

6	

Parks & Recreation

FEBRUARY 2011

w w w . NR P A . ORG



February 2011 - Parks & Recreation

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of February 2011 - Parks & Recreation

February 2011 - Parks & Recreation - 1
February 2011 - Parks & Recreation - 2
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https://www.nxtbook.com/nrpa/ParksRecreationMagazine/december-2014
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