November 2015 - Parks & Recreation - 50

R E C R E AT I O N

and personnel. While the concept of
recreational programming isn't a new
idea, being able to bundle resources to
offer improved programming is. Part
of the success and appeal of the Navy
Community Recreation program is
that it bundles resources and offers the
right amount of standardization and
flexibility to truly fit the needs of each
and every MWR program around the
Navy, regardless of geographical location, mission or size of the population
stationed at a particular base. Through
the efforts of Commander, Naval Installation Command (CNIC), and a
designated Community Recreation
Advisory Board, program standards,
position descriptions for all levels of
employees, desk guides with standard
operating procedures and other processes have been created and implemented around the Navy. Plus, specific marketing initiatives, including
a new logo and brand promise, were
implemented. In addition, training
workshops have been held in all 11
Navy regions to help educate and en-

gage current MWR employees who
will be participating in the new Community Recreation approach. These
standardized processes have allowed a
streamlined, global roll-out of the new
Community Recreation program.
Getting to Know Naval
Station Great Lakes
Naval Station Great Lakes is the home
of the United States Navy's only boot
camp, located near North Chicago in
Lake County, Illinois. The base has
been transforming civilians into sailors for more than 100 years. From its
founding in 1911, it has maintained its
position as the Navy's largest training
facility with more than 25,000 military and civilian personnel working,
training and living there. The mission
at Great Lakes is to deliver highly
skilled, technically proficient, disciplined and motivated sailors to the
fleet. Naval Station Great Lakes is a
dynamic environment where training
occurs 24 hours a day, seven days a
week. It continues to be a preferred

The Navy's Community Recreation program
expands recreational offerings to fit the needs
of any MWR community regardless of mission,
geographical location or population size.

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duty station, which attracts some of
the finest sailors in the Navy.
From Community Recreation's
inception, the MWR Department
at Great Lakes has been at the forefront of the initiative, with members
participating on the original Internal
Process Team. This team brought
together senior leaders from various
headquarters and installations to
develop the baseline of the new program. MWR Great Lakes also played
a role by forming a secondary group,
which developed the actual details
and basis for the program standards
that were recently rolled out in 2015.
As an advocate for NRPA and the
first-ever winner of the Armed Forces Gold Medal Award in 2012, the
Community Recreation initiative
was ultimately an extension of efforts
that were already underway at Great
Lakes. John Prue, MWR Installation
program director says, " This new
initiative was a great way for us to
not only expand our services to our
military community, but also provide
an opportunity to better package and
communicate what services we offer
to a very transient population. "
With almost 950,000 square feet of
facilities and 150 acres of recreational green space, the MWR Department at Naval Station Great Lakes is
a vibrant program with a combined
operating budget of $18 million and
a recorded 1.6 million customer visits this past year. Through the advent
of the new Navy Community Recreation program, MWR Great Lakes
has increased recreational offerings
for the military community with
base-wide special events such as the
Lake Michigan Polar Bear Plunge,
a murder mystery dinner theater,
the annual Cardboard Boat Regatta,
Breakfast with the Bunny, Customer
Appreciation Week, a character dinner and dance, live music concerts,
life-sized holiday card challenge,

November 2015 - Parks & Recreation

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