October 2019 - Parks & Recreation - 46

N R PA U P DAT E

Allen Parks and Recreation's Growth
Through CAPRA Accreditation
By Matthew Cobb

im Dentler, director of Allen Parks and Recreation, took a deep
breath when he received the department's self-assessment results in
June from NRPA's Commission of Accreditation of Park and Recreation Agencies (CAPRA). After more than two years, the department
would find out how its accreditation submission had been scored: It had
met 150 of the 151 standards, including every mandatory standard!
Achieving CAPRA accreditation
has been a longstanding goal for Allen Parks and Recreation. Located in
North Texas, the city of Allen, with
a population of more than 105,000,
has 1,196 acres of parkland, more
than 68 miles of hike-and-bike trails,
60 parks and seven recreation facilities, including a municipal golf
course, natatorium and one of the
state's largest outdoor skate parks.
" Our mission is to serve, and by
achieving CAPRA accreditation, Allen Parks and Recreation is proving
that the department is operating at
a benchmark level of efficiency and
making the best use of resources,
while maintaining the highest degree

of professionalism, " says Dentler.
In May 2016, the department began the CAPRA accreditation process with a kickoff meeting where
staff members were placed in teams
based on their professional expertise.
Each team was assigned a CAPRA
self-assessment chapter aligned with
its expertise and tasked with collecting information and evidence to satisfy the standards in that chapter.
" Taking several years to complete,
the CAPRA accreditation process
had its challenges, including staff
changes and needing to modify the
project timeline in order to meet the
submission deadline, " explains Jennifer Robinson, the department's

PHOTO COURTESY OF ALLEN PARKS AND RECREATION

A skateboarder practices on the
ramps at the Edge Skate Park and
Visitor Center in Allen, Texas.

support specialist, who organized
the CAPRA accreditation process.
There were numerous hurdles
that had to be overcome, from compiling evidence to documenting
policies and finding information
cross-divisionally, to satisfy all the
standards. However, by establishing
challenging yet achievable expectations, maintaining strong communication among everyone involved
in the process and supporting each
other, Allen Parks and Recreation
was able to grow as a team to complete the self-assessment.
Toward the end of 2018, Allen
Parks and Recreation began finalizing the accreditation documentation, and the final self-assessment
was edited, compiled and submitted in early 2019.
" The CAPRA accreditation process has helped Allen Parks and
Recreation become a better agency
by making day-to-day operations
more effective through increased
staff communication and documentation of processes, policies and
procedures, " Dentler says. He adds:
" Becoming a CAPRA-accredited
department validates the public's
trust in Allen Parks and Recreation.
Without a doubt, going through this
process has strengthened Allen Parks
and Recreation as a team, while
setting the department up for even
greater success in the years to come. "
To learn more about accreditation,
visit www.nrpa.org/CAPRA.
Matthew Cobb is the Marketing Manager
for the city of Allen, Texas (mcobb@
cityofallen.org).

Parks & Recreation

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October 2019 - Parks & Recreation

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