Last month, Board Chair Steve Thompson described how NRPA has adopted a new three-year strategic plan covering the period of July 1, 2013, to July 1, 2016. This strategic plan is very important to our Association — it charts the course of where we want to go, sets broad goals of how we want to achieve our vision and identifies objectives that we will measure ourselves against to complete our goals. 

Because long, drawn-out strategic plans can be terminally boring, we took a new approach. Instead of a long litany of goals, objectives and tactics, we strove for fewer words but bigger ideas. We want everyone inside and outside of NRPA to easily understand what we are about. Therefore, we used NRPA’s three pillars — conservation, health and wellness, and social equity — as the foundation for the new strategic plan. I encourage you to read the new plan — you will find it simple, direct and to the point. 

I believe the environment is ripe for welcoming a new approach to solving many national problems — this is both a challenging and exciting time. I want to hear what you think some of the greatest challenges will be in parks and recreation over the next three years. What do you think are the greatest problems we face in conservation, and what do we need to do to meet them? How can we address national issues in health and wellness, and what should we be doing first? And how can we best contribute to solving the challenge of providing access to all persons, regardless of age, ethnicity, income, abilities or background?

Economic challenges will be paramount, both for the Association and the nation. None of us likes the fact that our nation is deeply in debt, and people want positive solutions for how to reduce that debt. Elected officials will be forced to look for better ways to provide services and also to look at more holistic ways of solving problems — from climate change to chronic-disease prevention to disaffected youth.  There are great opportunities for us to make parks and recreation key providers of comprehensive solutions to our most stubborn problems. 

We are working on multiple fronts to provide you the tools and resources you need — from data-driven analysis provided by PRORAGIS, to tools and resources to promote conservation at the community level, to ways to reduce the costs of chronic disease and childhood obesity, to equitable methods that ensure all people receive park and recreation services.

As we begin to implement the new strategic plan, we also need to know how we performed on achieving the goals of the last strategic plan. To review how we measured up, see the 2010–2013 Strategic Plan recap.

Our new strategic plan forges a vision for the future. I join you in looking forward to meeting the challenges. Read NRPA’s strategic plan and see how we plan to do it.

Barbara Tulipane, CAE
President and CEO