Keys to Empowerment - It's Conference Time!

by Adriana Carr, MPA

Senior Center Director

Arlington County Department of Parks & Recreation

2017 VRPS Senior Resource Group Chair-Elect

The Senior Resource Group 2017 conference is upon us.  Thursday, September 21 at the Reston Community Center, a group of recreation professionals whose daily work focuses on serving the older adult population will convene to learn from each other and from experts in the field of aging. We have selected inspiring presenters on a variety of topics that focus on the population we serve.  The result will be that these delegates will go back to their programs and communities with additional skills to advocate for and champion recreational opportunities and options for a demographic that is a significant portion of our national population.

This year’s theme is about career empowerment. We are honored that VRPS President LaTanya Turner, CPRP will join us.  Her platform has been about increasing the connections we make through VRPS members and finding better ways for “telling our stories.”  That’s what we hope to accomplish at the conference as well.  Our goal, as the members of the Senior Resource Group, is to provide you with the best tools, strategies and techniques that will help you tell your story to your customers, co-workers, decision makers and other stakeholders. The table below will give you a quick look at the day’s schedule: 

Introductions & Announcements Welcome by LaTanya Turner, VRPS President

Session 1 Words Matter:  Harnessing the Power and Energy of Language Margaret “Marti” Bailey

Session 2 Empowering Through Understanding: Do You Know What Upsets You Miki Goerdt, LCSW

Keynote Address:  Raise the Bar:  How to Recruit, Retain and Engage Professionals as Volunteers Dr. Lynn Reid

Conference Luncheon & Continued Discussion Please take time to visit our exhibit

Session 3 Building Bridges of Cultural Understanding Catherine Motivans

Session 4 Mastering Aging:  Help Your Community’s   Seniors Achieve Financial, Physical, and Mental Wellness Brandy Bauer and Hayoung Kye

Wrap up

SRG Board

Karen Brutsche

Janice Myrick

Cheryl Wheeler

Hope Lomax-Jones

June Snead

SRG Fall Conference - Save the Date!

2017 ESA Summer Survival

2017 VRPS Member Webinar Schedule

2017 VRPS Member Webinar Schedule Wednesday, January 25, 2017, 11am-12pm Park Operations Resource is intended to offer information, education and networking opportunities for those professionals in the areas of park operations, park management, and field maintenance. Dan Smith, CPRP (Hanover), Marlie Smith (Richmond), and Katey Legg, CPRP (Gloucester) will discuss how the VRPS Park Operations Resource effort came about and what the plans for 2017 include. Login and register here! Wednesday, March 1, 2017, 10-11am  Join 2017 VRPS Awards co-chairs Jason Bookheimer, CPRP (Danville Parks and Recreation) and Sandy Kellogg (Fairfax County Park Authority) as they discuss the 2017 VRPS Awards process (recognizing excellence in 2016). Learn about changes to the selection criteria and online submission process, as well as how to best represent your nomination via your application. Login and register here! Wednesday, May 3, 2017, 10-11am  Join Neil Luther (Director, Henrico Division of Recreation and Parks) and Greg Sager (Director, Hanover County Parks and Recreation) as they discuss Developing and Managing Dog Parks. Both localities have successfully created dog parks in their Central Virginia locations with nothing but wagging tails from their customers :) Login and register here! More webinars to come later in the year!

2017 VRPS Senior Resource Group - Blog Number 1!

by Adriana Carr
Senior Center Director

Arlington County Department of Parks & Recreation
2017 VRPS Senior Resource Group Chair-Elect

Welcome to the first Senior Resource Group post in the VRPS blog.  Whether you work in a recreational, residential or social service setting there are a myriad of older adult related topics and issues that connect all of us in our professional lives.  In addition to the newsletter, our annual conference and the VRPS conference we hope this blog adds another layer to the conversation of working with seniors in a recreation setting.

Some of the topics we would like to explore (and this by means not a definitive list) include:

1. Depression/Mental Illness – For example what information do we have about our participants? Which programs among our memberships do intakes? Do we try to address it through our programming?  Are we professionally equipped to take on that role?
2. Prioritizing services to Older Adults to increase funding.  At this most recent SRG conference in Virginia Beach we were inspired by several experts in the field.  The keynote speaker Denise Scruggs asked how many of us felt we were competing for funding our programs versus that of teens (for example).  Pretty much all of us raised our hands. Does this mean we need better ways of collecting data to help the decision makers we work for support our programs?  Are we telling the stories of our programs and constituents effectively enough to ensure they are included in local policies? Is that something we should think about doing?
3. Who do we serve?   Dr.E. Ayn Welleford cautioned us to think carefully about the words we use to describe our constituents.  It is a diverse demographic.  Between the boomers and the silent generation, we are already essentially doing intergenerational programming.  So what about that intergenerational programming?   I always have the intention of creating great programs that mix seniors and youngsters with limited success.  What is the best approach?
4. Finally, how do we find ways to connect outside of the usual conferences, newsletter and blogs?  One idea that has been floating around is to organize a state-wide line dance event.  Chanda Nixon, Program Leader with Hampton’s Park, Recreation & Leisure Services, has been thinking about how it would look and when she suggested it at the last conference, many of you were enthusiastic about it.  So that’s one of the projects we hope to develop over the next year.  Do you have other ideas?

That’s just a few very general topics.  What are you thinking about these days as you work with your customers?  Let me or any of the other SRG board members know and we’ll talk about it here.  

• Karen Brutsché  - SRG Chair
• Adriana Carr,  Chair-elect
• Janice Myrick, Treasurer
• Cheryl Wheeler, Secretary
• Hope Lomax-Jones. Member at large

Left to right:  Hope Lomax-Jones, Janice Myrick, Karen Brutsche, Adriana Carr, Cheryl Wheeler, Aaron Clay, June Snead