Friday, November 9 marked the first installment of the Director Series at the Park District of La Grange. Catherine Popowits presented a session on “Diversity Management” and Dave Phillips and two colleagues from Speer Financial presented a session on “Financial Strategies.” The second session was so popular that several attendees requested it be expanded into a full-day program! People indicated it would be extremely beneficial to all directors - but especially those new to the role.

This Director Series was extremely well-received by the directors in attendance. They encouraged IPRA to continue developing the Director Series to address the most timely issues directors face on a daily basis.

Well, you asked for it…you got it.

All Directors are invited to attend the second round of the Director Series workshop on December 11 at the Holiday Inn in Elk Grove Village. Two amazing sessions will challenge you and provide you with some tools to better your agency and your personal career.

Chuck Balling, the Executive Director of the Glenview Park District, will speak on “Professional Leadership and Servanthood”. This session will explore the evolving role of the park district director. Being a dedicated public parks and recreation administrator may not get you a gold watch when you’re ready to retire! It is the ability of the park director to lead and serve the park board, staff and volunteers – the folks who, many times, have the most direct influence on the success of your organization. Today’s times call for a high level of trust in the director which leads to confidence in your organization. This session will allow for plenty of discussion on professional leadership and servanthood and will also provide some tools to help make your organization’s dreams a reality.

The second session “Citizen Input: From Dictatorship to Partnership” is a panel discussion with Jessica Bullock, Commissioner of the Park District of Oak Park; John MacManus, Visiting Adjunct Professor of the IIT School of Architecture; Gary Balling, Executive Director of the Park District of Oak Park; and Diane Stanke, Manager of Communications of the Park District of Oak Park. The panel, which includes a park commissioner, a park and urban planner, an executive director and a communications manager, will focus on how they developed partnerships in the Oak Park community to gain support for much-needed change resulting in improved recreation programs and park facilities. They will provide ideas about how to build a dialogue with their community on planning for the future, how to read the current pulse of the community, how to gain support for initiatives and how to make the process is as easy as possible – even though it is ever evolving and always challenging.

Click here to print a registration packet - hurry - the deadline is December 7.

Register with your MARC card to save $50!