Naperville Park District recognized at state conference

Naperville Park District participated in the 2017 state conference for park and recreation agencies, both as a presenter of a popular session on designing an app and as a recipient of a $60,000 playground grant and second place in the annual Agency Showcase, media relations category.

The statewide conference was hosted by the Illinois Association of Park Districts (IAPD) and the Illinois Park and Recreation Association (IPRA) in Chicago on Jan. 19-21.

Naperville Park District's IT Manager Omar Sandoval presented a session on Jan. 20 entitled, "Park District Mobile App," explaining how he developed the Naperville Park District app that was released last summer. To a standing-room-only crowd, he highlighted the key features of the District's app, which is one of the first apps to be created for a park district.

The District's app provides quick access to program registration, park locations, league schedules and memberships to Centennial Beach and the fitness center at Fort Hill Activity Center.

"We're happy that the vast majority of those who downloaded the app last summer are still using it regularly," explained Sandoval.

Following a full day of educational sessions at the conference, IPRA announced that Naperville Park District was one of 18 recipients of a Healthy Play Action Grant, a matching grant for playground equipment provided through IPRA's partnership with PlayCore and GameTime. The District's grant in the amount of $60,000 will be used to enhance the planned 2017 renovation of the playground at Country Lakes Park. Playground design will begin in February, with a late spring construction and an opening anticipated by summer 2017.

Naperville Park District also was recognized as a second place winner in the media relations category in the annual Agency Showcase. Its submission highlighted the stories surrounding the history of the Barn as part of the celebration of the Park District's 50th anniversary.