ARE YOU BOARD?

The Power of Citizen Advocacy

Why citizen involvement is so important 75 years ago and today

Dr. Ted Flickinger IAPD Executive Director Commissioners are the unsung heroes and belong in everyone's hall of fame. You are the people who know that when you give more you will receive more.

As we mark 75 years as a state association, why is IAPD celebrating the power of citizen advocacy?

Because citizen involvement is so important. Citizens are taxpayers and can serve the best interests of the taxpayers. Citizens can serve as the pulse of the community for park and recreation issues. They can be sounding boards, buffers, partners.

The citizen's voice is clout. We must always keep in mind that it is the concerned citizen— not the paid professional in parks and recreation—who exerts the greatest influence at city hall, the Statehouse and on Capitol Hill. Legislators look at citizen board members as those who lobby for the public interest, not a vested interest.

So, what are the pressing concerns for our citizen advocates in parks and recreation today?

Urban sprawl is here. We are not going to stop it, but we must convince our legislators that land has to be set aside for open spaces and recreation before it's too late. Less than four percent of the land in Illinois is public domain for recreation.

As Aldo Leopold once said, "We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us....when we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with respect."

The trails, the parks, the playgrounds, the recreation centers and the natural areas saved and created are, ultimately, our gift—a gift of beauty and quality of life—to the people of Illinois and to our grandchildren. We should all be proud of what we have done, the impact we have made across Illinois as citizen board members and professionals in the park, recreation and conservation field.

We must always keep in mind that it is the concerned citizen—not the paid professional in parks and recreation— who exerts the greatest influence at city hall, the Statehouse and on Capitol Hill.

We must continue to improve our efforts to make a case for parks and recreation. The public's perception and understanding of the values of park and recreation services must be a high priority for our field.

We must increase our efforts to work with the media and show that we are addressing social issues such as teens-at-risk, safe areas for after-school programs for children in kindergarten through grade twelve; that we emphasize family values, address crime and substance abuse, and protect wildlife habitat and natural resources. We must expand our role from what some consider the provision of cursory services to offering meaningful programs with measurable results.

We must be perceived as providers of "essential services." Parks and recreation is sometimes compared to other governmental services. It's true that we need city services such as fire and police protection; they help us exist in an orderly world. But, parks and recreation give us opportunities to really live and grow, and not just exist.

Parks and recreation is a means to an end to create healthy individuals and communities, environmental understanding and protection of natural areas, as well as developing a community attractive to new businesses and residents alike. It's not a stopgap mechanism like more prisons. It's an intelligent long-term solution.

6 Illinois Parks and Recreation

THE POWER OF CITIZEN ADVOCACY

IAPD Calendar April 29 Parks Day at the Capitol Statehouse, Springfield April 29 Legislative Reception Springfield April 30 Legislative Conference Hilton Springfield June 20 IAPD Summer Golf Tour Lockport June 20 IAPD 75th Anniversary Gala, Dinner and Dancing Schaumburg July 11 Legislative Golf Outing Location TBA July 21 IAPD Summer Golf Tour Freeport August 4 IAPD Summer Golf Tour Zion August 16 Park District Conservation Day September 15 IAPD Summer Golf Tour Northbrook Park District For more information about IAPD events, see www.lLparks.org.

Published in a 1980 edition of Illinois Parks & Recreation magazine, here's an excerpt from newly hired IAPD executive director Ted Flickinger's message to the membership: "Commissioners are the people's ambassadors to the managing authority. They represent an intelligent corps of citizen leaders who are interested and concerned, influential and knowledgeable, and willing to give of their talents, skills and resources. "Together, we can do more than any other group to establish understanding, appreciation and support for parks, recreation and conservation."

But, the fact remains, that the battles for parks and recreation never end. There will always be those who, because of ignorance or indifference, care little about parks and recreation. We must let them know that there are at least two educations: one to teach us now to make a living, and the other to teach us how to live. We teach people how to live and how to enjoy life to its fullest.

Our forefathers recognized this important value when writing the Declaration of Independence and their words still ring true today: we "are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

The Illinois Association of Park Districts salutes the volunteer board members and the best professionals in the country who operate our park districts, forest preserves and recreation agencies.

No state or country has citizen board members as involved as we have in Illinois who lobby their legislators and work untold hours at the local level to make their communities a better place to live and raise a family. Commissioners are the unsung heroes and belong in everyone's hall of fame. You are the people who know that when you give more you will receive more.

I don't know who said it, but it rings true for commissioners: "What a man or woman does for themselves dies with them. What they do for their community lives on forever."

IAPD's 75-year-old Mission

Like the special districts it represents, the Illinois Association of Park Districts' driving force is grass-roots activism. In fact, the association began with a letter-writing campaign in March of 1928 by A.D. McLarty, then executive secretary of the Illinois Municipal League headquartered in Springfield. He queried elected officials from Illinois park districts whether they would join a separate association or section for park districts, distinct from the Municipal League with its primary membership of city governments.

McLarty's campaign proved fruitful and the first gathering of park district officials was held in May of 1928 at Chicago's Hotel Sherman. As expressed in the first constitution of the association, the purpose of IAPD was: "To serve as a mutual agency for cooperation of park districts in the state in the practical study and in the opportunity for discussion of park district problems; park policy and administration; to gather and circulate information and experience on park district affairs; to secure beneficial and oppose legislation injurious to park districts."

Today the purpose of the IAPD remains basically the same, but the membership has grown to 362 agencies and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources with 2,100 citizen board members. The mission of the Illinois Association of Park Districts is to advance these agencies in their ability to provide outstanding park and recreation opportunities, preserve our natural resources, and improve the quality of life for all people in Illinois.

IAPD has passed more than 60 pieces of legislation in the last 23 years. That's the power of citizen advocacy. It's you whom we celebrate during lAPD's diamond anniversary in 2003. Your work continues to build this association and improve the quality of life in Illinois.

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