Welcome to the inaugural issue of the Richmond Recreation and Parks Foundation e-newsletter!  Our aim is to keep Foundation partners and affiliate groups better informed with monthly updates on our activities, upcoming meetings, and other news of interest.  Your input is welcome.  If you have content to add to a future newsletter, wish to subscribe, or want to unsubscribe, please contact the Foundation webmaster/secretary, Karen Townsend at KarenTownsend@rrpfoundation.org.

Board of Directors Meeting Summary - Wednesday November 16th, 2005, 8:15 AM
Humphrey- Calder Recreation Center , 414 North Thompson St.

Foundation President Diane Dunaway called the Foundation Board Meeting to order.

She welcomed Ray Chavis, the new Interim P, R & CF Department Director.  Mr. Chavis discussed several department items, including:

• Reorganization of the Department (Larry Miller is now Deputy Director, Parks operations are now managed by Mary Lois Mitchum, and all Recreation operations are now managed by Tariq Waajid.)
• Parks personnel will be working with DPW crews to maintain parks vegetation better.
• The department has re-acquired and will program 4 Richmond Housing Authority sites, previously operated by the Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs, as well as the Armstrong High School gym. More sites may be added in 2006.
• The department will start up a pilot program in 2 recreation centers to serve hot dinners for kids. It is hoped that this will entice them to participate in recreation center activities after school, in a safe environment, away from distractions coming from bad neighborhoods. The Foundation reminded him that it wanted to help the recreation centers, with fundraising or wherever needed, to encourage center participants and neighborhood residents to get more involved.

Mr. Chavis said that he was working with Miller, Mitchum, and Waajid to identify urgent Parks and Rec. physical needs and prioritize them for the Capital Improvements Program (CIP) requests in the upcoming budget rounds.

Larry Miller stated that he and Beth Neu, (Dept of Economic Development Deputy Director) had discussed the feasibility of renovating the old Pine Camp Hospital as an office center for non-profits. He also mentioned the Richmond Boat Club’s desire to build a boat storage barn near Ancarrows Landing, and is making a big push to get major projects completed (Gaston repairs, park gates, playgrounds fixed up, etc).

Casey Cockerham, Foundation Vice President, said he was working on an e-newsletter to send to Foundation partners. It would also include link of month, feature a partner group or project, and try to include a calendar page. Deadline will be the 5th of each month. Karen Townsend volunteered to take this task on.

Charles Price, representing Friends of Bandy Field, updated the Board on Bandy Field progress (lost some trees to drought but will be replacing them soon), Conservation Easements on James River Parks (Council resolution passed, authorizing the City Attorney to begin a draft conservation easement agreement, will need list of do’s and don’t for appropriate uses in that park, and citizen support when further along).

Carl Otto, the Foundation Treasurer, reported that Gary Hall, with Walter Rock & Assoc., recently finished the independent audit. IRS 990 is done, full audit statement due in a week. Hall also made a number of other recommendations to tighten up accounting and Foundation checks and balances, which we will work on in 2006 to implement.

Mr. Zeugner, Foundation Executive Director, reported that:

• He’s finished updating the Partner Lists, e-mail lists, etc.
• He suggested that the Foundation officially join the national Parks and Rec. managers’ professional organization (we can get on state organization with the City’s membership) and wants to acquire several books pertinent to Parks professions.
• He also helped the city compile a grant application from the Foundation to Altria to acquire computers for recreation centers, like the computer project grant request for Humphrey-Calder and Randolph about 5 years ago.
• He has updated the Foundation on the Friends of City Parks and Friends of Urban Forestry group meetings.

Joyce Stargardt reported that the Forest Hill Park Tree Planting planned for October 05 had to be rescheduled (because of the drought) to February 2006- details to be worked out. This involves Councilwoman Graziano, the department of Public Works, P, R & CF, Phillip Morris, and other volunteers.

In New Business, elections were discussed. The slate of officers was finalized; elections and Board Members and term renewals will be voted on in December.

President Elect: Casey Cockerham
Vice-President Elect: Joyce Stargardt,
Returning Secretary: Karen Townsend
Returning Treasurer: Carl Otto

Casey Cockerham Foundation Vice-President, will be overseeing the Foundation’s second Annual Partners Luncheon, scheduled for Wednesday, 18 Jan 2006 (snow date Jan 25th). Diane Dunaway, Karen Townsend, and others will assist.

Bill Conkle, with state Dept. of Conservation & Recreation, announced that there will be a Bike Walk Conference on April 19th, with the Foundation and others. There will also be another Mayor’s Walk and Ride event on Earth Day, April 22nd, to tie into Ralph White’s and South Mayo Bridge Fish Festival activities. Mr. Conkle also suggested we look ahead to Earth Day, 2007.

Calendar of Upcoming Board Meetings and Other Events

January 18, 2006 - (Partners Luncheon) Carillon
February 15, 2006 - (Strategic Planning) Chimborazo Park
March 15, 2006 - James River Park Visitors Center
April, 19 2006 - Maymont
May 17, 2006 - T B Smith
June 21, 2006 - Belle Isle Visitors Center

Regular board Meetings are held at 8:15 am on the third Wednesday of each month.  Locations vary as noted above.  Partners are cordially invited to join any or all Board Meetings.  For directions, please refer to the City's web page for community center information.  For an invitation to the upcoming Partner Luncheon, contact Diane Dunaway at DianeDunaway@rrpfoundation.org.

Attention All Partners - Web Hosting

Have you visited www.rrpfoundation.org recently?  The Foundation is in the process of overhauling its website to update existing information, improve organization/appearance, and expand the services offered online.  We are now encouraging our partner groups to take immediate advantage of several new features of the website:

1.  Partner Information Pages - The website has pages set aside for individual partners to use in advertising their groups and projects.  We will post text and graphics that partners furnish, in a format such as seen with Friends of Lombardy Park and Friends of Barker Field.  Information on these pages should be general in nature as it will be updated just once annually.  Partners are asked to submit any or all of the following for their pages:

• an organization logo
• 1-2 photos of organization activities or sites
• 2-3 paragraphs explaining goals, activities, etc.
• name of a lead officer or other person of contact
• phone number, mailing address, and e-mail address
• website address

2.  Online Donations - The new website is equipped with a secure payment form for accepting credit card donations directed to individual partner groups.  Website visitors will be encouraged to contribute through links from the Foundation's main web pages as well as from individual partner information pages.  We will directly process online donations, credit the appropriate partner account, and inform you via e-mail whenever your group has received a donation.  In connection with your partner information page, this should be a powerful new tool for you to use in fundraising.
 
3.  E-mail Addresses - Partners may request a Foundation e-mail address in the format of partnername@rrpfoundation.org (ie. treestewards@rrpfoundation.org).  The address will be aliased (forwarded) to another e-mail address that you provide.  The advantages here are in 1) providing users with an easy-to-remember address and 2)ensuring continuity of an address when officers change or an individual switches internet providers.
 
Please contact Karen Townsend (webmaster@rrpfoundation.org) to get started on developing a partner information page or setting up a Foundation e-mail address.  We also welcome any feedback you might have on our new and expanding site!

Resourceful Links for Partner Groups

Each month we'll include links to a few websites that might prove helpful or informative to our partner groups.  Here are the first few...

http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/lanm_sum.htm
The Department of Conservation and Recreation offers assistance to localities in the area of Parks, Recreation and Open Space Planning. Assistance comes in a variety of forms, including consultations, training and grant funding.

http://www.nps.gov/phso/rtcatoolbox/
The National Park Service Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance program is always exploring new ways to help communities work together to improve their special places. There is no magic; there are simply some tried and true methods we have learned from the communities where we work.