Health and Wellness is a growing area in the park and recreation profession. As the Recreation and Park profession changes, our association needs to stay relevant to the needs of our members.  Therefore, the KRPA board has voted to change the TR/Aging branch to the Wellness branch.

Our branches contribute to the educational sessions at the KRPA conference, host workshops and provide networking opportunities for our members to meet others in similar areas of the profession. We will continue to provide educational sessions geared toward TR and aging but will broaden the education to include more health and wellness opportunities.

We encourage all members who have an interest or job responsibilities related to wellness to consider running for the branch board. We hope to make this branch a huge success.

Thank you,

KRPA is excited to release a new Kansas Park and Recreation Promotional video. With the help from our friends at Feature Group, we have put together a video to showcase what Parks and Recreation bring to Kansas communities. We, at KRPA, desire to a vibrant Parks and Recreation program in very Kansas community. To access the toolkit, click here.

The 2018 KRPA Conference and Trade Show registration is now open. The Conference will be on January 23-25, 2018 in Wichita, KS. This is the 70th year for the KRPA Conference. We will be "Riding the Wings of Change." Click here to register.

The 2018 CPSI Course and Exam registration is also open. The course will be March 6 & 7, 2018 in Shawnee, KS, and the exam will follow on March 8th. Click here to register.

We knew we had the best Park and Rec professionals in the country but the strongest too?!? #KansasProud #LoveKSParkRec

KRPA has undergone lots of changes in the last few months. Our office has been renovated (stop by sometime to see the changes), and we have added another new staff member.

Meet Kelli Maydew, KRPA's new Program Manager. Kelli joined the KRPA staff on September 18, 2017. Kelli will handle all memberships, program registrations, workshop development and any new program and services coming from KRPA.

Most recently, Kelli was a member of the lobbying team at Devine, Donley & Murray Governmental Affairs. Kelli was responsible for covering pertinent committees during the Legislative Session, as well as client communications. She also did the firm's event planning and served as the office manager.

Kelli also worked at the Kansas Livestock Association for over four years as part of the Government Affairs staff. While at KLA, Kelli gained experience in legal research, policy implementation, legislative lobbying, and membership communications.

Kelli resides in Topeka with her husband, Eric, and son, Easton.  

Please welcome Amanda Sterling to the KRPA staff as the new Communication Coordinator. Amanda may look familiar. You may have seen her running around the conference in past years or corresponded with her about magazine articles. She has been involved with KRPA for almost 11 years doing contract work as our bookkeeper, photographer and communication work. Amanda officially joined our staff last week. She will be taking care of the KRPA Today magazine, the KRPA website and all news for members. If you need to reach her, she will be in the office most Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays or email her at amanda@krpa.org.

The Missouri Park and Recreation Association and Kansas Recreation and Park Association have joined forces to present the sixth annual MPRA-KRPA Parks and Recreation Executive Forum on October 25-26, 2017. This dynamic leadership conference targets upper-level management professionals in key decision making positions within public agencies in Missouri and Kansas providing parks, recreation and similar community services. We invite you to take advantage of this unique opportunity! 

For more information click http://www.mopark.org/executiveforum.html.

EF Registration Form 2017 (1).pdf

The schedule for the Midwest Regional Conference is released and posted to the website. Click here to view.