[NYSRPS Member] You are invited to a focus group at NYSRPS State Conference

[Lynn Anderson]

You Are Invited!

 

You are Invited! Please Attend the Focus Group at the NYSRPS State
Conference in Buffalo!

                To help us with the initial work of developing the
Inclusive Recreation Resource Center and all its activities, we are
conducting focus groups with parks and recreation professionals at the
NYSRPS State Conference.  We hope that you will attend a focus group and
share your thoughts with us about what the Center could do to be most
helpful to you.  

*	When: Monday, April 23 at 7:30pm-8:30pm
*	Where: In NYS Youth Sports Association Room, Adams Mark Hotel,
Buffalo, NY

 

A Little About the Inclusive Recreation Resource Center:

                The New York State Developmental Disabilities Planning
Council has awarded SUNY Cortland Recreation and Leisure Studies
Department a substantial and renewable grant to establish a statewide
resource center for inclusive recreation. New York State Recreation and
Park Society was instrumental in helping secure the grant, and is a
partnering organization with the Center.  According to Gia Lemerise,
Executive Director of NYSRPS, "As a statewide representative of park,
recreation and leisure service professionals, who strive to improve the
quality of life of New York's citizens, I am aware of the great
necessity for the resources to be made available through this project.
Through our member base of over 1,000 recreation providers, the NYSRPS
is eager to assists SUNY Cortland with establishment of relationships to
work toward the development and implementation of the Center."

The mission of the Center is to promote and sustain participation by
people with disabilities in inclusive recreation activities and
resources throughout the state. The Center will provide several
services.

*	Accessibility surveys:  The Center is developing a user-friendly
tool to help programs and facilities assess both physical and
programmatic inclusion.  
*	Training:  The Center will initially provide face-to-face
training to parks and recreation professionals, self-advocates, tourism
professionals, human services professionals, families, and anyone
interested in increasing opportunities for inclusive recreation in the
state.  Eventually, the training will also be web-based and available on
demand to any interested individual.  Once individuals have completed
the training, either online or face-to-face, they will be able to
complete accessibility surveys and enter results in an online recreation
access database, "wiki" style.  
*	Online database for inclusive recreation:  Any programs or
facilities that are assessed using the accessibility survey will be
entered into an extensive online database.  The database will align with
the "I Love NY" tourism regions, and eventually be linked from that
website and many others. The format will be very similar to "Wikipedia,"
with grassroots entry of information on recreation accessibility around
the state.  Only those who have been certified to enter data, earned by
completing the online or face-to-face training, will have the ability to
enter accessibility information in the online database, so that the
accuracy of the information can be controlled.
*	Technical assistance:  Anyone providing parks and recreation
services can contact the Center for assistance in improving program or
facility accessibility.  
*	Partnership development:  The Center is working in several
regions of the state to solidify partnerships between parks and
recreation, disability groups, and other interested groups to promote
full inclusion in recreation on a regional basis.  Regional Advisory
Committees will be formed, and Regional Action Plans developed.
*	1:1 matching and referral service:  Project staff will assist
participants with a disability in identifying their recreation interests
and goals, exploring and choosing community recreation resources, and
working with identified programs, areas, or services on full inclusion.


 

Please contact Laurie Penney McGee at penneymcgeel at cortland.edu
<mailto:penneymcgeel at cortland.edu>  or at (607) 753-4833 if you have any
questions. 

 
Dr. Lynn Anderson, CTRS, CPRP
Professor and Chair
Dept. of Recreation and Leisure Studies
SUNY Cortland, Box 2000
Cortland, NY 13045
andersonl at cortland.edu
www.cortland.edu/rec
 
 
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