Rosemary Cameron, Political Consultant

1. Desktop Education for
Parks and Recreation
Welcome and Sign-In
• Sign in with:
– Your Agency Name and
the number of people
watching/attending the
webinar from your
agency today
– What is the name of the
person who will be
inputting answers into the
webinar application
Please
complete your
Pre-Webinar
assignment
before we
begin.
1

2. POLITICAL SAVVY:
Or, how to win friends and
influence people AND benefit your
parks and recreation department!
Presented by Rosemary Cameron
Make and Take

3. Rosemary Cameron
Public Affairs Consultant
Who’s talking?

4. Let’s get started!
YES or NO?
Did you do your
Pre-Webinar
Assignment?

5. • In your chat box, please share the
name of your Illinois General
Assembly members (House of
Representatives and Senate).
• Did you have to look their names up?
Let’s Review--Pre-Webinar Assignment

6. TRUE or FALSE
“Most or all of the people in our
group knew the name of their General
Assembly Members without having to
look them up.
In your chat box…
Please type the names of some of
your State Representatives and
Senators.
Pre-Webinar Assignment—Part Two
Click in your FEEDBACK BOX

7. Let’s take a look at your
Make and Take™ Handout
• Use the template to plan your
department’s/district’s Government/Legislative
Outreach strategy.
• Fill in the blanks with specific activities that
meet your local situation.
• Word version is included in your e-mails from
IPRA & iLinc.

8. • Parks and Recreation departments/districts
operate within a broader political context—
what does that mean?
• Who are your key external stakeholders?
• Parks and Recreation departments/districts
possess key strategic positioning strengths—
what are they?
• How to get started—low hanging fruit!
Here’s what we’ll be focusing on:

9. Think about it like marketing….
Parks and Recreation
departments/districts operate
in a political environment,
impacted by decisions made
by State Legislators and the
Governor.

10. What the Legislature givith, the
Legislature can take away!
– Open Space Lands Acquisition &
Development Act (OSLAND)-70% increase
in funding this year!! Do I hear “election
year”?
– Park & Recreational Facility Construction
Grants (PARC).
– Local referendums for parks capital
funding.

11. “Super Board”
State House MemberState House Member State SenatorState Senator
City Council
Bd. of Sup.
Bd. of Directors
City Council
Bd. of Sup.
Bd. of Directors
Park & Rec CommissionPark & Rec Commission
City
County
Special Dist.
City
County
Special Dist.
City Mgr./County Mgr.City Mgr./County Mgr.
Park & Rec Dir./Gen. Mgr.Park & Rec Dir./Gen. Mgr.
Staff--You!Staff--You!

12. Think about other key strategic
stakeholders.
• Chamber of Commerce
• Service Clubs
• Other community organizations
• Environmental organizations
• Hospitals and health care organizations
• County Board Members

13. What are we missing?
Take ONE minute to discuss
and share in your chat box.
• Share some examples of some other
strategic stakeholder groups or
individuals that you believe are
important to your parks and recreation
agency.
• Are any of you currently reaching out
to these types of organizations or
individuals?

14. Let’s circle back to the
general public.
We’re not forgetting them!
The residents of your
city/township/county/special
district will always be your priority
and your top stakeholders.

15. And, let’s not forget your
internal stakeholders!
• City Council/Trustees/Board
Members/Board of Directors
• City/County/General Manager and staff
• Parks and Recreation Commission
• Volunteers

16. Moving forward to action…
There are two distinct tracks for action:
General awareness of
1. Recreation and Park Department/District and
its many benefits.
2. Advocacy on behalf of parks and recreation
related legislation and issues.

17. The Make and Take™ is all
about tactics.
Let’s take a minute to talk about how you
can build out the Legislative/Government
Relations Outreach Plan Template to fit your
Department/Agency’s needs and staff
resources…

18. Let’s talk tactics for Track 1
• You might consider General Awareness
part of your overall “branding” efforts or
just plain good communications.
• But, it’s really a systematic and ongoing
effort to communicate with priority
stakeholders as well as state legislators.

19. Expand your mailing list
• Include State Legislators, their district
office staff and strategic stakeholders in all
communications such as program guides,
newsletters, invitations.
• Don’t forget volunteers—
make them feel like
“insiders”.

20. Encourage more informal visits
• Invite Legislators and their staff to tour and
facility or visit a program…..lunch at the
Senior Center is always a good idea!

21. Request a speech
• Invite your Legislator to be a speaker at a
dedication or special event (Elgin Veterans
Memorial Park).
• Make the invitation early.
• Provide key
messages.

22. Use social media
• Connect to your legislators through social
media…..they are there!

23. Strategic Community Outreach
Volunteer to speak at community,
environmental and service organizations
and network while you’re there!

24. Tack 2--Advocacy
• Starts with relationship building.
• Move over time to taking positions on
legislation and actively advocating.

25. Meet with your Legislators in
person
• Schedule an annual meeting—district office
may be easiest location
• Always bring printed information on your
department/agency

26. Get to know your Legislator’s
staff
• Schedule annual meetings with district
staff and Capitol staff
• Always bring printed information on your
department/agency—highlight
accomplishments, summarize challenges

27. Hold an informal event for
Legislative staff
• Include other State or Federal agency staff
you work with regularly
• Make it casual and fun
• Say “thanks”
for their hard
work!

28. Get familiar with the
IAPD/IPRA legislative program
• Review IAPD/IPRA Joint Legislative
Committee platform
• Review bills being supported and opposed
• Understand how a bill becomes a law and
more about state and federal legislative
process:
• http://www.ilparks.org/?page=pub_pol_links

29. Get involved—become an
advocate!
• IAPD has a day to day presence in the
Capitol in Springfield
• But, our individual involvement is needed
to influence the General Assembly with
118 House Members and 58 Senators
• All the information you need is at:
• http://www.ilparks.org/?
page=communication_tips, click on
“Advocacy”

30. Parks and Recreation has what
it takes!
• Parks and Recreation offers Legislators
just what they need and want----
1. Positive, upbeat programs
2. Big events with lots of
people (voters)
3. Great photo ops

31. Questions?

32. Contact Rosemary:
ROSEMARY CAMERON
PUBLIC AFFAIRS CONSULTING
rlcameron@comcast.net
415-218-5180