Best Practices for Achieving Greener Parks

Recorded On: 07/22/2020

Registration Closed

In the last installment of the four-part Greener Parks for Health webinar series, NRPA will examine key opportunities for park and recreation leaders to advance green infrastructure in parks as a tool to improve community well-being and address climate impacts. You will hear from communities across the country about how they are investing in greener parks through policy and best practices. The following topics will be discussed by experts:
• Tacoma Metro Parks will highlight intergovernmental partnerships;
• Tucson Water will discuss their partnership with the City of Tucson Parks & Recreation Department to leverage funding; and
• The City of Peoria will focus on their ongoing effort to leverage solutions for combined sewer overflows to drive reinvestment, social justice and improve overall community health and well-being.

At the conclusion of this session, learners will be able to:
1. Understand best practices and policy mechanisms that have been used to expand green infrastructure in parks.
2. Identify key opportunities to advance similar best practices and policy in your community.

Jenny Cox

Conservation Program Manager, National Recreation and Park Association

National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA)

Jenny Cox is a Conservation Program Manager at the NRPA overseeing the Parks and Green Infrastructure for Health initiative and the Great Urban Parks Campaign grant program. Jenny holds a B.S. in Environmental Science from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and is passionate about the connection between parks, the environment and community health.

Anthony Corso

Chief Innovation Officer, City of Peoria

Anthony Corso has spent his career as an architect, urban designer, consultant and educator working to make communities more livable and resilient. He is an advocate and practitioner of public interest design and continuously works to build collaborative partnerships in order to turn great ideas into action. Anthony currently serves as the Chief Innovation Officer for the City of Peoria where he directs the Innovation Team or i-team. The i-team’s role is to help city leaders, staff and community partners using a human-centered, data-driven design process to assess problems, generate responsive interventions, develop new partnerships, and deliver measurable results.

Irene Ogata

Landscape Architect, Tucson Water

Irene is a professional Landscape Architect at Tucson Water. She manages the Neighborhood Scale Stormwater Harvesting pilot program and the Low Income Rainwater Harvesting program; collaborated with Pima County Regional Flood Control District to develop the LID/GSI Guidance Manual. Irene is also one of the original development members of the national Green infrastructure Leadership Network.

Joe Brady

Chief Strategy Officer, Tacoma Metro Park

A Tacoma resident for 20 years, Joe Brady is proud to work on behalf of citizens in a dedicated effort to make our region the best it can be- for everyone. As the Chief Strategy Officer for Metro Parks Tacoma (MPT), Joe is responsible for the agency’s government relations efforts at the local, state and federal levels, the development and maintenance of the District’s long term planning framework, it’s national accreditations, and special project management on behalf of the Executive Director and Board of Park Commissioners. Joe is a 1996 graduate of Colorado State University and holds B.S. degrees in Range and Forest Management.