Date/Time: Thursday, May 3 | 10:15 - 11:30AM

Speakers: Mary Tuttle, Metro Parks Tacoma & Leif Ellsworth, Metro Parks Tacoma

Category: Programming

Description: Metro Parks Tacoma launched into a four-way partnership with Tacoma Public Schools, YMCA of Pierce & Kitsap Counties and the Boys and Girls Clubs of South Puget Sound, in order to provide after-school sports programming at all 36 Tacoma elementary schools. The partnership resulted in an increase of overall youth sports participation by 72% within one school year. This new service delivery focus served roughly 32% of all elementary students within the District. Learn how these agencies were able to leverage their collective resources, work through structural challenges inherent to each organization and how focusing on solving the problem of creating access by reducing barriers is changing community.

Learning Objectives:

• Be able to identify the needs/barriers to participation within communities.
  
  
• Understand how to create a model that may include partnerships with outside agencies who are often seen as competitors.
  
  
• Project growth and then staffing appropriately for the rapid growth.

Speakers: Leif Ellsworth is the Sports Supervisor for Metro Parks Tacoma and has worked across the country at a variety of agencies. He has experience working for a nationally recognized YMCA on the east coast, as well as being a Coordinator for the City of Mukilto.