By Jennifer Papich, 2021–2022 WRPA President

Happy Monday, everyone!

Last week, individual agencies that applied and were awarded SEEK (Summer Enrichment Experiences for Kids) funds through the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) and in coordination with the Association of Washington Cities (AWC) were notified of this most exciting opportunity.

WRPA is so honored to have been involved in this process. It was only a few months ago that we began the conversations with OSPI and AWC that culminated with this funding opportunity for so many of you.

WRPA’s SEEK Fund was designed to aid in funding summer outdoor programs serving school-aged youth. We focused on providing enhanced and quality outdoor opportunities for those who have been most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and those who are under-served when it comes to quality outdoor recreational access.

In a little over two short months, I’m proud that three organizations worked diligently toward a common goal of awarding funds starting this summer. It is truly remarkable the amount of work, communication, and collaboration that took place to make this a reality.

I want to sincerely thank the following individuals for their tireless work moving this effort forward:

From Association of Washington Cities
   Candice Bock – Director of Government Relations & Jacob Ewing – Legislative and Policy Analyst.

From Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction
   Jenny Plaja – Assistant Director of Government Relations

From Washington Recreation and Parks Association
   Tiffany Hanzo – Executive Director
   Doug Levy – Lobbyist
   Paul Simmons – Past President
   Dave Johnson - President-Elect
   Jennifer Wills – Vice President
   Shanyanika McElroy – King County Regional Director & EIB Co-Chair

I also want to recognize and give gratitude to the SEEK Advisory Committee (review panel) of esteemed emeritus WRPA members, who enthusiastically gave their time to evaluate and score the applicants (over the Fourth of July Holiday I might add):

Dr. Barb Brock
Al Frank
Dennis Higashiyama
Terry Higashiyama
Larry Otos

Candice Bock from AWC shared that she loves working with parks and recreation professionals because we have such positive can-do attitudes and we always figure out a way to make things happen. That is so true and speaks to who we all are, especially in the face of the past year’s challenges. I could not be more proud to work with such remarkable individuals.

From the start, WRPA, AWC, and OSPI were committed to ensuring that these funds would be geographically spread throughout the state and granted to a broad cross-section of agencies. For this first round funding cycle, I would say “mission accomplished.”

With the extremely short turnaround for application submissions during the height of summer programming, we didn’t know what to expect. We were blown away by the response and are honored to CONGRATULATE all of you who applied for this summer and received a total of $2,523,416! We look forward to hearing how these dollars positively impact youth in your community.

We also hope those of you who did not have the chance to apply for funding this summer will work on getting your submission for the 2022 SEEK Fund application window! Information on the opening of the second round of funding will come out in late Fall 2021.

Thanks again, and congratulations again, to all of you.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Papich

2021–2022 WRPA President