COUNTY News:
The Los Alamos County Community Services Department (CSD) was sanctioned as an accredited agency by the Commission for Accreditation for Park and Recreation Agencies (CAPRA) through the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) today, at their annual conference.
With this Accreditation, Los Alamos County joins the other 206 agencies nationwide and is the first and only County in New Mexico accredited for following industry best practice standards.
NRPA’s CAPRA Accreditation delivers quality assurance and improvement to accredited park and recreation departments throughout the United States. This operational management system improves local infrastructure; increases efficiency in activities; and demonstrates accountability within the community.
Implementation of this system also strengthens teamwork among department staff, embeds all aspects of CAPRA into the department’s internal culture, and establishes a continuous improvement mindset for all department activities.
The accredited status demonstrates to the community that the department is a professional organization committed to the best practices in the industry and embodies a spirit of continuous improvement to enrich the quality of life in the community.
“I am very proud and appreciative of the Community Services team for taking on and achieving the CAPRA accreditation,” County Manager Anne Laurent said. “Our staff works hard serving our community and I want to thank them for all their efforts.”
The Community Services Department has been working to meet the 154 standards of the accreditation requirements for the past three years. The 154 standards cover 10 categories of best practices for parks and recreation agencies.
The week of May 13-17, 2024, the department hosted the peer review committee to review its evidence of compliance and tour Los Alamos County facilities. The committee found that the Community Services Department met 154 of 154 standards, which is uncommon. As such the Los Alamos County Community Services Department was recommended to be accredited by the CAPRA Commission, at the October NRPA Conference.
“CAPRA Accreditation is an honor that the Community Services Department is proud to hold,” Community Services Director Cory Styron said. “The CAPRA standards are based on best practices for the industry and demonstrate our commitment to professionalism, continuous improvement, community service and being in the top 1% of agencies in the USA.”
Styron has served as Community Services Director since 2020 and this is the third agency to gain accreditation under his leadership.
The community can review the standards, link to documents referenced in the self-assessment and report from CAPRA here.
