Old faces, new positions at NRPA.

The National Recreation and Park Association reigned in the New Year with a few changes to its staff roster. Ron Tillman, previously the online services manager in charge of NRPA's Web site, www.nrpa.org, has moved into the role of Therapeutic Recreation/Inclusion Manager in the Professional Services division of the organization.

Tillman's background is more suited for this new role, where he will be responsible for two branches: the American Park and Recreation Society and the National Therapeutic Recreation Society (NTRS); in addition to NRPA's section of Leisure and Aging.

Before joining NRPA in spring 2001, Tillman was the recreation services supervisor for the town of Herndon, Va., where he mostly focused on inclusion and aging issues. Tillman says that when most people think inclusion, they think about accessibility for the handicapped, but he believes inclusion is broader. When he worked for Herndon, he developed programming (such as a bilingual parks and recreation staff) that expanded services to the Hispanic community, which is a large quadrant in Herndon's demographic. And for senior citizens, Tillman managed "Senior Cinema," an ongoing movie event that included a range of movie types for any generation, including senior citizens.

While many of Tillman's programs worked on a regional level, be will focus mainly on generating new resources for the branches and section, and "supporting our members and trying to find answers to their questions," he says.

As for as NTRS, Tillman hopes to bridge more of a connection between the group and NRPA. "My goal is to make therapeutic recreation part of the NRPA stance, because if you have the whole NRPA behind you, your message is stronger," Tillman says.

Tillman's previous role has been expanded into a new position--New Media Manager, which Doug Vaira has now taken. Vaira returns to NRPA after spending three years at the American Society of Association Executives, where be was recently a senior editor for its monthly magazine, Association Management.

Before leaving NRPA, Vaira was the editor of its monthly magazine, Parks & Recreation; then oversaw NRPA's national online database, activeparks. org. Vaira has a writing background, working for The Denver Post sports department for four years after graduating from West Virginia University with a Bachelor's degree in English. Because of his writing and communication skills, Vaira will inject new life into NRPA's Web site, www.nrpa.org, transitioning it from a mainly internal connnunications tool to a "hyper effective Web site" that will engage Web users.

Vaira hopes to begin including pages of information that NRPA members can use in their daily lives, such as case studies, law reviews and position papers that can add justification for expanding, preserving and building parks and recreation facilities in their communities.

"We live in a time when people don't have the luxury to wait, and to be competitive and to be on top of your market, you have to be in front of all your tools," says Vaira. "It signals that NRPA is headed in a new direction--in the right direction."