Workshops - Urban and Municipal Parks

Workshops are extended educational opportunities which provide both education on the topic as well as time to design projects to be completed in your community or department. The following workshops are designed to guide practitioners, volunteers, park or trail boards, friends groups, and community leaders. Additional workshops and programs are considered quarterly upon request.

Workshop Descriptions:

From Dream to Green: Best Practices in Modern Day Park Planning

8:30am – 12:30pm

Learn how to compile or update a Community Park System or Site Plan. We will review common components of plans, identify what is most meaningful for your organization, and provide time to brainstorm how to begin implementing a planning process for your park system or specific sites within your community.

Click here for Dates & Locations

December 9 – Denton, TX
January 6 – Rosenberg, TX
January 27 – Corpus Christi, TX
February 25 – Dallas, TX
March 3 – San Angelo, TX
March 17 – Nacogdoches, TX
March 24 – Canyon, TX
April 8 – El Paso, TX
April 28 – Wimberley, TX

Strengthening Your Prospects: Grant Writing 101 for Parks, Trails, and Open Spaces

1:30pm – 4:30pm

Attendees will learn basic grant writing concepts, including how to look for grants, best practices in writing grants, and key terms such as logic models, milestones, etc. We’ll practice writing common grant proposal sections and review best practices for support materials.

Click here for Dates & Locations

December 9 – Denton, TX
January 6 – Rosenberg, TX
January 27 – Corpus Christi, TX
February 25 – Dallas, TX
March 3 – San Angelo, TX
March 17 – Nacogdoches, TX
March 24 – Canyon, TX
April 8 – El Paso, TX
April 28 – Wimberley, TX

Enhancing Park Safety with CPTED Principles

8:30am – 12:30pm

Attendees will learn Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) basic principles, evaluate a site, review CPTED in park plans and policies, and devise feasible, local action steps.

Click here for Dates & Locations

December 10 – Denton, TX
January 7 – Rosenberg, TX
January 28 – Corpus Christi, TX
February 26 – Dallas, TX
March 4 – San Angelo, TX
March 18 – Nacogdoches, TX
March 25 – Canyon, TX
April 9 – El Paso, TX
April 29 – Wimberley, TX

Building from Ground up: Creating your Park Maintenance Plan

1:30pm – 4:30pm

This course is designed to motivate you to start or update a maintenance/operations plan. We’ll review the value of maintenance plans, discuss key components of plans, identify what is meaningful for your organization, provide time to assess and review various maintenance plans, and allow you time to brainstorm how to get started on a plan for your organization.

Click here for Dates & Locations

December 10 – Denton, TX
January 7 – Rosenberg, TX
January 28 – Corpus Christi, TX
February 26 – Dallas, TX
March 4 – San Angelo, TX
March 18 – Nacogdoches, TX
March 25 – Canyon, TX
April 9 – El Paso, TX
April 29 – Wimberley, TX

Click here for 2025 – 2026 Full Schedule

December 9 – Denton, TX 8:30am – 12:30pm: From Dream to Green: Best Practices in Modern Day Park Planning
December 9 – Denton, TX 1:30pm – 4:30pm: Strengthening Your Prospects: Grant Writing 101 for Parks, Trails, and Open Spaces
December 10 – Denton, TX 8:30am – 12:30pm: Enhancing Park Safety with CPTED Principles
December 10 – Denton, TX 1:30pm – 4:30pm: Building from Ground up: Creating your Park Maintenance Plan
January 6 – Rosenberg, TX 8:30am – 12:30pm: From Dream to Green: Best Practices in Modern Day Park Planning
January 6 – Rosenberg, TX 1:30pm – 4:30pm: Strengthening Your Prospects: Grant Writing 101 for Parks, Trails, and Open Spaces
January 7 – Rosenberg, TX 8:30am – 12:30pm: Enhancing Park Safety with CPTED Principles
January 7 – Rosenberg, TX 1:30pm – 4:30pm: Building from Ground up: Creating your Park Maintenance Plan
January 27 – Corpus Christi, TX 8:30am – 12:30pm: From Dream to Green: Best Practices in Modern Day Park Planning
January 27 – Corpus Christi, TX 1:30pm – 4:30pm: Strengthening Your Prospects: Grant Writing 101 for Parks, Trails, and Open Spaces
January 28 – Corpus Christi, TX 8:30am – 12:30pm: Enhancing Park Safety with CPTED Principles
January 28 – Corpus Christi, TX 1:30pm – 4:30pm: Building from Ground up: Creating your Park Maintenance Plan
February 25 – Dallas, TX 8:30am -12:30pm: From Dream to Green: Best Practices in Modern Day Park Planning
February 25 – Dallas, TX 1:30pm – 4:30pm: Strengthening Your Prospects: Grant Writing 101 for Parks, Trails, and Open Spaces
February 26 – Dallas, TX 8:30am – 12:30pm: Enhancing Park Safety with CPTED Principles
February 26 – Dallas, TX 1:30pm – 4:30pm: Building from Ground up: Creating your Park Maintenance Plan
March 3 – San Angelo, TX 8:30am – 12:30pm: From Dream to Green: Best Practices in Modern Day Park Planning
March 3 – San Angelo, TX 1:30pm – 4:30pm: Strengthening Your Prospects: Grant Writing 101 for Parks, Trails, and Open Spaces
March 4 – San Angelo, TX 8:30am – 12:30pm: Enhancing Park Safety with CPTED Principles
March 4 – San Angelo, TX 1:30pm – 4:30pm: Building from Ground up: Creating your Park Maintenance Plan
March 17 – Nacogdoches, TX 8:30am – 12:30pm: From Dream to Green: Best Practices in Modern Day Park Planning
March 17 – Nacogdoches, TX 1:30pm – 4:30pm: Strengthening Your Prospects: Grant Writing 101 for Parks, Trails, and Open Spaces
March 18 – Nacogdoches, TX 8:30am – 12:30pm: Enhancing Park Safety with CPTED Principles
March 18 – Nacogdoches, TX 1:30pm – 4:30pm Building from Ground up: Creating your Park Maintenance Plan
March 24 – Canyon, TX 8:30am – 12:30pm: From Dream to Green: Best Practices in Modern Day Park Planning
March 24 – Canyon, TX 1:30pm – 4:30pm Strengthening Your Prospects: Grant Writing 101 for Parks, Trails, and Open Spaces
March 25 – Canyon, TX 8:30am – 12:30pm: Enhancing Park Safety with CPTED Principles
March 25 – Canyon, TX 1:30pm – 4:30pm: Building from Ground up: Creating your Park Maintenance Plan
April 8 – El Paso, TX 8:30am – 12:30pm: From Dream to Green: Best Practices in Modern Day Park Planning
April 8 – El Paso, TX 1:30pm – 4:30pm: Strengthening Your Prospects: Grant Writing 101 for Parks, Trails, and Open Spaces
April 9 – El Paso, TX 8:30am – 12:30pm: Enhancing Park Safety with CPTED Principles
April 9 – El Paso, TX 1:30pm – 4:30pm: Building from Ground up: Creating your Park Maintenance Plan
April 28 – Wimberley, TX 8:30am – 12:30pm: From Dream to Green: Best Practices in Modern Day Park Planning
April 28 – Wimberley, TX 1:30pm – 4:30pm: Strengthening Your Prospects: Grant Writing 101 for Parks, Trails, and Open Spaces
April 29 – Wimberley, TX 8:30am – 12:30pm: Enhancing Park Safety with CPTED Principles
April 29 – Wimberley, TX 1:30pm – 4:30pm: Building from Ground up: Creating your Park Maintenance Plan

The following workshops and programs are considered quarterly upon request.

Community Engagement

The introductory workshop aims to help practitioners, volunteers, and community leaders learn the basic principles of community engagement. During the session, instructors will highlight various types of processes. The session will also highlight the engagement continuum which develop higher level involvement with local partners and advocates.

Youth Engagement

This session covers the basics of working with youth and engaging them in park planning, upkeep, and development. Various youth programs will be highlighted. Attendees will have time to develop ideas to apply in their communities.

Developing and Assessing Your Engagement Continuum in Parks and Recreation Summit

Modern day park systems are strengthened by their social systems. Engagement is more than just talking with and listening to people. It involves everything from communication to co-production. This summit reviews the literature and case studies on engagement, community systems, and co-production. Attendees will learn how to assess and develop their engagement continuum to support their park and recreation outreach, equity, and outcomes. This summit will provide a space for attendees to discuss issues and trends, share and deliberate ideas with peers and experts, and develop action plans for their local efforts.

Asset-based Approaches to Community Development in Parks and Recreation Summit

Asset-based approaches helps leaders identify, build, and empower local communities based on their strengths and resources. This approach guides local advocates to focus less on the “needs” culture that has often lead to deficiency-laden planning processes, dependency on external resources, and feeling broken. The program helps leaders learn and identify processes to focus on identifying community resources and strengths, how it can work together, and what it can accomplish by working together via co-production. This program is designed for communities of all sizes with all levels of resources. This summit will provide a space for attendees to discuss issues and trends, share and deliberate ideas with peers and experts, and develop action plans for their local efforts.

Social & Behavioral Marketing

Learn the fundamentals of social and behavioral marketing and how to have purpose with your messaging and communication. Social Marketing (SM) focuses on supporting the behavioral change of willing and interested individuals. The short-term goal is to impact a person though their daily habits while in the big picture, enhancing the long-term health of communities. The workshop will cover case study examples such as increasing park knowledge and use, gaining support for programs using native plantings, or getting people not to litter!

As seen at NRPA

Wayfinding and Social Cognition Summit – More than signs helping you find your way!

This session will cover the key concepts of wayfinding and nudge theory. Attendees will learn how people organize and understand their environments, how we use these concepts to connect people, both visually and physically, to parks and trails, and how to get started in applying these concepts in their communities.

Activating Environments

This initiative provides practitioners and community leaders with an overview of successful programs and concepts to activate spaces. It reviews the basics of placemaking, pop up play, open streets, playability, and usability. The instructors will highlight key steps used to plan and implement a programs, as well as share highlights on how outcomes and impacts are measured.

Playability

Review best practices and outcomes for Pop up Play, Painted Places, Open Streets, and Mobile Play programs. The workshop guides local groups through site or community evaluation techniques and related action planning steps to incorporate play into the daily fabric of their organization or community .