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Park District Awarded $600,000 OSLAD Grant for Sunset Woods Project

Governor JB Pritzker, along with state and local leaders and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR), today announced that the Park District of Highland Park was one of 118 park and recreation agencies throughout the State to receive an Open Space Land Acquisition and Development (OSLAD) grant. The Park District of Highland Park was awarded a $600,000 grant to fund a portion of a Sunset Woods Park revitalization project, including the installation of a rain garden with native plantings and an interpretive sign, a new game area, the replacement and relocation of the 16-year-old basketball court to create a multi-use sports court, the replacement and relocation of the 21-year-old skate park, and a new wheel friendly plaza that creates a space for all ages and wheel activities. Sunset Woods Park is a 34-acre community park in downtown Highland Park that serves all residents. The Sunset Woods Revitalization Project seeks to enhance roughly 9 acres of the park by implementing initiatives from the park’s master plan.

The OSLAD grant program was designed to help communities fund land acquisition and development for parks and outdoor recreation projects.  Established by the Illinois General Assembly in 1986, OSLAD is a cost-sharing program between state and local governments that has become one of Illinois’ most popular grant programs. Since its establishment, OSLAD has awarded over $530 million for park projects throughout Illinois (including the awards announced today).  OSLAD grants typically provide up to 50% of funding for a project – excluding economically distressed communities where 100% of project costs have been covered. The other 50% is supplied by matching funds from the project’s local government agency.

“We are thrilled to be awarded the OSLAD grant to allow us to invest in Sunset Woods Park, our community’s central downtown park,” said Brian Romes, executive director for the Park District of Highland Park. “The Park District heard from many residents through the Sunset Woods Master Planning effort, and we are grateful for the support from the OSLAD grant program to be able to act on initiatives from that plan. The Park District is excited to begin engaging the community through the design process.”

The Park District of Highland Park had a significant presence at this past weekend’s Illinois Parks and Recreation Association’s (IPRA) Annual Conference, winning multiple awards and recognition. The Park District was presented with the Illinois Park and Recreation Association’s (IPRA) Outstanding Program Award for its Dia De Los Muertos special event. It is the association’s top award given to one agency out of over 2,000 from across Illinois for outstanding and unique achievements in developing and implementing a program. The Park District received several other top State of Illinois awards, including first place for best website, two first-place and two second-place awards for photography, and third place award for the best logo for The Preserve of Highland Park. 

The IPRA Board of Directors also presented the Park District of Highland Park staff and Board of Commissioners with its Annual Chair Award, recognizing the Park District for the exceptional care and support it provided to the Highland Park community in the hours, days, weeks, and months following the tragic shooting at the July 4th Parade. IPRA Board Chair Trisha Breitlow presented the award and shared the following:

Fred Rogers had an innate ability to reinforce positive interaction between children and adults. I believe one of his quotes has a particularly profound message for those who choose parks and recreation as a profession: “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, “Look for the helpers.  You will always find people who are helping.””

The Park District of Highland Park exemplified this beyond comprehensible magnitude, after the terrifying events during their 4th of July parade.  This award is not being presented to bring additional attention to the terrible events of that day, but to recognize the helpers that were there and sprang into action instantly. These are our friends and colleagues who continue to take care of their community members, visitors, and each other.  That day, their immediate actions provided shelter, safety, assistance, and reassurance to thousands of people. The grief and pain that followed impacted the park district directly, but while dealing with that, they worked tirelessly to be a continued support and origin of assistance for the community and for their own staff. They were a source for widely communicating resources, support, and services available to their community.  They knew the importance of providing opportunities for physical and mental solace by re-opening their golf, boating and recreation facilities within days, yet also balanced this with extreme caution, taking care of their young staff and giving extra time to re-open camp. And the enthusiasm, resilience and excitement for those services was amazing.  The leadership at the district also made sure to take care of their full-time staff, providing compassion, patience and grace. All while they continued to provide outstanding award-worthy services and facilities serving as a pillar in their community. 

Collectively, our profession cannot thank you enough nor provide the recognition you truly deserve as you represented our field and what we do with such resilience and humility, providing unmatched examples of what parks and recreation provides. I am proud and honored to be part of this profession for many reasons, but words cannot express how proud we all are of Highland Park. 

We are happy to report that the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA) has awarded the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting to the Park District of Highland Park for its comprehensive annual financial report for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020.  This is the 32nd consecutive year the Park District has received the award.   The report has been judged by an impartial panel to meet the high standards of the program, which includes demonstrating a constructive “spirit of full disclosure” to clearly communicate its financial story and motivate potential users and user groups to read the report.

The Certificate of Achievement is the highest form of recognition in the area of governmental accounting and financial reporting, and its attainment represents a significant accomplishment by a government and its management.

Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) advances excellence in government finance by providing best practices, professional development, resources, and practical research for more than 21,000 members and the communities they serve.

The Park District of Highland Park received state-wide recognition with an Illinois Association of Park District (IAPD) Best of the Best Award for Sportsmanship, honoring two of our outstanding volunteer coaches David and Andy Engle. Award winners will be recognized at the IAPD Best of the Best Awards Gala on October 15.

IAPD winners were selected from entries submitted throughout the state recognizing the “Best of the Best” park districts, forest preserves, conservation, recreation, and special recreation agencies in eight categories. For a complete list of winners, click here.

This award is truly an honor for the Park District, our Athletics Program, our fabulous coaches, and the Highland Park community!

Here is a synopsis of our winning Coaches:

Coaches Andy and David Engle have been with the Park District of Highland Park for three seasons as volunteer Travel Baseball Coaches. Both have volunteered well over 1000 hours throughout their three seasons. They have been instrumental to Highland Park’s baseball community on many levels. Andy and David embody what it means to be committed volunteers, from ensuring our playing fields are safe and adequate to recruit players to organizing home field tournaments. They instill teamwork, hard work, respect, safety, and a family environment while ensuring everyone is having fun. They do not coach to the scoreboard or concern themselves with the team’s record; however, their teams have been very successful. This past season, the 12U team they coached went 31-14 and won two out of five tournaments. They both are exemplary role models for their young players. They teach respect, dignity, sportsmanship, hard work, and pride in the community they represent. Andy and David are most deserving of the IAPD Good Sportsmanship Award.

Featured in the photo (L to R): Andy Engle, Sammy (Andy’s son), Noah (David’s son), David Engle

A recent episode “Storms, Sanctuary and Suckers” of the PBS series “Great Lakes Now” featured the work our Park District of Highland Park Natural Areas Department is doing to help scientists learn more about the Great Lakes. Natural Areas Manager Rebecca Grill and Program Volunteer Coordinator Liz Ricketts are featured in the episode.

The Park District of Highland Park is part of a Shedd Aquarium research project led by Shedd researcher Karen Murchie to track the movements of sucker fish across the Great Lakes. The sucker fish up until now has been kind of a mystery, but the incredible work being done has allowed a better understanding of their biology. The episode highlights the work Murchie, and her team has done to learn more about the fish that is such a vital part of our local ecosystem. Murchie explains that “if there was an academy award for fishes, she would give suckers the academy award for best supporting fish because of the amazing services they provide.”

The episode aired on PBS across the Midwest, and the full video is below.

The  Level 3 Gymnastics Team placed 2nd at the AAU Central District Meet in Bourbonnais, IL on Sunday, May 2.  Individually, our gymnasts were represented on the podium in each of their age groups.  In the Junior A Division, Hannah Maletksy came in second on vault, bars, beam, and was awarded state champion on floor and all-around.  In the Junior C Division, Kenna Reed placed 8th on vault, 2nd on bars, 4th on beam, 7th on floor, and 3rd all-around.  Also, in the Junior C Division, Sydney Genser placed 3rd on bars, 5th on beam, 9th on floor, and 6th on vault and all-around.

In the Senior B Division, four gymnasts received medals.  Charlie Weisbart placed 11th on vault and bars, 2nd on beam, 4th on floor, and 7th in all-around.  Naomi Rago placed 8th on vault, 5th on bars, 9th on beam, 7th on floor, and 6th all-around.  Lauren Smiley placed 5th on vault, 6th on beam, 2nd on floor, and 3rd on bars and all-around.  Rounding out this age group was Fiona Brownstein who placed 4th on beam, 2nd on bars, and all-around and was awarded the state champion on vault and floor.

Picture: Bottom row L to R: Kenna Reed and Hannah Maletsky.

Back row L to R: Naomi Rago, Lauren Smiley, Fiona Brownstein, Coach Bruce Keeshin, Sydney Genser, Charlie Weisbart.

The Park District’s Liz Ricketts and videographer Andy Cutraro took stock of white sucker fish in the outfall at Ravine Drive Beach earlier this week. The pair were filming for an upcoming PBS Detroit’s Great Lakes Now (https://www.greatlakesnow.org/)  for a segment about the Shedd Aquarium’s efforts to track the annual migration of these native fish from Lake Michigan.

The Park District’s natural areas staff and volunteers have partnered with the Shedd since 2017 to do daily spring counts of fish in our ravine streams. The data is collected, along with weather and water conditions, from sites in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, to provide insights into what triggers the annual migration to streams along the Lake Michigan shoreline. For more information on the project, see https://www.sheddaquarium.org/stories/researching-a-great-lakes-migration-the-sucker-spawning-run

Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA) has awarded the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting to Park District of Highland Park for its comprehensive annual financial report for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019.  This is the 31st consecutive year the Park District has received the award.   The report has been judged by an impartial panel to meet the high standards of the program, which includes demonstrating a constructive “spirit of full disclosure” to clearly communicate its financial story and motivate potential users and user groups to read the report.

The Certificate of Achievement is the highest form of recognition in the area of governmental accounting and financial reporting, and its attainment represents a significant accomplishment by a government and its management.

Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) advances excellence in government finance by providing best practices, professional development, resources, and practical research for more than 21,000 members and the communities they serve.

The Park District of Highland Park Competitive Gymnastics Team traveled to their first meet of the season on Sunday, Feb 14.  The Level 3 team came home with the First Place team award. Individual awards went to Hannah Maletsky for 1st place in the All-Around for the nine-year-old division. Her teammate Kenna Reed came in 6th place in the All-Around for that age group. In the ten-year-old age group, Sydney Genser took the top honor with a 1st place All-Around award. In the 11-year-old age group, the PDHP team was represented by Fiona Brownstein in 1st place and Naomi Rago in 2nd place for the All-Around. Rounding out the team, in the 12 & up age group, Lauren Smiley was awarded 1st place All-Around and Charlie Weisbart 2nd place.

“The girls have worked hard all summer and waited patiently for the season to get the clearance to start up within the state restrictions,” said Carol Sassorossi, program manager.  “It was very exciting seeing the improvement and confidence shine through the girls.”

Chicago Golf Report named the clubhouse at Sunset Valley Golf Club one of the top ten best for public courses in the Chicago area.  Sunset Valley came in at number six on the list.  The list was compiled and ranked based on the importance and benefits of clubhouses to the everyday golfers— before, during, and after a round of golf.

The publication gave high marks for the clubhouse at Sunset Valley’s cozy atmosphere, stunning views of the course, trendy bar, the 1920s inspired menu, outdoor veranda and patio, and the expanded pro shop.    View the article, here.