Commitment to Diversity

• In 2020, the District launched Movies in the Park programming where District staff facilitated walk-in movies in parks across our service area. Both Glen Oak (61603) and Martin Luther King Jr (61605) Parks hosted movies in 2020 .
• The District’s Executive Director now serves on the board of directors for the East Bluff Community Center with the goal of increasing collaboration and program support in 61603. She has also joined a committee focused on improvements and coordination of service in the 61605 zip code led by Neighborhood House.
• The Park District continues to provide a Scholarship Program for youth and families that face economic barriers to accessing PPD programming.
• Through a grant from the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority, PPD has:
  • Served 125 youth through 672 hours of after school programming at Proctor Recreaton Center.
  • Served 225 youth from zip codes 61603 and 61605 in sports programming.
  • Hosted 8 community events that engaged 1,190 visitors.
  • Served 147 students through out-of-school ELITE Red Kids/Scholars programming.
  • Served 52 high school students in ELITE High School programming.
  • Served 23 adults in ELITE Re-Entry programming.

• In both 2019 and 2020, the District hosted recruitment fairs that showcased District job openings. District staff also participated in community events in 2019, but that effort was not continued in 2020 due to the COVID-19 restrictions.
• The District placed an emphasis on celebrating women and minority staff during July’s National Parks and Recreation Month in 2020. Staff is also working to use images of actual staff in our job posting and marketing efforts to further highlight our efforts to make sure that our workforce looks like the community we serve.
• The District has set up employment kiosks at the Noble Center, though access was limited in 2020 due to COVID-19.
• One positive of the COVID-19 crisis has been the increased accessibility of quality training opportunities. Staff at all levels have been able to participate in sessions at both the state and national levels in 2020-21, with virtual participation offered to both the National Recreation and Parks Association and Illinois Association of Park Districts annual conferences. This has provided unique opportunities for training that are not financially viable when staff have to travel to conferences in order to participate.
• Staff also continues to track the makeup of our workforce and has shared that data with the board as part of diversity updates since the implementation of this plan. This effort has continued in 2021.
• Through a grant from the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority, PPD has hired a Manager of Workforce Development who will oversee the hiring of 21 new interns through the Park District in the year 2021-2022.

• District staff work to update construction policies to provide more clear language focused on good faith effort and standardized tracking methods for working with subcontractors. This was approved by the board in September 2019 and is now a standard expectation for bidded projects.
• Further, the District has worked to update and maintain a list of minority and women-owned contractors that is provided in all bid and RFP packets. View the list of registered minority and women-owned contractors/vendors here.
• Project statistics are tracked by the District’s planning and purchasing staff and are provided to the board for review on an annual basis. This data includes information about the project size and designation of businesses as minority- or women-owned when known.
• District staff have emphasized and celebrated successful collaborations with minority- and women-owned companies like Triple J’s (janitorial contract with the District) and Dwayne Harris (operation of the community garden at Logan Recreation Center) as part of park board meetings in 2019.
• District staff has worked to combine certification paperwork to reduce the administrative burden on applicants for District contracts. This change was implemented in December 2019 and staff will continue to look for more opportunities to lessen this burden.

If you are not currently registered as a vendor with the Peoria Park District, you can do so here. You can also view a list of community resources for small business here.

• The District’s Superintendent of Parks is an active member of the local PADEAT collaborative that focuses city and county efforts around workforce development. This group has proven to be a good resource for the District and Superintendent Freeman’s participation has helped to not only expand our network, but also increased our knowledge on the challenges the community faces.
• The District has placed a great emphasis on building the capacity of our community with support of work like ELITE and Moonlight Coalition for Adult Learning. Both programs provide unique support to youth and adults seeking to improve their earning potential. In 2019 and 2020, both programs continued this work. Moonlight serves more than 200 students annually and funds received from the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority after advocacy from Representative Jehan Gordon-Booth resulted in the following impacts as of December 2020: 15 ELITE Re-Entry participants, with all graduates (9) finding employment after the completion of the program.
• Further, the District was able to provide employment and career exposure to students through Moonlight’s WIOA grant as well as an increased emphasis on internships through Peoria Public Schools. In 2019-20, at least 10 students received supports through the District as a result of these opportunities

Want to join the PPD team? See our openings here!