SEASPAR

The ultimate goal of SEASPAR’s work is to improve the quality of life for individuals with disabilities through dynamic recreational programs and services. This is accomplished in both short- and long-term ways; e.g., a participant may enjoy social interaction with peers during a SEASPAR fitness program while also improving his or her gross motor skills over the course of a program season or even years of participation.

To that end, the goals of the recreational programs and events we offer are to: improve physical and emotional health; increase self-esteem and opportunities for self-expression; enhance independence; develop social skills and relationships; develop cognitive and fine/gross motor skill; and integrate participants into the community.

The primary goal for our organization over the next three to five years is to increase participation in our youth programming, initiating relationships with SEASPAR that will be lifelong. This will help ease the transition as the children age out of school programming and keep them engaged in productive activities in the community.

Another short-term goal for SEASPAR is to further address the prevalence of autism by offering additional programming for individuals with that specific disability, as well as accommodating the growing population of multi-need individuals.

Finally, we plan to seek out new partnerships in order to share resources, expand our offerings, and reach new participants.

SEASPAR’s primary strategy to sustain our success is to continue monitoring trends in disabilities and recreation as well as our own program registration patterns to maximize our resources and offer programming that is attractive and meets the evolving needs of our participants.

We will continue evaluating the quality of individual programs, improve programming as needs evolve, and ensure that our offerings are dynamic and responsive. We will also continue offering a fee assistance program to ensure that our offerings are accessible to participants with financial need.

In order to increase participation in our youth programming, we will develop a marketing plan specific to this demographic that would increase our presence in schools, community events specific to children, parent support groups, and service providers for early intervention and child therapy programs.

To further address the prevalence of autism, we have built a second multi-sensory room, which provides therapeutic recreation benefits primarily to individuals with autism, ASD, and ADHD. Our first was built in 2014 in the western section of our service area, and this new room was built in the eastern section of our service area, ensuring equal access to this unique amenity across the communities we serve. We also plan to ensure that individuals with multiple needs are provided with adequate support in programs by seeking out additional volunteers and part-time staff.

Finally, new partnerships will be sought with schools, special needs cooperatives, and other community organizations to ensure that we are maximizing our resources, expanding our programming, and reaching potential participants as efficiently as possible.

SEASPAR’s twelve member entities are the primary resource for funding and space for our programming. These member entities, whose residents with disabilities are eligible for SEASPAR programming, include the Village of Brookfield, Clarendon Hills Park District, Darien Park District, Downers Grove Park District, Village of Indian Head Park, Park District of La Grange, Community Park District of La Grange Park, Lemont Park District, Lisle Park District, Village of Western Springs, Westmont Park District, and Woodridge Park District, all in DuPage and Cook Counties in Illinois. In the 2022 fiscal year, these organizations contributed nearly $1.6 million (62%) of SEASPAR’s revenue.

In addition to their financial contributions, these member entities provide program space for SEASPAR, including both temporary space for individual programs and events as well as permanent space for programs like our EAGLES Adult Day Program and multi-sensory rooms.

Additional financial contributions are made by our generous donors, sponsors, and fund development event attendees, who contributed a total of $96,716 (4%) of SEASPAR’s revenue in the 2022 fiscal year.

SEASPAR’s staff and volunteers truly make our programming possible. Our 15 full-time staff are experts in their fields, and nearly all hold the national certifications of CTRS (Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist) or CPRP (Certified Park and Recreation Professional). The majority of these staff develop and oversee the areas of recreational programming that are primarily staffed by our 130 volunteers and 150 part-time staff (2022 data). (An additional 40 part-time staff provide inclusion services for our member entity programs so that individuals with disabilities can participate in their home park district or recreation department with accommodations if they so choose.) These staff and volunteers are also ambassadors for our organization, representing SEASPAR in a positive light and recruiting new members for the team. As our organization continues to grow, we will continue seeking passionate staff and volunteers to keep our programming at the level of quality our participants and their families have come to expect.

External partnerships are also a strong part of SEASPAR’s operations. We partner with the Downers Grove and Lemont park districts to offer Home Front Health, a free program for veterans who have a disability rating of 10% or higher. We offer cooperative programming with a variety of nursing and rehabilitation, senior living, independent living, and vocational service providers. We also offer a cooperative program to provide field trips and activities to students in special education programs at schools that serve our member communities.

In the 2022 fiscal year, SEASPAR served 524 participants with 457 programs.

Of these participants, 43% were children, which is an increase from 28% in 2021, reflecting a positive result of our marketing plan to increase participation in youth programming.

Over the last year, we have become more data-driven, soliciting input from participants and families on a seasonal basis and examining our registration data closely to identify trends. Programming and customer service efforts are evaluated based on this data. Also in the vein of customer service, we have streamlined our program registration process.

The largest barrier to program delivery is currently staffing, and SEASPAR has and will continue to promote its employment opportunities as the life-changing experiences that they are.

SEASPAR will continue evolving our programs with time and trends, but still offer our successful core programming. We will evaluate how to best balance our resources with the ever-growing needs of our participants.