Harold Haynes Award 2020

For Immediate Release: Friday, November 20, 2020

THPRD Visioning Task Force receives annual Howard M. Haynes Award

Washington County’s Committee for Community Involvement (CCI) has selected the Tualatin Hills Parks & Recreation District’s (THPRD) Visioning Task Force to receive the 2020 Harold M. Haynes Citizen Involvement Award . The annual award celebrates the work of Washington County community members who have demonstrated outstanding leadership in engaging members of their community in civic affairs. The award was presented to the Visioning Task Force at the Board of Commissioners’ evening business meeting on Tuesday, November 17.

The THPRD Visioning Task Force (VTF) was chosen for their extensive community engagement effort to form a vision for the future of the park district that reflects the diverse needs and interests of district residents. The VTF is a dedicated group of 13 community volunteers led by THPRD Community Engagement Specialist Jaspreet Chahal and supported by Director of Communications, Holly Thompson. Task Force members include Olivia Brown, Ronald Ferguson, America Rodriguez, Victor Sin, Holly Van Houten, Ann Albrich, Richard Goldner, Shreya Jain, Reid Quiggins, Rachel Gowland, Kanthi Karumbunathan, Ewnetu Tsegaw and Nadia Hasan.

The VTF spent hundreds of hours leading and designing the outreach process that engaged with nearly 10,500 people in a five-month period, generating more than 12,500 ideas for the THPRD vision. Feedback from VTF youth member Kanthi Karumbunathan illustrates the impact of their work for the community and the team itself, “Being a part of the Visioning Task Force gave me the opportunity to interact and connect with so many new people, and it was amazing to be able to honor their stories and experiences while we worked to make a more inclusive and communal park district.” Another member, Victor Sin, expressed his perspective as well, “I’ve enjoyed the opportunity to participate in ensuring voices of our diverse community are heard. Parks and recreation should be accessible and inclusive to all and this process is the first step in identifying ways to create livability for so many.”

According to the CCI, “What really stands out about their work was not only the short timeline and enormous amount of work these dedicated volunteers were able to complete, but the way in which they did it, their overall commitment to authentic engagement, the results they were able to achieve, and the impact this work will have on the park district and the 250,000 residents served by THPRD. The resulting Vision Action Plan speaks volumes to this devoted effort.”

The Committee for Community Involvement is an advisory group to the Washington County Board of Commissioners. The CCI consists of two representatives from each of the recognized Community Participation Organizations (CPOs). CPOs are volunteer- led, geographically-based groups of community members who work together to encourage and empower public involvement in the decision making processes that affect them where they live and work.The Washington County CPO Program is the coordinating body for the 13 active CPOs across the County. For more information about CPOs and how to become involved, please visit www.WashCoCPO.org .

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