Serving Our Nation's Capital: A Chat with DCDPR's Delano Hunter — Episode 053

As a native Washingtonian, a park and rec kid, and a long history
of serving the community, Delano Hunter is well suited for the
role of director of D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation
(DCDPR).


Delano says he’s honored and privileged to serve the city he
loves alongside some of the people who shaped him growing up, and
we were honored and privileged to have him join us at NRPA
headquarters recently to talk about how DCDPR is finding ways to
serve members of the D.C. community through innovative
programming, special events and community partnerships.


We also discuss Delano’s path to a career in parks and
recreation, and how there really isn’t one right/prescribed way
to work in this field. Prior to joining DCDPR in 2018, Delano was
the Chief Service Officer for Serve DC, a D.C. government agency
dedicated to promoting service as an innovative, sustainable
solution to pressing social challenges. Before that, he helped
develop a mentoring program at Nike. While they may not have been
directly related to parks and recreation at the time, these types
of diverse backgrounds are what make parks and recreation capable
of impacting lives on so many different levels.


Delano also touches on why it’s important for parks and
recreation to be an extension of the education system, and why
it’s critical to reach kids in out-of-school times. We discuss
how partnerships with organizations like Aetna and Lululemon are
helping DCDPR reach people of all ages in D.C. Delano also shares
about his #30DaysofDPR campaign, where he went on a citywide tour
of DCDPR’s 63 recreation facilities last January to highlight the
programs, activities and people who make those centers so
special.


Tune in to the episode below to learn about all the things DCDPR
is doing (and they’re doing a lot of things) to help make the
nation’s capital a better place to live.


Note: The morning we recorded this episode, we were saddened to
learn about the passing of a great advocate for parks and
recreation, Karla Kelley. Karla was a highly-involved member of
NRPA, the Chief of Programs for the Bureau of Recreation for City
of Baltimore Department of Recreation and Parks and worked for
DCDPR for many years. Delano shares his memories of Karla, who
was so loved in the parks and recreation community.