Press Releases - Department of Recreation

Montgomery County Recreation Receives Six NACo Achievement Awards in 2023, Including Best in Category

For Immediate Release: Friday, June 9, 2023

Montgomery County Recreation received six NACo Achievement Awards in 2023 for a variety of programs that serve the community, including Best in Category for Holiday Park Senior Center’s Outdoor Fitness Equipment.

“Congratulations and thank you to our staff for implementing fantastic programs that are so deserving of this recognition,” said Montgomery County Recreation Director Robin Riley. “Montgomery County Recreation is proud to provide innovative programming for residents of all ages and backgrounds.”

Awards include for:

• Holiday Park Senior Center Outdoor Fitness Equipment: This outdoor fitness area innovatively provides adults, ages 55 years and older, access to outside fitness equipment. The outdoor area is available for anyone to work out anytime, including outside of the Senior Center hours.
• Inclusion Multi-Sport Program: The program creates a safe place for young people of varied abilities to learn futsal, an indoor version of soccer, and other sport activities. This unique program helps high school students with disabilities explore recreation, socialize, build friendships and engage in sports.
• Kids Day Out: Kids Day Out is a high-quality, well-organized recreation program offered during the school year, on days when school is not in session. The program features excellent enrichment programming such as arts, cultural music, sports and a wide range of other recreation activities for youth (Kids Day Out ages 6 to 12; Therapeutic Recreation Kids Day Out ages 6 to 21; Teens Day Out ages 11 to 14) to choose from throughout the day.
• Let Her Shine – Girls Volleyball: As girls approach middle school years, gender disparities in sports participation significantly increase. In response this program encourages girls, ages 10 to 14 years, to join volleyball and offers play opportunities for both beginner and more experienced athletes. Let Her Shine emphasizes that sports are an important part of growth and development regardless of gender or ability.
• Project Prom Dress: Project Prom Dress provides hundreds of high school students an opportunity to get a free prom dress. The event is held in an area of the County historically underserved, and where residents benefit from programs that provide financial assistance. The event was held in a community recreation center in proximity to a high school where 66 percent of the students qualify for free and reduced meals. The program aims to eliminate the financial hardship many girls faced when looking to purchase a new prom dress.
• Senior Adventures Summer Camp: These summer camps, for adults 55 years and older, feature a high- quality experience aimed to help older adults remain engaged and independent in their community. Camp events provide a wide range of active, healthy leisure choices and include seniors of all levels. The summer camps have a different theme each day and include a trip, meal, transportation and activities, just like traditional youth summer camps.

NACo is a nonprofit organization that provides services to the nation's 3,069 counties and represents county governments across the United States. The NACo Achievement Awards recognize a county’s outstanding commitment to public service in various categories such as civic education and public information; community and economic development; children and youth; and arts and entertainment.

The Achievement Awards recognize programs that offer new services to County residents, fill gaps in the availability of services or new revenue sources, improves the administration of an existing program, and/or promotes better training, more effective policy making, or intergovernmental cooperation. To view the full database of NACo Achievement Award winners, click here.

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Release ID: 23-246
Media Contact: Monika Hammer 240-463-2442