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Chicago Park District receives 2014 National Gold Medal Award for Excellence in Park and Recreation Management

The Chicago Park District received the 2014 National Gold Medal Award for Excellence in Park and Recreation Management from the National Recreation and Park Association and the American Academy for Park and Recreation Administration.

“The Gold Medal Award honors communities throughout the United States that demonstrate excellence in long-range planning, resource management and agency recognition,” according to the website of the NRPA.

Chicago beat out Georgia’s Gwinnett County Parks and Recreation, the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission and Arizona’s Mesa Parks, Recreation and Commercial Facilities for the gold medal in the Class I division. That division included park districts in municipalities with populations of 400,001 people or more.

“Chicago is already known as a City in a Garden, and this prestigious honor recognizes the significant investments we are making in our parks and open spaces to honor our past and create a safer, brighter and healthier future for every child in Chicago,” Mayor Rahm Emanuel said in a statement announcing the award.

Emanuel on Tuesday touted the city’s capital investment in the park district of more than $400 million in public and private funds. The mayor noted that the Chicago has added almost 1,000 acres to its parks and overhauled 325 playgrounds over the last three years.

“We’re on track to become the first city to ensure that every child in Chicago lives within a 10 minute walk to a park or playground,” said the mayor.

-Tom Butala