Community Rec Magazine

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Oct 2026

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About the show

Each month, John Reecer the editor of Community Rec Magazine, chats with a guest from the community recreation industry to voice their insights on a specific topic.

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40 recent

October 28, 20269 min

Building Rec Centers that Do More For Less With Elevatus

In episode 40, Tom Salzer, the health and wellness market lead at Elevatus, details the challenges and opportunities that exist in recreation center design. Salzer’s central point is rising construction costs are unlikely to ease, so projects must be more intentional — smaller, yet more impactful and able to serve varied community needs. He recommended broad partnerships among recreation, health care, government, childcare, senior services, and disability communities to increase public value and help justify investment to donors, funders and taxpayers. A key practical takeaway was to involve the construction partner from the start, using real-time cost estimates and constructability input through approaches such as design-build or integrated project delivery. Other major takeaways included designing facilities with clear sightlines and central visibility to improve supervision and make programs easier for members to discover. Salzer described analytics as a growing priority. Funders want evidence of impact, and facilities are exploring tools such as AI heat maps and participation data to track outcomes. Elevatus brings together health care, recreation, childcare, and higher-education design expertise for multi-use projects and works nationwide. Finally, the firm’s addition of a clinical psychologist supports trauma-informed design, with the goal of improving experiences for patients, members and staff — especially in community facilities that include health care services.

October 20, 20266 min

The Operate Fit Approach to Safer Community Recreation

In episode 39, Jim Paro, the founder and CEO of Operate Fit, described how community recreation organizations are navigating the Praesidium child protection certification requirements. Although certification demands significant effort and formalizes expectations, Paro said organizations generally aren’t starting from scratch, as child protection is already embedded in their practices. The challenge is organizing and documenting that work in a more structured, consistent way. He recommended forming a cross-organizational committee rather than placing responsibility on one person, learning from peers who completed accreditation, and he noted a shift toward scheduled audits, systematic tracking and using data to identify and close gaps. Operate Fit supports this work by combining risk and facility management in one platform, helping centers assign ownership, track audits, and connect safety concerns with facility issues and their resolution. Paro said the company’s community recreation background and sector-specific, easy-to-implement software distinguish it from other entities. The integrated records can help organizations clearly show insurers that incidents were addressed and issues closed.

October 14, 202615 min

The Biggest Takeaways From YMCA General Assembly

In episode 38, a group of YMCA leaders detail their biggest takeaways from YMCA General Assembly, held in September. Justin Inskeep, the CEO of the Alabama & Mississippi YMCA State Alliance; Casey Clark Kelley, the CEO of the Central Lincoln County YMCA; and Jeff Knox, the CEO of the YMCA of Tuscaloosa; highlight the value of connecting with peers, sharing ideas, and addressing loneliness and social isolation through the YMCA’s community mission. They recalled impactful sessions on the YMCA’s Christian heritage and the power of human connection, and discussed growing opportunities in healthcare and public-private partnerships they discovered. For first-time attendees, Knox recommended making time for informal conversations and pausing to process ideas before acting on them, while Kelley encouraged visiting the exhibit hall with a plan to build useful connections with vendors and partners.

September 16, 202613 min

YMCA of Greater Grand Rapids Fills a Community Need with Bus Station Childcare

In episode 37, Heather Walczewski, the executive director of childcare at the YMCA of Greater Grand Rapids, discusses the organization’s newest and most unconventional facility: a childcare facility built inside a transit hub. The facility is located at the Rapid, the Grand Rapids station that handles long-range coach travel, trains and the city’s commuter buses. The Y didn’t originate the idea but was invited into it, partnering with Grand Rapids Public Schools and County Head Start, which needed an experienced operator. Enjoy!

August 27, 202616 min

Michael Labadorf on Expert Risk Management Strategies

In episode 36, Michael Labradorf, the executive vice president at Brown & Brown Insurance, unpacks why insurance has become so challenging for community rec organizations and what risk management strategies leaders can implement. Labrador explains the industry has emerged from a five-year hard market, and while some lines are easing, liability and sex abuse remain extremely difficult. Despite thousands of insurance companies in the U.S., only a handful are willing to insure youth-serving, recreation-focused organizations because they combine many of the riskiest exposures insurers dislike: youth programming, sports, aquatics, transportation and sex abuse risk. To stay insurable and obtain favorable terms, Labrador stresses that organizations must build and demonstrate a strong culture of safety. He highlights the need for embedded abuse prevention procedures that go beyond policies on paper, including training, monitoring, reporting, and attention to grooming and peer-to-peer abuse.

August 5, 202620 min

Steve Jobin on Creating Collective Impact at the Raritan Bay Area YMCA

In episode 35, Steve Jobin, the president and CEO of the Raritan Bay Area YMCA in New Jersey, shares how the Y has transformed its role from a traditional recreation provider into a catalyst for affordable housing and community health. He traces the Y’s history from its 1912 origins as a rooming house for industrial workers through a devastating 1997 fire that forced the organization to reimagine its mission. Partnering with the city, the Y helped develop and now manages a modern recreation facility with pools, gyms, an indoor track and a community theater to meet core health and wellness needs while setting the stage for deeper community impact. Over time, the board’s longstanding commitment to serving “the indigent,” combined with Jobin’s housing authority background, pushed the Y to define health more broadly through the lens of social determinants of health. Housing quality, safety, and affordability emerged as critical drivers of chronic disease and overall well-being. After clear evidence of unsafe housing, the Y began tackling policy and formed collective impact partnerships with the city, nonprofits, hospitals and faith-based organizations. Enjoy!

June 25, 202612 min

Mark Hines on Budget-Smart Aquatics, Air Quality and Safety

In episode 34, Mark Hines, the VP of sales and marketing at Paddock Pool Equipment Company, details the persistent challenge of building and operating aquatics facilities on tight budgets. Hines notes while budget pressures and shrinking government funding aren’t new in community rec, they’re intensified by the need to serve diverse user groups — from older adults wanting warm-water aerobics to kids wanting play features and potential swim teams. He dispels the misconception that meeting these needs always requires high-cost solutions, pointing to creative phasing, smart product choices and hard-to-find but still-available grants. Hines also emphasizes budgeting early and often, clearly defining non-negotiables like indoor air quality, safety flooring and long-term ROI items such as regenerative media filtration. He highlights trends in safety and the rise of stationary surf waves, a growing sub-industry in aquatics. Hines explains how Paddock Pool Equipment focuses on essential “guts” like gutters, filtration, and evacuated indoor air systems, helping protect buildings, improve user comfort and control lifecycle costs. He concludes by advocating for team-based project planning with builders, architects, and suppliers to stay on budget and aligned with core goals. Enjoy!

June 15, 202614 min

Eric Williams on the Keys to Lasting Impact in Community Recreation

Eric Williams, the former executive director of the Wayman Palmer branch at the YMCA of Greater Toledo, reflects on his 31-year YMCA career across rec centers from around the country, highlighting his roots in community recreation outreach and gang intervention work. He shares how early mentors shaped his leadership and helped him launch impactful programs, including a computer access initiative for youth. Willams also traces the sector’s shift from deep, relationship-based outreach toward membership-driven models, noting while financial sustainability is necessary, outreach has suffered. He identifies funding as the biggest challenge facing nonprofit recreation centers today, with declining United Way and government dollars and intense competition among local nonprofits. Despite these pressures, Williams emphasizes listening to communities, building strong networks, mentoring young professionals, and leading with passion and genuine care as the keys to lasting impact in community recreation. Enjoy!

June 3, 20268 min

Wendy White on How the AI Advantage is in the Data

In episode 32, Wendy White, the chief marketing and partner officer at Daxko, details that despite the buzz around AI, there’s one thing most people aren’t talking about — AI doesn’t create insight from nothing. It learns from the data your platform has been collecting over time. So, the better and longer a platform has been tracking member behavior, program participation and payment patterns for organizations, the smarter its AI is. This episode assists nonprofit leaders with understanding what data depth actually means for AI outcomes, and what questions they should be asking their technology partners. As one of the leading voices on AI adoption in the health and wellness space, White brings both the strategic perspective and the practical expertise to make this a conversation nonprofit leaders can actually learn from. Enjoy!

May 26, 202619 min

Marty Haberer on the Bold Campus Renovation of the Levis JCC

In Episode 31, Marty Haberer, the president and CEO of the Adolph & Rose Levis JCC, discusses a major campus reinvention centered on a new 22,000-square-foot facility with 9,000 square feet of outdoor space, including plans for an amphitheater and playground. The project stems from a strategic property swap of the JCC’s 100-acre campus and a successful $9.4 million fundraising effort. Demolition began on April 1 and reopening is targeted for November 2026. Haberer also details the JCC’s strategic exit from traditional fitness due to local country club and gym popularity, while still maintaining a focus on wellness, culture, summer camp and preschool. He emphasizes thoughtful, data-driven planning — “ready, aim, fire” — and inclusive leadership engagement for any major capital project. Enjoy!

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