City of Temple Parks & Recreation Department Receives CAPRA Accreditation

Awarded by the National Recreation and Park Association

TEMPLE, TX (October 5, 2026) – The City of Temple is proud to announce that the Parks & Recreation Department has been accredited by the Commission for Accreditation of Park and Recreation Agencies (CAPRA). CAPRA is part of the National Recreation and Park Association and is the only national accreditation of park and recreation agencies in the United States.

The accreditation was made official at the 2026 NRPA Annual Conference in Philadelphia, PA, during a hearing on September 28. The Temple Parks & Recreation Department received the recognition at a ceremony on September 30.

Temple Parks and Recreation is honored to receive accreditation from the National Recreation and Park Association. Our department has been working toward this distinction for a couple of years, and I am thankful that our department's commitment to the Temple community has been recognized in such a significant way.

Kevin Beavers, Director of Parks & Recreation

CAPRA accreditation demonstrates that each agency provides the highest level of service to its community. To become an accredited program, cities must complete the six-step accreditation process. During this process, CAPRA evaluates 154 total standards: 36 Fundamental and 118 Non-Fundamental. Organizations being accredited for the first time must meet all 36 Fundamental requirements and 106 of the Non-Fundamental requirements. Many CAPRA accreditation standards rely on policies, procedures and accomplishments from other City departments, making collaboration across the organization an important part of achieving accreditation.

Temple Parks & Recreation met all 36 Fundamental Standards and 112 out of 118 Non-Fundamental Standards

There are over 10,000 parks and recreation agencies across the country, and as of last year, only 222 were accredited by CAPRA. This year, 13 organizations were added to the accredited group, bringing the total number of accredited programs to 235. This makes Temple Parks & Recreation part of 2.35% of accredited parks and recreation programs in the nation.

Being part of such a small number of accredited programs is significant to our team and to the City of Temple. We dedicate ourselves to the service of Temple residents through maintaining quality parks and exceptional recreation programming, and this hard work and commitment have been measured against the best practices for parks and recreation agencies across the country.

Kevin Beavers, Director of Parks & Recreation

The accreditation process must be repeated every five years for an organization to maintain its status.