Hazel Crest Park District Deputy Director Talks About New Role

J’Arnay Harris is the Deputy Director of Parks & Recreations for the Hazel Crest Park District. Photo provided by J’Arnay Harris.
J’Arnay Harris is the Deputy Director of Parks & Recreations for the Hazel Crest Park District. Photo provided by J’Arnay Harris.

Hazel Crest Park District Deputy Director Talks About New Role

By Tia Carol Jones

J’Arnay Harris has been the Deputy Director of Parks and Recreation for Hazel Crest Park District since May 2024.

Harris is trying to make sure she uses her skillset to make a positive impact. In this role, Harris oversees the daily operations of Hazel Crest Park District and her  direct reports are the Superintendent of Parks and the Superintendent of Recreation.

“I work very closely with the Executive Director Christopher Cole in ensuring our programming is targeted to our community,” she said.

The summer months are the busiest season for parks and recreation with programming for residents, especially children who are out of school. The summer camp program, which services children ages 6 years old to 12 years of age, has more than 60 participants. Harris worked to ensure the camp supervisors and counselors had the resources and training they needed to give the children in the program an enriching experience.

Harris also is spearheading all of the marketing materials for the Hazel Crest Park District, something she is well-versed in. She started working with the park district as an independent contractor to rebrand the organization. She felt the Deputy Director role was a good fit for her because she has a passion for supporting operations and the marketing aspect of the role. She has also been working with the strategic planning team to identify areas for improvement for the park facilities and playgrounds.

The Hazel Crest Park District includes the community center building, a recreation center building, 14 parks, eight baseball fields, one soccer field, one football field and nine playgrounds.

Harris is working to ensure communities that need it can access resources that are available. She wants to use those resources to enhance the experiences of the residents at the park district. Since this is her first role in parks and recreation, she is learning the nature of parks and recreation, park maintenance lingo and standard operating procedure for facility maintenance.

“It’s been a crash course of me getting my hands dirty a little bit more than I’m used to, but I have the chops and I have the grit to jump in and do as needed,” she said.

She is ready to jump in and be the boots on the ground to do whatever is needed. It has been a learning curve knowing the technical and hands-on aspect of the work. She is also learning the organization and the historical context of the Hazel Crest Park District. She is learning about the residents and building relationships, letting them know that she is there to serve them and to make their experience at the park district better.

Harris values the experience as she is looking at a career in operations. She sees that role as the foundation for her to acquire the qualifications to possibly seek a role as a village administrator, but that is something much further down the line. Right now, she is trying to make an impact with the Hazel Crest Park District and assist in bringing thousands of dollars in resources, helping with the facility renovations and growing the team. She is grateful to Cole for believing in her and giving her an opportunity to contribute to his mission with the park district.

“I have a long list of things I need to cross off before I can feel like I’ve exhausted my impact here and I want to see what my next growth period is. I definitely see myself in this role for the next several years,” she said.

Her advice to other young women in intergovernmental roles or interested in pursuing roles in municipalities is to get in the rooms where the executive directors and finance teams are. She said that they should put themselves in the environment where they can learn about organizations they are interested in. She also advised they should become an active member of the community. That way, they can access where they might see where their skillsets can be a good fit.

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