Naval Station Guantanamo Bay's Morale, Welfare & Recreation (NSGB MWR) was named a finalist for the 2018 National Gold Medal Awards for Excellence in Park and Recreation Management by the American Academy for Park and Recreation Administration and the National Recreation and Park Association.

The command hosts over 4,800 events annually for a local population of 5,500 residents. It recently achieved a 5-Star accreditation rating and surpassed the rest of the Navy in positive customer feedback.

Agencies are judged on their ability to address the needs of those they serve through the collective energies of community members, staff and elected officials. NSGB MWR joins three other finalists in their class that will compete for grand honors this year.

MWR Director Tara Culbertson expressed great pride in her program, "I am so incredibly proud of this MWR team for their hard work, creativity, and customer focus - all in a location with some of the toughest supply chain challenges in the U.S. military, an isolated and remote location, and no resources outside the gate. As a team, we love what we do, and I'm so glad that it shows."

As the premier southern-most deep-water U.S. Naval Base in the Western Hemisphere, NSGB strives to provide state-of-the-art self-sustaining infrastructure, while supporting unified, inter-agency joint operations, and training. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay provides a high quality of life for all personnel onboard the installation and preserves the installation's sensitive environmental, historic, and cultural resources. A world-class MWR program is essential to maintaining that high-quality of life, and a foundational aspect for two of the Commander, Navy Installations Command Lines of Effort: enable the fighter and support the family.

This year's finalists will compete for Grand Plaque Award honors this summer, and the six Grand Plaque recipients will be announced live during the NRPA General Session at the 2018 NRPA Annual Conference in Indianapolis, Indiana, Sept. 25-27, 2018.

Founded in 1965, the Gold Medal Awards program honors communities in the U.S. that demonstrate excellence in parks and recreation through long-range planning, resource management, volunteerism, environmental stewardship, program development, professional development and agency recognition.

Naval Station Guantanamo Bay is the forward, ready, and irreplaceable US sea power platform in the Caribbean. For more than a century, its presence has given decision makers options across the range of military and interagency operations.



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