Parks, trails, community gardens, and other urban green spaces serve as fundamental building blocks to create healthy, vibrant communities. In principle, public parks belong to everyone. In practice, access to parks and recreation areas is anything but equal. Many communities with low household incomes and communities of color have few—or no—green spaces, and existing parks and recreation areas may be poorly maintained, understaffed, unwelcoming, and unsafe. 

Projects & Initiatives

PI works with a breadth of partners and communities to develop strategies and practices to keep people healthy and safe in the first place. Below is a selection of ongoing or recent projects.

  • People, Parks, and Power: A National Initiative for Green Space, Health Equity, and Racial Justice

    PI will plan a new national initiative, People, Parks, and Power: A National Initiative for Green Space, Health Equity, and Racial Justice, in partnership with the University of Utah. The initiative is being funded by RWJF. We will co-design a funding program focused on policy and systems changes to increase equitable access to parks and green spaces in low-income communities of color in urban areas across the United States. 

  • Advocacy Toolkit for Park Equity, Life Expectancy, and Power Building

    To achieve park equity, people living in communities that have been historically excluded from park-related decision-making must be heard. The materials in this toolkit were designed to support community-based organizations, their members, and others who are building power to secure equitable investments in park infrastructure in disinvested communities.

  • Park Equity

    Park equity—fair and just access to parks, trails, community gardens, and other green spaces—is essential to healthy communities. But park inequities unjustly affect low-income communities across the U.S., especially people living in predominantly Black and Latino neighborhoods. Through our local-level projects and national initiatives, we are building momentum for park equity.

Publications & Other Resources

We research and write reports, white papers, fact sheets, opinion pieces, and journal articles, as well as produce videos and podcasts. Here are some of our latest offerings.

Tools & Services

We have developed a broad range of practical, free-to-use tools to guide practitioners, advocates, and policymakers in planning and implementing  prevention strategies. We also provide services to help you use our tools to create healthy and safe communities.

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Profiles in Action

These profiles, written by PI and our partners, show what community prevention looks like on the ground, all across the country.

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