Facilitated a national learning community of partners advancing park equity.
PI continued to work with 14 power building and BIPOC-led community collaboratives in the continental United States and Puerto Rico through the People, Parks, and Power (P3) initiative. We hosted the first P3 convening in Prevention Institute’s Oakland office, bringing together the organizations who are leading the work of park and green space equity advocacy across the nation. We also conducted site visits to each community to provide in-person support and facilitate deeper learning. To uplift their stories and strategies, we held virtual peer learning spaces dedicated to showcasing grantees’ collective expertise and leadership in community organizing, power-building, and policy development and advocacy.
Throughout the year, P3 strengthened voices and leadership among individuals most impacted by park and green space inequities and applied power-building strategies to policy and systems change solutions. Local partners have been able to undertake intentional organizational growth to shift from reactionary advocacy to a proactive approach, where community members hold the pen on policy development. Promising policies are emerging, including those that seek to codify administrative policies that support Indigenous cultural practices and land sovereignty; expand public financing for green infrastructure to counteract extreme heat and flooding; and make farmland more accessible to farmworkers seeking a path to ownership, among others. These strategies reflect how community voice and leadership can drive upstream changes to improve health.
Funders: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.
Image by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.