October 2016 - Parks & Recreation - 39

ated more than 20 years ago to provide
very focused, intensive and extensive outreach and community-building program
resources in individual parks..
Build focuses on establishing relationships with community members and institutions where PfP responds to requests
from those who want to get involved in
improving the quality of life in their local
neighborhoods. The Outreach Program
employs coordinators in all five boroughs
who are assigned to serve specific regions
within their borough. In most cases, the
coordinators are the first individuals to
connect community members to NYC
Parks, PfP and other resources within
their neighborhoods to support the work
they want to do for their parks. Outreach
coordinators begin the group development work by sharing information about
how to get involved in parks and work
collaboratively with NYC Parks, and best
practices for growing a group, such as
how to lead meetings, conduct effective
outreach, build interest in their cause and
create partnerships with the agency and
their fellow community members. Outreach coordinators excel at community
engagement because of their approach of
listening to the needs of the community.
To continue to build the skills of park
group leaders, PfP provides Technical
Assistance and training through a series
of workshops that cover such subjects
as: " How to Start or Join a Park Group, "
" Building Your Community Park Group:
Partnering for Success, " " Getting Green $
for Green Space " and " Expand Your Impact: Skillfully Growing Your Community Park Group. " These areas are the baseline skill set needed to have a sustainable
park group. To address timely issues and
opportunities, PfP also hosts special topic
workshops throughout the year for additional learning and networking opportunities. In addition, park group leaders can
apply for a six-month fellowship that requires them to propose a goal they want

Malcolm Pinckney

Participants at the 2016 Partnerships for Parks Conference
learn how to engage with
their public parks.

to achieve by the end of the program.
Connect includes the work of Outreach and Technical Assistance programs, teaching groups how to identify
common interests and priorities, and to
encourage the creation of partnerships
among people involved in the parks or
working on related issues. This phase
also prioritizes connecting park groups
to NYC Parks to collaborate on agency
and citywide initiatives to maximize the
investments from government, as well as
to activate networks for social and civic
activity that increase the positive impact
on their communities.
Because physical improvements are
important to demonstrating change in
these public spaces, the Volunteer Program provides year-round volunteer
opportunities through the It's My Park
program. As part of It's My Park, the
Volunteer Program gives companies and
organizations opportunities to contribute
to the community groups' work through
hosting corporate team-building and volunteer events to beautify the parks. The
intention is to supplement and match
external groups with park groups' priority projects approved by NYC Parks.
Connecting community groups with established companies and organizations
helps PfP achieve its goals of sustainable and supportive volunteerism. These
hands-on service projects build interest
around what is possible in the park and
PfP provides tools, promotional materials and project-planning support to community groups to lead these efforts.
Sustain encompasses the capacity

building work that PfP does to cultivate
the skills needed for a community group
to support its parks long-term and empower volunteers to become community
leaders. PfP helps groups create missions,
develop the appropriate structure that reflects their goals and activities, and maintain the strong connection to the community they represent. PfP also provides
small capacity-building grants - since it
was founded, PfP has granted more than
$1.2 million to 1,000 community groups
and organizations through this program,
which provides not only direct financial
support, but also consultations and support throughout the application process
to help groups build grant-writing skills
and clear plans for their own growth and
community impact. Because park groups
need long-term funding and support to
grow their park events and programs, PfP
emphasizes the development of fundraising and other group development skills
to ensure their sustainability.
Community Parks Initiative
Launched by Mayor Bill de Blasio and
NYC Parks Commissioner Mitchell J. Silver in 2014, the Community Parks Initiative
(CPI) brings $285 million in capital dollars
to densely populated, growing neighborhoods with higher-than-average concentrations of poverty. The 60+ parks receiving
full reconstructions as part of CPI have all
received less than $250,000 in capital improvements during the past 25 years. With
this initiative, NYC Parks is engaging New
Yorkers in rebuilding local parks; providing new, free public programming; and en-

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October 2016 - Parks & Recreation

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