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About

A Unique Mission

The mission of the Philadelphia Parks Alliance is to champion the public’s interest in outstanding parks, recreation and open spaces, key to making Philadelphia a healthy, vibrant and sustainable city for all.

The Parks Alliance’s vision of a great city is one with great parks and interconnected green spaces.  The Parks Alliance leads the diverse and expanding citizens’ movement which shapes public policies required to build the nation’s premier parks and recreation system.  

Summary

Recognized by city officials, park and recreation advocates, community organizations, the media and others as the “citizens’ voice” for Philadelphia’s municipal parks, the Parks Alliance’s statistics, facts and studies are accepted as the standard of information about parks.  

The Parks Alliance’s increasing strength is a direct outgrowth of its effectiveness in engendering power to organizations and individuals who care about Philadelphia’s parks.  Through the Alliance’s ongoing efforts, friends groups across Philadelphia have become stronger as park advocates and stewards.  Park constituents are learning to work cooperatively with government officials and community partners, and are emulating successful models in other parks, both in Philadelphia and throughout the country.

The work of the Parks Alliance publicly and behind the scenes, sets much of the tone for the way in which issues that affect Philadelphia’s parks are recognized and acknowledged.  More than ever before, as evidenced by the powerful parks movement throughout the country, the burgeoning role of citizens’ organizations, the increased interest of decision makers and the media, and an expanding public dialogue, there is a critical need for the work the Alliance does.

In that capacity, the Parks Alliance has developed very deliberate organizing and campaign strategies to accomplish the goals it deems vital to building a firm foundation for the revitalization and long-term support of Philadelphia’s parks and recreation.

Understanding that change was needed in order to fulfill the unrealized potential of Philadelphia’s parks; clarify their function; create much needed transparency and accountability; and make the case for more public and private sector funding, the Parks Alliance led  a major campaign that created a defining moment for Philadelphia’s parks and recreation.  

After several years of facilitating robust study, dialogue, and actions that included park users and residents from across the city; community and business organizations; national experts and government officials, in November 2008, voters overwhelmingly approved a City Charter amendment creating the new Department of Parks and Recreation.  

The Philadelphia Parks Alliance has been working since then to make certain that this historic reform is implemented thoughtfully, transparently, creatively and in a timely manner that will set standards and precedents for decades to come.

Accomplishments include:

•    Guidelines to Protect Parkland:  Having spearheaded the call that mandated the new Commission on Parks and Recreation to - for the first time ever - create guidelines for the protection and use of parkland, the Parks Alliance has been working with key stakeholders, officials and citizens for the creation of a land protection ordinance and related guidance that reflect best thinking and practices.  This has included more than $20,000 in pro-bono legal work donated to the Alliance for this project.  

On January 19, 2011, after a public process, the Commission voted to approve an ordinance that reflected the input of citizens, public officials and stakeholders.  It was then introduced at City Council by the Committee on Parks Recreation & Cultural Affairs who on March 9, 2011 held a public hearing.  Final passage is expected in April 2011. The next steps in the Parks Alliance’s effort are to support the creation by the Commission of guidance materials that will address acquisition and provide direction on how to apply the ordinance, and the establishment of precedents to protect parkland for the long term.

•    Appointment of Top-talent Leadership:  Responding to the Parks Alliance’s strident call for top-talent leadership, the Mayor chose a skilled and visionary Commissioner, Michael DiBerardinis, to lead the new Department.  The creation of an open process for appointing the Commission of Parks and Recreation, inspired 200 people to apply to serve, with the Mayor selecting strong Commissioners from a list of 25 nominees presented by City Council.  

•    Campaign for expanded park funding:  The Parks Alliance leads the ongoing effort for expanded and diversified park and recreation funding while highlighting the value of Philadelphia’s parks to the social, economic and environmental potential of our city and region.   Its multi-faceted campaigns include strategy sessions with key leaders; educating citizens about the complexities of the budget; organizing crowds of supporters at City Council hearings; constituent team meetings with elected officials;  letter writing campaigns; rallies; press conferences; and public hearing testimony by a diverse and growing constituency.

While municipal funding for city departments, including Parks and Recreation, has been curtailed by both local and global economic struggles, the skill, creativity, vision and renewed sense of possibility that Commissioner DiBerardinis has brought to the department, has resulted in the leveraging of new institutional, foundation and corporate investment in Philadelphia’s parks and recreation.  

Having learned during the years of the Charter reform campaign, that a determined strategy of patience, timing and persistence is effective, the Philadelphia Parks Alliance and its constituents are committed to an ongoing movement to increase and diversify park funding over the long haul.  This includes a combination of education, case making, advocacy efforts and actions by an increasingly powerful and diversified constituency directed toward increasingly informed and motivated decision makers.  

•    Quantifying the value of parks: The Parks Alliance’s groundbreaking Trust for Public Land study established that Philadelphia’s parks and recreation bring hundreds of millions of dollars in annual income and savings to Philadelphia and its citizens.  Park professionals and government officials from Pennsylvania to Wales, Australia and New Zealand continue to use this study as a catalyst for further research and education about the value of parks, recreation and open space.

•    Internet Advocacy and Website:  Parks Alliance email blasts and its website at www.philaparks.org are information sources that foster interactivity with the public.  Its advocacy action center, press room, links to partner organizations and up-to-date facts and issues, make the Philadelphia Parks Alliance the go-to source for all things park.

•    Bob Thomas Tours:  Founder and Board Vice President Bob Thomas leads monthly hikes to magical and often unseen places in Philadelphia’s parks and in the countryside of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware.  These evening and daylong adventures convey the history, power, value and preciousness of our open space and the need to preserve and protect it.